PASSPORT TO PASSION: PART TWO

Daniel's voice was level, his face expressionless. Only the tiny muscle twitching at the base of his jaw betrayed his anger.

Jake shot a bemused look at Lisa, before striding out of the room.

"I didn't realise I'd be so easy to replace," said Daniel. "I haven't..." Lisa replied.

He nodded tersely towards the doorway where Lisa had been so recently - and passionately - silhouetted, kissing Jake. "You sure about that?"

Lisa flinched. The pain in his eyes was clear. "Daniel..."

He glared at her. In an instant, her guilt was replaced by anger. He was the one who'd kissed that skinny toothpick from Accounts. He'd suggested they take time to "think things over" when she'd confronted him with the smoking-gun video on Facebook. And now, after a month apart and no contact, he'd suddenly turned up acting all betrayed?

"I'm sorry, Daniel," she said, trying to control her temper. "But what did you expect?"

"I expected you to wait until the bed was cold first," he said.

Her hairbrush thwacked against the door as it slammed behind him. Damn him! Damn him for breaking her heart, and for turning up just as she was putting herself back together. And despite having spent the last few blissful weeks with wild, sexy Jake, damn her for still caring about him.

But whatever he'd done, you couldn't throw away six years. They'd shared so much, the good times and the bad, and that didn't fade overnight.

It was dawn before she fell into a fitful sleep. When she woke at 8am, she glanced in the mirror and realised she looked as bad as she felt.

There was no sign of Daniel when she went down to the taverna. Her aunt Mel hadn't seen him, although she arched a knowing eyebrow when Lisa described the previous night's drama.

"Very Romeo And Juliet," she observed. "Come on, Lisa, don't look at me like that. He must still feel something or he wouldn't have come all this way to see you. The real question is: how do you feel about him?"

Lisa didn't reply, because she didn't know any more. Since she'd arrived in Corfu, she'd started to enjoy her freedom. Being with Jake had made her realise what she'd been missing. The truth was, she'd been stuck in a rut at home, both with her job and Daniel. If he'd come out to win her back, she wasn't sure she wanted him any more.

And she couldn't give Jake the answers he wanted, either, when he sought her out on the beach that afternoon.

"I thought you told me it was over between you two?" he hissed, crouching down on the sand beside her.

"I did. It is," Lisa said.

"So what's he doing here?" Jake retorted.

"I have no idea. I haven't had a chance to ask him." She sat up, fiddling with her bikini top. "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"Of him? No way. Absolutely not."

"You are!" Lisa teased him.

"What time do you finish at the taverna tonight? I'll pick you up."

Her smile faded. "Look, I didn't sleep much last night..."

"I bet you didn't."

"How dare you! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"Sorry." He rubbed the stubble along his jaw. She tried not to notice how sexy he looked when he was brooding. "I didn't mean that. Look, how about we go for a ride on my bike tomorrow? I know a gorgeous beach you can only reach by..."

"I'm sorry, Jake," Lisa said. "I need time to get my head around all of this."

He stood up. "Fine. You do that."

He strode off without looking back. Lisa bit her lip. She knew she'd hurt him, just as she knew his presence had really wounded Daniel last night. She'd never thought of herself as a femme fatale, but suddenly she was at the centre of a ridiculous love triangle. So why did she have the nasty feeling she was the one who was going to end up screwed?

null

When she got back from the beach, Daniel was sitting on the stone staircase outside her room.

"I thought I'd better wait outside this time," he said stiffly.

She glanced over her shoulder. A distant plume of smoke blotted the skyline: one of the small wildfires Mel had told her about. A sharp breeze whipped her bare legs. She shivered.

She climbed past without looking at him. "I need to take a shower, then we'll talk. You'd better come in."

Ten minutes later, when she emerged wrapped in a towel, Daniel was sitting on her bed.

"I made a mistake." He jumped up, his words tumbling over themselves. "Please listen. What happened with that girl back home - it didn't mean anything. It was just a kiss."

He put his hands on her bare shoulders, forcing her to look at him. He smelled of soap and eucalyptus. Familiar. Safe. "Lisa, I love you. I didn't know how much until you left."

Gently, he tucked a wet tendril of hair behind her ear - a gesture he'd repeated a thousand times in the past.

"I've missed you so much," he whispered, drawing her against him and tracing her spine with his thumb. Her towel fell to the floor. Lisa realised she'd known this was going to happen...

His hands slid down her body, as he eased her back towards the bed. Her fingers undid his belt, then walked up his chest and unbuttoned his shirt. They slid beneath his boxers and she pulled him towards her.

As they made love, she looked into his eyes, but it was Jake she saw. Jake, with his wicked, knowing smile and that way he had of touching her that made her explode. She'd never had that kind of passion with Daniel.

Afterwards, Lisa got up and started to pull on her clothes. "You have to leave," she said, throwing Daniel his jeans, unable to look him in the eye. "I need to help Mel set up for the evening."

He dressed and swiftly followed her down to the taverna. Lisa ignored him, reaching for a stack of plates. "Let me help," Daniel said.

"I don't need any help," she retorted.

He tried to take them from her. "It's OK, I don't mind."

"If she says she doesn't need any help, she doesn't need any help," a voice said behind them.

Lisa whirled around. Jake stood in the doorway. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest.

"And you'd know what she needs, would you?" Daniel said.

"More than you, it seems," Jake retorted.

"That's not what she was saying five minutes ago. In bed," Daniel said.

Jake's eyes narrowed. "She doesn't look like a girl who's just had all her needs met."

"You've got a bloody nerve..."

"Oh, for God's sake!" Lisa cried. "You're like a pair of kids!"

She dumped the plates in Daniel's arms and ran, heading up behind the taverna and taking the path to the olive groves.

She started to pant as the climb steepened. Her hair got in her eyes and she stumbled over rocks. Her head was spinning. She'd known all along Daniel's kiss with the girl from Accounts hadn't meant anything. She'd turned the flat upside-down looking for evidence of an affair, and hadn't found anything. So why had she run off to Corfu without letting him explain?

Daniel hadn't left her at all. She'd left him.

The realisation brought her up short. She glanced around, realising she'd climbed further than she'd thought. The wind whipped her hair round her face, bringing with it the tang of salt. And smoke.

She could hear the wildfire now, above the wind and waves. And the crackle of flames eating everything in their path.

She couldn't believe how fast it moved. She started to run back towards the village. Every time she checked over her shoulder, the fire was closer. Smoke was billowing in her direction, making it difficult to see where she was going.

Suddenly, she screamed. She was on the edge of a sheer cliff. The sea was a hundred feet below her, with no way down.

She dropped to the ground, knowing it would be easier to breathe. Tears streamed down her face as she clawed her way along the mountainside on her hands and knees.

"Lisa!"

She raised her head as Jake roared out of the smoke on his motorbike towards her. With one arm, he scooped her up.

"Hang on tight!" Jake yelled.

She clutched his jacket in terror. Then the bike swerved and Jake fought to keep it upright.

"I can't get back down the path!" he shouted. "We're cut off! There's a stone goat shed above the fire line - if we can get to it, we should be safe!"

He made for the blackened hills above them. Lisa could see the stone outhouse on a sweep of mountainside untouched by the fire.

As soon as they reached it, Jake dropped the bike and pulled her into the shed, holding her against his chest. For a long moment, neither of them said anything.

Jake had saved her life. Not just now, but over the past few weeks. He'd made her see what had been missing in her relationship with Daniel. How could you have love without passion? She and Daniel were friends, but that was all.

What she felt for Jake wasn't just a physical thing. She was falling in love with him.

"Jake," she whispered. "About Daniel..." "It's OK," he said. "I get it. You had to know."

But she didn't know how Jake felt. Maybe this was just a holiday fling to him.

Then he said: "Listen, Spiro's bar... it's for sale. Are you interested in becoming a partner with me?"

For a while, she couldn't take it in. "You're buying the bar?"

"Well," he smiled, "that rather depends on you. I'll put up the money, of course. But I need you to help me run it."

"You want me to be your - your partner?"

"My sleeping partner!" he blurted, laughing out loud. Seeing the confusion on her face, he became serious again.

"Do I have to spell it out, Lisa? I want you to be my partner in life. I love you. I want to be with you, wherever that happens to be. I figured a romantic Greek island would be a good place to start, but hey, if that doesn't work for you..."

''It works for me," Lisa gasped. "I mean, I don't have to go back to England. I don't have anything to go back for."

"That's good to know," Jake said. "Because I never want to let you go."

"Never is a long time."

"Oh, I do hope so." And then he kissed her...

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• Tess Stimson's latest novel The Cradle Snatcher (Pan Macmillan, £6.99) is out now.

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