The Seduction Challenge

‘Do we need to swab her again to check that the antibiotics have worked?’

Joel shook his head. ‘Not unless she’s still got symptoms. But of course we don’t know what else the girl might have caught. When I see her I’ll try and persuade her to go to the clinic.’ He stared at her for a long moment and then he gave a hesitant smile. ‘Lucy, we really need to talk. About us being friends—’

‘It’s what we both want, Joel, you know that,’ she said quickly, backing towards the door and glancing at her watch. ‘Sam’s going to a friend’s to play after school so I’m working late today. Give me a knock when you get home.’

With that she left the room, uncomfortably aware that there was a tension between them that hadn’t been there before.

Friends.

Joel couldn’t believe that Lucy still only wanted to be friends after what they’d shared.

Had their night together really meant so little to her?

He’d made love plenty of times before, but he’d never experienced anything like the intensity of feeling he’d shared with Lucy.

So what did that mean?

He still wasn’t sure, but he knew that it had nothing to do with friendship.

Joel looked up in surprise as Nick stormed into the room without knocking.

‘Now what?’ He looked at his brother with a weary smile, guessing what was coming.

Nick planted his fists on the desk and glared at him menacingly. ‘Tina said you spent the night with Lucy on Saturday.’

Joel was silent for a moment and when he finally spoke his voice was soft. ‘That is none of your business.’

‘So it’s true.’ Nick shook his head in disbelief, a look of contempt in his eyes. ‘Dammit, Joel, we warned you! How could you, man? She’s a child!’

‘She is not a child.’ Joel remembered the soft curves and her incredibly excited response to his love-making. ‘Inexperienced, maybe. A child, most definitely not.’

‘Well, I hope you’re pleased with yourself.’ Nick glared at him. ‘What was she? Just one more notch on your bedpost? You make me sick!’

‘Hold on a moment.’ Joel shot to his feet in a lithe movement, his voice a low growl as he struggled with his temper. ‘She was not a notch on my bedpost.’

Nick lifted an eyebrow. ‘No? What was she, then?’

The two brothers glared at each other and Joel swore under his breath.

‘I didn’t do anything she didn’t want—’

Nick made an impatient sound. ‘But you made her want it, Joel! You can charm the birds from the trees. I can’t believe you used Lucy like that.’

Joel gritted his teeth. ‘I did not use her!’

‘You’re telling me you want a proper relationship with her?’

Joel stared at his brother and then sat back down in his chair with a thump, realising with startling clarity that that was exactly what he wanted.

‘There’s nothing I’d like more,’ he said wearily, a wry smile touching his mouth as he registered the astonishment on his brother’s face. ‘Ironic,

isn’t it? I finally meet Miss Right and she doesn’t want anything to do with me. Or, to be more precise, she just wants to be my friend.’

Nick was staring at him in stunned silence. ‘After what happened at the weekend, she just wants to be your friend? Are you serious?’

‘Completely serious.’ Joel ran a hand over his face and sighed. ‘And I don’t know how to handle it, Nick.’

The anger faded from his brother’s face, to be replaced by a hint of amusement. ‘Are you seriously telling me that you’ve finally fallen for someone?’