AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He felt his face heat and belatedly realised there wasn’t enough alcohol in his system for this conversation. ‘That probably had something to do with it, yes,’ he admitted.
‘Such a shame.’ She let out a long, wistful sounding sigh. ‘But it’s probably just as well we stopped,’ she continued, running a finger lazily across the rim of her glass. It didn’t take much to imagine that finger running over his body. ‘Sex with me would have been a real let down.’
He almost choked on the large swallow of wine he’d taken. ‘Pardon?’
She shrugged, sipping at her own glass. Clearly drink made her gloriously, frighteningly, uninhibited. ‘I’ve never been any good at it. Sex, I mean.’
This time he couldn’t stop himself from spluttering.
She gave him a hard stare. ‘It’s not funny, you know.’
‘I’m not laughing, believe me.’ He took a deep breath, both to clear the wine from his lungs and to gather his wits. ‘What you’re saying is rubbish,’ he ventured finally. ‘It’s not a question of being good or not. Just whether you’re doing it with the right person.’ He cringed. ‘And I didn’t mean that as a come on.’
She giggled. ‘I know. I thought maybe after all that business with Charles I’d never want a man near me ever again, but, well . . . that kiss was pretty hot.’
His heart hammered wildly in his chest. ‘That’s good to know.’
‘Would it have got hotter? You know, if we’d carried on.’
Hell’s teeth. How was his heart not exploding? ‘I’ve not had any complaints so far.’
* * *
Somewhere in the back of Lizzie’s mind there was a voice telling her to shut up, but she was in too much of an alcohol induced high to listen. ‘I remember asking you to make love to me once. You turned me down.’
‘Of course I turned you down. You didn’t want me, just a willing male body.’
‘Why do you say that?’ Her fogged brain tried to grasp both what he’d said, and what he hadn’t.
‘It doesn’t matter.’
Even her pickled brain registered his closed off, I’m not discussing this, expression. ‘Most men wouldn’t have said no.’
‘I’m not most men.’
‘No, you’re certainly not.’ For a few heartbeats their eyes clashed. Unspoken emotions swirled in his and she regretted being so drunk she couldn’t fathom them. When he broke the connection, staring down at his hands, it only encouraged the devil in her to goad him more. ‘You’ll be pleased to know I did manage to find someone willing to . . . what’s the term they use? Debunk . . . oops, no, deflower me. Such a stupid phrase. I mean, it’s not like I was a pansy and he came along and pulled my head off.’ She giggled at her description. ‘Mind you, his technique wasn’t all that much better . . .’
Nick’s hand shot up. ‘Stop right there, please. This conversation has gone way beyond my comfort zone.’
‘Really?’ He was looking pretty uncomfortable, but she was on a roll. ‘So you’re not interested in who got the job you turned down?’ His face paled even further and even drunk Lizzie realised she’d gone too far. That was the trouble when a pissed extrovert tried talking to a sober introvert.
‘No, I’m not,’ he replied tightly, shooting up to his feet. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m shattered. I’m off to bed.’
‘Is that an invitation?’ Oh God. Please, someone, stop her mouth coming out with words her mind hadn’t sanctioned.
‘You know it’s not.’
He looked so stiff and awkward, the drunk side of her wanted to giggle again. ‘Well, for the record, that’s the second time you’ve turned me down.’
Hands on hips, he raised his eyes heavenwards. When he finally lowered them again — he must have been counting to ten — his voice was slow and almost eerily calm. ‘Just to be clear. I’m not turning you down. We’re not having this conversation. You’re drunk and you don’t know what you’re saying.’
‘Maybe.’ She reached for her drink, the party girl in her not ready to stop. ‘Or maybe I still remember how hot it felt when you kissed me.’
She watched as Nick’s gaze travelled down from her eyes and rested on her lips. Automatically they parted, wanting to feel not just the heat of his gaze, but of his mouth, his tongue. His breath against her neck.
‘Exactly how drunk are you?’ he asked roughly, reaching to pull her to her feet.
‘A teeny bit.’ She started to sway and her fingers clutched at his arm, wrapping them round his hard bicep. Arousal rushed through her. ‘Oops, maybe a tiny bit more than a teeny bit, if you know what I mean.’
