“I’m offering you a little bit more than that.” She gave a slow, wicked smile. “Friends with benefits.”
“I seem to recall that last night you called me brooding, cynical, sarcastic and arrogant.”
Her smile widened. “I think I might also have mentioned your biceps.” She lifted her hand and hooked the front of his shirt with her fingers. “With a body like yours, I’m willing to ignore the flaws in your personality. This may have escaped your notice, Shipwreck Hunter, but I find you very sexy.”
His blood was pounding. The atmosphere in the room was meltingly hot and heavy.
“Perhaps you’re not my type.”
Her smile faded but her fingers stayed locked in his shirt. “I saw a photo, Alec,” she said softly. “I look like her. She’s more delicate, of course, thinner, but overall there is a strong resemblance. That’s why you’ve always been so angry around me, isn’t it? You look at me and you think of her.”
Right now he wasn’t thinking of anything much. She was standing so close to him, his brain had virtually shut down.
“Someone showed you a photograph of Selina?”
“No. It fell out of a book I was flicking through. I’m like her.”
“You’re nothing like her.” And that, he thought, is the most dangerous aspect of the attraction.
“You mean because she’d never threaten to put her stiletto through your balls?”
“She wouldn’t be so direct.”
“Is that why you’re so wary?” She looked at him thoughtfully, head tilted, her gaze frank. “You never quite knew what demands she’d make, is that right?”
He sighed. “How many different ways do I have to tell you that I don’t want to talk about her?”
She didn’t seem to hear him. “That’s why you made that comment about feeling as if you couldn’t live up to her expectations. She was full of demands that you just couldn’t meet. You couldn’t please her, could you?”
“Are you finished?”
“No.” She let go of his shirt and paced across the room and when she turned there was a frown on her face. “Being with her totally put you off relationships and, worse than that, now you never take anything at face value. A kiss can’t be just a kiss. You’re always looking for hidden meaning.” She tapped her finger to her mouth, thinking. “She twisted you inside out, made you dance through hoops. She kept you off balance. Being with her was never soothing, or fun, it was like navigating an assault course. There were always obstacles, tasks to perform.”
Her insight was unsettling. “Leave it.”
“Will you answer me one question? Are you still in love with her?”
His mouth was dry. He felt more naked than he ever had with his clothes off. “I was never in love with her.”
There was a long, pulsing silence.
“And that eats you up, right?” She spoke slowly. “You feel guilty about that, because you’re a decent guy and you couldn’t ever give her what she wanted. Be what she wanted. But no one could, Alec. You got involved with blender woman.”
“Blender woman?”
“Yeah—chops you up, spins you round, makes a total mess of you until you come out completely changed from how you were when you went into the relationship. And because of that, now when you meet a woman you find attractive the first thing you wonder is whether it’s worth the risk. What if you give her your number and she uses it to call you a hundred times a day? Maybe it’s just sex, but what if it isn’t and sleeping together gives her unrealistic expectations? You start thinking like that and pretty soon all those what-ifs act like contraception. It’s not worth it.”
“You’re right. It’s not worth it.”
“Not all relationships have to be complicated, Alec. Sometimes they can be fun. Sometimes people are who they seem to be and want what they say they want. Not all women are like Selina, any more than all men are like Richard. Are you really going to live life with one eye always on the past, because I don’t think you’re that type of guy.”
“It’s called learning from your mistakes.”
“It’s called being a dumbass.” But she was smiling and that smile snapped something inside him.
He could no longer remember why he was holding back and he crossed the room in two strides and hauled her against him. He saw her eyes grow wide and then he buried his hands in her glorious hair, and brought his mouth down on hers in an aggressive kiss. She melted into him and he felt her arms wind round his neck, dragging him closer. Her mouth opened under the fierce pressure of his and he tasted the delicious, sugar-coated flavor of her, the addictive fusion of sweetness and heat, the warmth of her breath and the erotic slide of her tongue. Desire jolted through him and she purred deep in her throat.
“I’m so glad you agree with me.”