Read What the Lightning Sees: Part Two for Free Online Page A

attractive. Though, his photograph hadn’t told me how short he was.
    “Haven? Hi, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You look beautiful.”
    My cheeks heated. I felt anything but. I felt fake and overly made up but he was hardly going to say anything else, was he?
    “Thank you. I thought we could just get the photographs out of the way and then enjoy our evening, if that’s all right with you?” I tried to sound enthusiastic about our evening. I didn’t want Jake to think my mind would be on anything but Gerald. I wanted Jake to think that I was looking forward to spending time with someone else.
    “Sure thing,” Gerald said.
    “Why don’t you guys just have a drink and get to know each other. Pretend I’m not here,” Jake said, his normal collected self. I wished I hadn’t mentioned him bringing his date to the club. If he was unaffected by this situation then I was going to do my best to match his indifference.
    Gerald may not have been my type, but I wasn’t going to give Jake the satisfaction of giving any of that away in my interaction with him. This was a job and I was good at it.
    I was laughing overly hard at something Gerald had said when Jake approached the table.
    “I think I have what I need, so I’m going to leave you to it. Have a wonderful evening. Good to meet you, Gerald,” he said. He shook Gerald’s hand and gave me a nod before leaving.
    “Where do you live?” Gerald asked me.
    “Little Venice. What about you?”
    “I have a place by Hyde Park. And then a place in Surrey. And a small pad in New York.”
    I laughed to myself. I didn’t think he was really interested in where I lived. Was his question simply an opportunity for him to tell me all about how wealthy he was? Perhaps that was what women expected and wanted when they joined Glass Introductions. Or perhaps he just wanted me to like him.
    “Do you travel much?” he asked.
    “I love Paris,” I said before I’d thought about it. It was true; I just didn’t like to think about why.
    “You do?” he said.
    I smiled. “It’s a beautiful city. I was there recently for work.” I shouldn’t have brought up Paris. I needed to change this subject. “What do you like to do in your spare time?” I spotted Jake moving toward the door of the bar. I followed his line of sight and came to possibly the best-looking woman I’d ever seen. She was tall and very slender with a chest small enough to be natural but big enough for men to notice. She had long, silky black hair and eyes that screamed wild. She wasn’t dressed up as Millie had been. She wore skinny jeans, a silk vest and killer heels. Of course that was Jake’s date. It couldn’t possibly be anyone else.
    “Do you like to ski?” Gerald asked.
    I hadn’t been listening. I turned my attention back to him. “Not really. I never learned as a child and I think it’s hard to start as an adult. I’ve only been a couple of times.”
    Jake had never struck me as a boob man in particular. He’d seemed to like every part of my body equally.
    “Skiing in the US is better than Europe. There’s just more space,” Gerald said.
    “Do you go a lot?” I asked.
    Jake took a table at the other end of the bar, so once he was seated I couldn’t see him or his date. Good, I should be focusing on Gerald.
    “As much as I can. Aspen mainly, but other resorts in Colorado and sometimes Whistler. I like to mix it up. I have a lot of friends who ski and a couple of them have places, so if I’m visiting them I get to go to different areas.”
    “Sounds fun.” I smiled.
    “It is. My job can be stressful, so it’s good to blow off steam. And the après-ski always helps.”
    “That’s the bit I’m better at.”
    He laughed as Belinda approached our table. “Would you like to go through to the restaurant?” she asked.
    I nodded and we stood up. I took the opportunity to steal a glance at Jake and Queen of the Glamazons. They were hunched toward each other over the table, much closer