‘Nope.’ As far as she was concerned the whole lovey-dovey issue could wait. ‘I’m ready for bed too.’
In one synchronised movement they both looked around.
In one synchronised syllable they both cursed. ‘Damn.’
There was only one interconnecting door.
Stefan walked over to it and pushed it open to reveal one bedroom. Well, duh. Of course they only had one bedroom. They were meant to be in a relationship.
‘Um... I’m happy to take the sofa and you can have the bedroom.’ Even as she made the offer she knew it was foolish—knew what he’d say, knew he would be right.
On cue: ‘Too risky. Given what April said, I’m sure the hotel staff will practically have a forensics team in here tomorrow. The last thing we need is a story on how we didn’t share a bed.’
‘So what are we going to do?’ Her voice emerged as a panic-engendered squeak.
Stefan frowned. ‘You’re completely safe, Holly. I won’t try anything on.’
That was the least of her worries—she was more concerned with what she might do. ‘I know that.’
‘So what’s the problem?’
Yet for all his nonchalance a tiny bead of perspiration dotted his temple and she could see that his jaw was clenched. Maybe he was as spooked as she was.
‘The problem is...’ I’m scared I’ll jump you in my sleep. ‘I don’t want us to get carried away by mistake.’
‘We won’t.’ Now his voice was firm, all sign of strain gone. ‘We both agreed this is a business arrangement, a marriage of convenience. That is the point of it—convenience. So adding any form of intimacy into the mix would be foolish, and I’m not a fool. We’re both adults. Let’s act like that. We are hardly going to succumb to pangs of lust like adolescents. The bed is huge—plenty of room for both of us to sleep in.’
Stefan seemed totally capable of letting his brain rule his pants and she should be pleased about that. His words all made perfect sense and yet hurt pinged inside her, each syllable a pin-prick of irrational pain. If he were truly attracted to her wouldn’t it be hard for him to be so logical, so rational and in control?
Graham’s words still echoed in her brain: ‘Not woman enough...’ ‘Inexperienced...’ Maybe she wasn’t woman enough for Stefan either—maybe he thought she was behaving like an adolescent. Maybe she’d got those kisses all wrong. Maybe what had been dynamite for her had been a damp squib for him.
‘You’re right.’ No, no, no! That sounded colourless and flat, as if she didn’t really believe he was right. ‘It would be stupid to muddy the water when the whole point of this is to make it clean and fair. Entering into a physical relationship with each other would be messy—and I’m not a big believer in your type of sex anyway.’
‘My type of sex? What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
His anger flashed now, but Holly didn’t care. If he could sit there so calm and unbothered by the idea of spending a whole night next to each other then she might as well throw diplomacy out of the window.
‘The kind that has no emotional context. It’s negotiated physical sex. That’s too clinical for me.’ A part of Holly reeled at the sheer idiocy of this statement. But the principle was sound.
‘I’ve had no complaints.’ There was an edge of frost in his voice now.
‘That’s because you go for the sort of woman who is on the same page as you. I’m not.’
That at least was true. Stefan Petrelli liked variety—swapped his women out at regular intervals. That was not for her.
‘In which case sharing a bed with me shouldn’t pose a problem.’ The frost had dropped a few degrees to ice now. ‘I’m turning in. Would you like to use the bathroom first?’
‘Yes, please.’
Perhaps a cold shower would help. She felt hot and bothered, mixed up, deflated, angry, relieved... Every emotion in the lexicon swirled inside her. Hell—they weren’t even married yet.
Fifteen minutes later she was safely under the duvet on her side of the king-sized four-poster bed, flanked by a barricade of pillows, clad in flannel pyjamas buttoned to the top, eyes tightly shut as she simulated sleep.
The bathroom door opened and closed, then a few minutes later opened again. A scent of sandalwood, a burst of steam and she sensed him by the bed. Then there was a shift of the duvet, a depression of the bed.
Holly wriggled closer to the edge of the bed and waited for dawn.
CHAPTER NINE