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Holly forced herself to open her eyes again and her heart thudded as she saw just how near he was. He lay on his side, watching her closely, the muscles of one shoulder bunching as he supported his weight. His hard jaw was rough with dark stubble and he looked overwhelmingly masculine and very, very sexy.
‘So go on.’ His voice was gruff. ‘Why are you so shy with me? You weren’t shy last night.’
His blatant reminder of what they’d shared made her face heat and she was embarrassingly aware of every delicious ache and tingle in her body, unfamiliar sensations that his loving had induced.
‘You know why,’ she mumbled, her face scarlet. ‘Because we—we—and I don’t know what happens now.’
There was a pause while he watched her.
‘Why don’t you tell me what you’d like to happen,’ he said carefully, the expression on his handsome face giving nothing away.
What would she like to happen?
She’d like him to tell her that he loved her, but that was ridiculous, of course. Mark would never love her. At least, not like that. In fact, after last night—after what she’d done—she wasn’t even confident that he would even love her as a friend any more.
Which brought her to another problem. Mark had a sharp brain. It would take him no time at all to put two and two together and work out that for her to have seduced him—behaviour so totally out of character—she must be in love with him. She had to convince him that she’d just been reacting to an emotional situation. Their whole friendship depended on it.
‘I want us to stay friends,’ she told him firmly, mentally crossing her fingers, hoping that he’d believe her. The incredulous lift of one eyebrow confirmed that it wasn’t going to be that easy.
‘Friends?’ He stared at Holly for a long time, his gaze probing. ‘You want us to stay friends?’
She swallowed hard. Obviously he didn’t believe that that was what she wanted at all. Which meant she had some serious work to do if she wanted to convince him. And she did want to convince him. No way could she have Mark knowing how she truly felt. He?
??d run a mile.
After all, none of this was Mark’s fault. He’d tried to refuse her, but she’d seduced him. He’d just been comforting her, and she’d taken advantage, knowing that he was too much of a gentleman to refuse her. It was all her fault. If she hadn’t been upset...
And now she’d put him in an impossible position, so it was up to her to rescue the situation. To try and make things easy for him.
‘Of course, Mark. Friends. What else?’ With a decisive movement she tried to scramble out of the bed, only to fall back onto the mattress as Mark grabbed her wrist and pulled her down again.
‘No way.’ He rolled himself half on top of her, using his considerable strength to stop her from escaping. ‘We haven’t finished talking.’
Holly squeezed her eyes tightly shut, her heart thudding as she felt his hard body against hers. This was the worst kind of torture. She really didn’t need such an intimate reminder of how his body felt.
‘There isn’t anything to say, Mark.’
He swore under his breath. ‘If you close your eyes one more time—’
She opened her eyes. ‘Let’s just forget it—please. As far as I’m concerned, nothing has changed between us.’
After all, that was what he wanted to hear, wasn’t it? He didn’t want to hear her declaring undying love.
There was a long silence while he stared down at her, a muscle working in his lean jaw. ‘You’re serious? You’re asking me to forget it?’
She swallowed hard. ‘Yes.’
His breathing was unsteady and suddenly his dark eyes were searching. Looking for the truth. ‘Is that really what you want?’
No. But it was what he wanted. She knew that.
‘I just want things to be how they were,’ she whispered, knowing that things would never again be how they were. ‘I want to put the clock back. I want us to be friends—’
‘Friends. You keep using that word.’ His hard jaw seemed to clench slightly. ‘So what do we do about last night?’
‘We forget it. Last night was my fault,’ Holly said bravely. ‘You never would have touched me if I hadn’t been upset. You were just...comforting me, and it got out of hand.’
‘Are you saying that you regret it Holly?’
