‘Only to someone with an inferiority complex.’
‘Not something you suffer from,’ she said with a smile.
He arched an eyebrow. ‘You’d be surprised.’
Whatever that might mean Abby couldn’t be sure. And besides, her mind was now on something else entirely because for the first time it was occurring to her that maybe she wasn’t only too capable and too independent, but also perhaps a bit too demanding. Maybe because she expected so much from herself, she expected too much from the men she went out with.
Or maybe not. Whatever. There wasn’t time now to indulge in a bout of self-analysis. She’d have to save that for later.
‘Well, with hindsight,’ she said, hauling herself back to the convers
ation, ‘he was completely crappy and I can’t believe I wasted four months of my life on him.’ Which was all true, whether she’d expected too much of him or not.
‘If it’s any comfort, I wanted to date you.’
While Leo picked up his glass and drained what was left of the contents, Abby dropped her fork and it clattered onto the plate, her head wiped clean of everything but what he’d just said. ‘You did?’ she said faintly. ‘When?’
‘The day after we slept together. I called you.’
‘That’s right. To discuss the party.’
Leo shook his head. ‘Not to discuss the party. I was going to ask you out.’
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘Because you told me you weren’t interested before I could.’
‘I did.’ She frowned as she struggled to work out what that meant. ‘So the whole party thing was...what?’
He shrugged. Looked away for a second. ‘An attempt to save face, I suppose.’
‘Oh,’ she murmured, confused because on the one hand the knowledge that he’d wanted to take her out was pretty confidence boosting, but on the other she’d spent the last couple of months working hard on something that she’d thought was a labour of love but in actual fact had been a mere whim, which wasn’t confidence boosting in the slightest. ‘That sounds a bit desperate.’
‘You have no idea.’ He went to fill their glasses, pouring wine into only his when she covered hers and said that she was driving.
‘Do you regret it?’
‘Not for one moment,’ he said with such conviction that she couldn’t help believe him.
‘I’m glad.’ And not just about that because it was weirdly comforting to know that he’d been making as many rash decisions as she had. ‘It’s going to be a great party.’
‘It is.’ He paused, then said casually, ‘So just out of interest, if I had asked you out, what would you have said?’
Given how honest Leo was being, Abby didn’t see any reason to be otherwise. ‘No.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘Seriously?’
She grinned. ‘Is it that hard to believe?’
‘Honestly? After a night like the one we had, it is a bit, yes.’
‘I’ve been attracted to you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Leo. You know I have. And I still am. You know that too. But the thing is, unfortunately you’re just not my type.’
‘Why not?’
‘Emotions.’
At the word, he winced, and Abby arched an eyebrow. ‘My point exactly.’