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‘Yolanda—do you think she believed us?’
‘You really know how to play smoke and mirrors, don’t you?’ he accused. ‘Hey, let’s focus on the most irrelevant detail, why don’t we?’
‘The party is the reason I’m here.’ Mary’s voice was starting to rise, and she wasn’t used to the sound of it doing that. ‘And if we’re going to sort something out by tomorrow then—’
‘Thereisno tomorrow.’
‘Wecansort it out,’ she insisted. ‘Talk it through.’
‘Talk what through?’
‘I just need to know what you’re thinking.’
‘Mary, you’re asking me to talk to you, to tell you what I’m thinking. You want to discuss this as if it were some sort of relationship in need of rescue, when it’s absolutely not. The only thing I need to know is, did I hurt you?’
‘No.’
‘Was I too rough?’
‘You weren’t rough,’ Mary said. ‘If you’d known the truth you’d have taken things slower, but it was actuallyverynice...’
‘If I’d known,’ Costa responded tartly, ignoring the last part, ‘then, believe me, you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Oh, so you’d prefer a more experienced date?’
‘Why are you here, Mary?’ He turned and bluntly asked her. ‘Money?’
She nodded.
‘Anything else?’
‘A weekend of sun and a party.’
‘And?’
‘Sex.’
‘I made it very clear I was hiring you to act as my girlfriend. Brilliant acting skills, by the way—the perfume, learning some Greek...’
‘I took it seriously,’ Mary answered primly, trying to hide the little alarms that were being triggered as he approached her landmine zones. She’d actually been herself—and he’d clearly loathed it. ‘Method acting, I think they call it. I got a book once from—’
‘The library?’ he finished for her.
‘I’m sorry if I misled you.’
‘Misled?You’re a liar, Mary,’ he told her, ‘and a very good one. And that is entirely your prerogative. I’m not judging you. I’ve lied to get ahead too. But may I suggest you don’t attempt no-strings sex when you have no idea what’s involved?’
‘I wanted no-strings sex, though.’ She heard his angry hiss. ‘I honestly did. I like how you make me feel and I wanted a weekend of fun and a party and making love...’
‘Let’s stop right there. Because not only do I not “make love”, but in the middle of the no-strings sex you say you want, clearly you changed your mind.’
She was silent.
‘You knew you were out of your depth.’
‘No.’
‘Yes,’ he insisted. ‘Iwasin the pool with you, Mary...’
