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He seemed to be waiting for her to weigh in. “Well, on the last question, I hope it is going to happen again.”
If his face had shuttered before, now it looked like someone had let a little light in. “You do?”
“I do, but only if we can answer the first satisfactorily.”
“What this is...” He trailed off. “What is this?”
“You tell me.”
“Well, I suppose it’s a time-limited affair. How would you characterize it?”
“I was going to say a hookup, but your way sounds posher.” She put on an exaggerated fancy accent. “A time-limited affair.” She reverted to her normal voice. “Whatever we’re calling it, I’m in, as long as it doesn’t upend things.”
“Well, you’re headed back home in a matter of days.”
“Professionally. I meant it can’t upend things professionally.”
“Right. Of course. That goes without saying. We simply need to cordon off our activities from the business of Morneau.”
He made it sound so easy. Which it was. All right. What next? Should they shake on it? Last time they shook hands had been in the spa, and that had been very... unsettling.
“We also need condoms,” he said, his eyes twinkling for a moment before his expression turned serious. “Assuming you would like to do things that require condoms.”
“I would like to do things that require condoms,” she said, so quickly it made them both laugh.
“It’s a date.”
It actually was this time. Sort of.
“This will sound like a non sequitur, but you haven’t seen the bathroom yet. I have quite a nice bathtub, if I do say so myself. Would you care to avail yourself of it before you leave?”
Before she left.
So that meant he expected her to leave.
Which was fine.
It was good! It was tangible evidence that they were on the same page about the nature of the time-limited affair.
She just might have thought, given that it was late, and that they had sleigh-riding plans tomorrow morning, he would suggestshe stay over. She was perfectly capable of doing that and not having it mean anything. But his way was better. Cleaner. “I would love to avail myself of your bathtub before I go, thank you.”
He pointed at a pair of sliding, barn-style doors on one end of the loftlike space. “It’s the left door. There are towels in the cabinet under the sink, and in the shower you’ll find some body wash that may work as bubble bath if that’s of interest.”
Okay, then. His meaning couldn’t be any clearer. Time to get out of the dude’s bed. Sofa. She hadn’t been in the bed yet. She eyed it. It looked really comfy.
“Would you like me to bring you a cup of tea once you get settled? Or perhaps another glass of wine? I’ll drop it off and go, and leave you to enjoy your bath.”
Man, this guy was too much. But she was going to enjoy it while she had it. “A cup of tea would be wonderful, thank you.”
His phone rang. “I’m sorry, I have to take this. I’ll be in with your tea in a bit.” He got up and left through the front door. She heard him say, “What happened to the geese?” as he shut it behind him, and she smiled. The life of an equerry.
She heaved herself up and headed for the bathroom. Except she slid open the wrong door. It was a storage closet. Oddly, it was full of books and candles. The books were all in French or German, but she could tell there were a variety of types here—novels and picture books and cookbooks.
She picked up the nearest candle. She couldn’t read what was written on it, but she gave it a sniff. Cranberry. The next one was cinnamon.
Oh my god! Was Matteo the mysterious Eldovian Santa?
No. She disregarded the idea as soon as it came up. While helping people anonymously was exactly in his nature, there was no way he had time. And anyway, he spent Christmas Eve at the ball.
