Chapter 10

They made it to The Fisherman’s Arms just in time to avoid a drenching. As they entered, Ryan beckoned them over to the bar, to join Joss and his fiancé Oliver, the local vet.

Ryan pulled a pint for Adrian, and a GT for Luca, before he was snagged by Eva, wanting him to bring up a couple of crates of beer from the cellar. With Ryan’s temporary departure, Luca leant in against the bar and quietly observed Adrian.

Talking to Oliver and Joss about Spud, Adrian’s habitual frown disappeared, as his face became animated and his eyes brightened. Adrian pushed his fingers through his hair, creating little peaks that Luca had the sudden, overwhelming urge to tease back into place. He took in a deep breath but that had only the effect of filling his lungs with Adrian’s spicy cologne, complex and expensive, contradictory to the life lived by a hill farmer. But Adrian was full of contradictions which, whether he wanted it to or not, piqued his curiosity.

More than piqued.

He swallowed down another mouthful of his drink. He didn’t want to be piqued, because that meant he was interested, and becoming interested in anybody for more than friendship was the last thing he was looking for. It didn’t, however, stop anybody being interested in him.

Jonathan… Casual and easy, and no strings. From the start, when Alex had introduced them at a dinner party, that had been the deal. Convenient for them both, and Jonathan had been on board with it. Somebody to have a drink with, or dinner; there had even been a trip to the theatre in Exeter. Somebody to fill an otherwise long and empty evening with. And sometimes, he’d stayed over at Jonathan’s, just sometimes and now not at all, the sex as undemanding physically as it had been emotionally. And equally as unfulfilling. But it had never been the sex he’d wanted, or not so much; it had been somebody to hold, somebody to fool him, if only for a while, that he wasn’t lonely and alone. Yet even as he’d pulled back from that aspect of their relationship, Jonathan had been hinting he wanted more than the friendship Luca had offered, a friendship Luca enjoyed and valued. More was something he couldn’t give, when more wasn’t what he felt. Especially not when he’d soon have to start making plans to leave.

“Can I get you another?”

Luca startled, aware suddenly that he’d been nursing an empty glass. Adrian’s gaze was steady and scrutinising, but one corner of his mouth was turned up in an amused smile.

“Where’s Oliver and Joss?” The village vet and his fiancé were nowhere to be seen.

Adrian chuckled, the sound reminding Luca of the low level thunder of earlier, sending a shiver tumbling down his backbone.

“Gone. They did say goodbye, but you were miles away.”

“I should go, too. I’ve got a stack of paperwork to go over.” He didn’t mind the relentless admin, but this evening the thought that it was all he had to look forward to settled in his stomach like heavy, undercooked bread. “Please don’t worry about taking me back. It’ll be easier for me to get a cab.”

“You can try, but two out of three of Barry’s fine fleet of clapped out saloon cars just happen to be in the garage for a service.” A thunder clap exploded overhead, and Adrian’s brows arched. “Walking back via the road is the long way around. You could go over the hills but even on the path, unless you know the country around here well, I wouldn’t recommend it. At best you’ll get drenched, at worst lost. So, can I get you that other drink?”

Luca hesitated, but Adrian was right. “Thank you, yes.”

A table became free, and Luca grabbed it. In a corner next to the huge inglenook fireplace, it was cosy and private. There was no fire in the grate, but it wouldn’t be too many weeks before it was lit and roaring.

At the bar, Adrian exchanged a few words with one or two others as he waited. Tight, black jeans, a leather belt with a heavy silver buckle, and a white T-shirt displaying his strong forearms. With his heavy boots, and black leather jacket, the bad boy vibes were impossible to miss. Luca smirked. On any other man, it would have been a carefully put together, conscious look, but Adrian wasn’t any man. As though aware of Luca’s scrutiny, Adrian turned, his dark eyes meeting Luca’s and narrowing slightly.

Luca glanced away, his equilibrium disturbed. He’d been caught staring, and he had the unsettling feeling Adrian had known exactly what it was he’d been thinking.

Adrian put down the drinks, another GT for Luca, and what looked like a Bloody Mary for himself.

“Tomato juice,” Adrian said, with a wry smile.

“About the lift, I appreciate the offer, but?—”

“There’s no but. I said I’m taking you back, so that’s what I’m doing.”

No argument, no discussion, it was a done deal. Luca knew he should be irritated by Adrian’s highhandedness, yet somehow that’s not what it felt like. Instead, it was a bald statement of fact, impossible to refute or argue against.

“So how did you get roped onto the organising committee for the fête? Something of that nature doesn’t strike me as being your kind of thing, if I’m being honest.”

Adrian groaned. “Eva. That woman’s a tour de force. I need to speak to her, to tell her I’m resigning.” He looked around, but Eva was nowhere to be seen.

Luca laughed, and raised his glass in salute. “All I can do is wish you luck. Jonathan’s idea for the fête to showcase local eateries is a good one?—”

Adrian huffed. “Don’t you mean festival?”

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called, but the idea’s sound. He may have gone a bit overboard with the whole destination event thing, but?—”

“I don’t disagree, or not entirely. But he’s just another example of somebody who’s not been here for more than five minutes coming in and imposing himself. Like I said in the meeting, it’s a village fête, not an upmarket foodie event aimed at outsiders.” Adrian crossed his arms over his chest.

Discussion over. End of. Irritation flared in Luca’s chest.

“I think he had some good ideas. He wants to make sure it’s a success, just like we all do. Fresh and original thinking is something to be welcomed rather than scoffed at. And as a member of the organising committee, he’s got every right to throw ideas into the ring. That’s how organising committees work. I really don’t see him as imposing himself.” Luca pulled out his phone, scrolling for Barry’s Cabs. A clapped out saloon car or not, it was preferable to an awkward, ill-tempered lift back from Adrian bloody Hardy.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Barry’s. Thanks for the offer, but it takes you too far out of your way.”

Barry’s Cabs. All our drivers are currently out on calls…

Sodding hell.

“Look, I apologise, okay? I shouldn’t have taken a pop at your boyfriend, even though I stand by what I said.”

“Excuse me?”

“Jonathan Owen-Jones. Your boyfriend.” Adrian’s lips puckered, making him look as though he were sucking on a particularly sour lemon.

Luca resisted the urge to laugh but whether it was in amusement or incredulity, he wasn’t sure. Boyfriend… his stomach knotted. Why wouldn’t Adrian think that? Why wouldn’t anybody?

“Jonathan’s not my boyfriend.”

“That’s not what he thinks.”

Another bubble of irritation burst inside of Luca. Jonathan and Adrian, they were both wrong, making assumptions they had no damn right to make.

“Jonathan’s a friend, and that’s all. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Adrian’s tightly crossed arms slipped undone. His lips turned up in a not quite smile, but it was enough to thaw his icy, hard expression “True enough. I think you’ve already cottoned on to tact not being one of my strong points.”

“Well, you can say that again.” Luca tried to sound affronted, but his irritation was deflating like a burst tyre. He sighed. “Alex introduced me to him soon after I arrived — thought I’d like him and that we’d have a lot in common.”

“And do you?”

Luca’s breath caught in his throat. Everything about Adrian was still as he watched him carefully, seeming to see beyond the surface. Luca’s skin tingled, and he took a sip of his drink, unsure why he needed to buy time before he answered.

“Like him, or have a lot in common?”

“You tell me.”

Luca didn’t have to, he really didn’t have to, because whatever he did, whom ever he liked, it was none of Adrian’s?—

“He’s a friend, so yes, of course I like him.” This was none of Adrian’s business, the man had no right to ask, to pick away at him. He didn’t have to answer any of Adrian’s questions… “He’s a very nice man. We share a lot of interests. The way friends do.” Why did that sound like so much faint praise?

“Nice?” Adrian cocked a brow. “That’s a ringing endorsement. It’s up there with ‘pleasant’.”

“And what’s wrong with that? There are a lot worse things a person can be.” Luca threw the words out with more force than he’d meant. What he wouldn’t have given for nice and pleasant not so long ago, no matter how dull those words may have sounded.

“I’m sorry,” Adrian said, his voice gruff. “I’ve offended you and I didn’t mean to. And you’re right, it isn’t my business.” He downed the rest of his drink before he got up. “Come on, I’ll take you back.”Adrian was already striding towards the door and, as another burst of thunder crashed above the pub, Luca raced to follow.