‘Why is that? Don’t you ever want to settle down?’
‘I expect I will one day,’ Sergio said with a shrug, ‘and when I do I’ll make sure I choose a woman with whom it seems a workable proposition. I’m not on the hunt for emotional ties.’
He had bitter first-hand knowledge of where emotional ties could lead. He had seen his father reduced by a girl who had played on his emotions and then used his weakness to take what she could. He had seen what happened when control was lost.
‘Oh. I see.’
‘Do you?’
‘Yes.’
Suddenly lying naked next to him on the bed felt too intimate... She swung her legs over the side, avoiding hitting the wall with the soles of her feet from habit, and yanked at the blanket which she kept on her bed for those really cold nights when the tepid central heating just wasn’t quite enough to warm her up, even when she was under her duvet.
She wrapped it around her and banged on the overhead light in the process as she headed out of the door and to the little bathroom off to the side.
She needed to get her thoughts in order.
Sergio, on the verge of following her—because why the hell did she have to overreact to a perfectly simple word of warning?—stopped in his tracks and took notice of what had not been visible when they had stumbled into the bedroom.
The bookshelf at the side of the bed.
The top shelf groaned under the weight of art books and the remaining three shelves were crammed with illustrations of varying sizes painted onto hardboard, some of them overlapping. He went closer. They were exquisite. Very detailed. Some depicted birds or flowers, others recognisable cartoon characters in comic poses.
She hadn’t been lying. Not about this, at any rate.
Of course it made no difference, he decided. She might not be the gold-digger he had first thought, but...
She was in the shower. He could hear it going and he roamed through her tiny sitting area, taking in all the expensive little trinkets that were dotted here and there.
So she had expensive tastes? Maybe she saved whatever little money she earned and splashed out on expensive stuff?
Or maybe they were presents from rich ex-lovers?
Not caring for the thought of that, he headed straight for the bathroom and pushed open the door. He hadn’t expected it to have the sophistication of something as simple as a lock and he had been right. No lock.
She gave a startled shriek as he yanked back the shower curtain and he smiled drily when she tried to cover all her private parts with her hands—which left a cute little nipple showing, as well as some deliciously damp pubic hair peeping past her fingers.
‘If you don’t mind,’ Susie nearly shouted, still seething because she had managed to ignore every single warning sign and fly into bed with someone who had filled her flat with stupid roses and was now trying to think of a way of dispatching her.
‘I don’t if you don’t...’ Sergio grinned slowly and then stepped into the shower with her.
He was far too tall, and far too broad, and it was beyond cramped but he didn’t mind. Whether it was because he’d discovered those paintings, worked out that she had at least told the truth about one thing, whether she’d listened to his warnings or not, he knew that there was no doubt in his mind that this was just too damned good to end just yet...
‘What are you doing? I don’t want you in here with me!’
‘Why not? I can reach lots of places you can’t reach with the soap...’ He cupped her protesting face in his hands and kissed her while the water streamed over them.
Susie tried her best to resist. She was confused. Could she do this? Was this really her? Was she a woman who could have a full-blown affair with a guy when she knew—when she had been told in no uncertain terms—that it was going nowhere?
Did a relationship have to go anywhere, anyway? Of course she was essentially a romantic, someone who believed in love and happy endings, but that wasn’t life most of the time—and what was the point in denying herself the joy of adventure, the fun of searching, the excitement of the unknown in the meanwhile?
The forthcoming wedding and her anxious desire to show up with someone halfway decent had thrown everything out of proportion. She had suddenly become desperate to find someone suitable, to prove herself in her family’s eyes...and desperation had made her lose perspective.