‘I can see why you’re in marketing.’ A sudden need to defend his position overcame him. ‘I’ve had no complaints so far. I’m upfront, and I’m excellent boyfriend material. In fact next time I’m in the market for a girlfriend I’ll give you a call to represent me.’
‘No can do. I’m not sure I approve of the product.’
‘Ha-ha!’ Though he was pretty sure she wasn’t joking.
She tipped her head to one side. ‘So at the beginning of a relationship you tell a woman there can be no future in it but they all date you anyway?’ Her tone indicated pure bafflement.
‘Not all. Some women decline to take it beyond the first date, and I’m good with that. Others are happy with what’s on offer.’
‘So for you every relationship is a deal?’
‘Yes. That makes sense to me.’ And he wasn’t about to apologise for it. ‘There’s no point starting a relationship if you both want completely different things. That’s a sure-fire path to hurt and angst.’
A shadow crossed her face. ‘Maybe you’re right.’ A quick shake of her head and she pushed her plate away, rested her elbows on the table and propped her chin in her hands. She watched him with evident fascination. ‘So then what happens? You both set out your terms and then what?’
Aware of a slight sense of defensiveness, he continued. ‘We go on another date and take things from there...’
‘Take things where? If you both know there’s no future, there is no destination.’
‘That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the journey. Because it’s not the future that is important. It’s the here and now.’
Stefan had spent all his childhood focused on the future because his present had sucked. It had then turned out that the future he’d pictured hadn’t panned out either. So now he figured it was all about optimising the present.
‘If you spend all your time homing in on the future you never actually enjoy the here and now.’
‘So if the two of you keep on enjoying the “here and now”, why curtail that enjoyment? You may as well keep going on into the future.’
‘Never happened. I guess I like variety.’ Even he cringed as he said it, but better to see the distaste that glinted in her eyes than pretend anything different. ‘And so do the women I spend time with. I do my best to get involved with women with the same outlook as me. For the record, sometimes she ends it first—she opts to move on. Maybe to someone who has an interest in being seen, making headlines. Someone who wants to take extended holidays in the latest celeb hotspot.’
‘So essentially you use each other and then trade in for a different model?’
‘It works for me.’
He would never risk the idea that a woman’s expectations might change, so it was always better to end it early so no one got hurt.
‘On your terms?’
‘On agreed terms. All we want is a good physical connection and some conversational sparkle over the dinner table every so often.’
‘Define “every so often”.’
‘Once a week...once a fortnight. Depends on work commitments—hers and mine.’
There was a moment of silence—an instant during which Holly’s eyes widened and looked almost dreamy, as if she were contemplating the whole idea. His heart-rate quickened and once again a wish that this was a date, that this conversation wasn’t theoretical, pulsed through him. The urge to reach out, to take her hand, pull her up from the table and take her upstairs nearly overwhelmed him, and as her gaze met his he could feel his legs tense to propel him off his seat.
Whoa. Easy, Petrelli.
He didn’t even know what her relationship criteria were. Whilst he’d been leaking information like a sieve he had no idea of her status.
‘So what about you?’
‘What about me?’
‘What’s your relationship slogan?’
‘Holly Romano: uninterested, unavailable and un... something else. I’m on a relationship break.’
‘Why?’