Living the Charade
Page 9
She glanced up, feeling completely discombobulated, and decided not to distract him by asking what he’d added. She concentrated on the questionnaire.
His favourite colour was blue, favourite food was Thai. He’d grown up in Melbourne. Hobbies: swimming, running and surfing—no wonder he looked so fit! No sign of any cerebral pursuits—no surprise there. Family: two sisters and two brothers.
‘You have a big family.’
He grunted something that sounded like yes.
‘Are you close?’ The impetuous question was too personal, and unnecessary, but as she’d spent much of her youth longing for siblings her curiosity got the better of her.
He glanced at her briefly. ‘Not particularly.’
That was a shame. Miller had always dreamed that large families were full of happy, supportive siblings who would do anything for each other.
‘What does “Lives: everywhere” mean?’ she asked, glancing at the questionnaire.
‘I travel a lot.’
‘Backpacking?’
That got a hoot of laughter. ‘Sunshine, I’m thirty-three—a bit old to be a backpacker.’
He threw her a smile and Miller found her eyes riveted to his beautiful even white teeth.
‘I travel for work.’
She blinked back the disturbing effect he had on her and once again scanned the questionnaire. ‘Driving?’ She couldn’t keep the scepticism out of her voice as she read out the answer under ‘Occupation’. ‘Driving what?’
He threw her a quick look. ‘Cars. What else?’
‘I don’t know. Buses? Trains?’ She tried not to let her annoyance show. ‘Trucks?’ God, don’t let him be a taxi driver; Dexter would never let her hear the end of it.
‘Don’t tell me you’re one of those stuck-up females who only go for rich guys with white collar jobs.’
Miller sniffed. She’d been so busy working and establishing her career the last time she’d gone for any man was back at university. Not that she would be telling him that. ‘Of course not.’
But she did like a man in a suit.
He snorted as if he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t elaborate on his answer.
Sensing he might be embarrassed about his job, she decided to let it drop for now. Maybe he wouldn’t mind pretending to be an introverted actuary for the weekend. No one really knew what they did except that it involved mathematics, and not even Dexter was likely to try and engage him in that topic of conversation.
She flipped the page in front of her and found her eyes drawn to his commanding scrawl near the bottom.
Her nose wrinkled. ‘I don’t need to know what type of underwear you wear.’ And she didn’t want to imagine him in sexy boxer briefs.
‘According to your little summary we’ve been dating for two months. I think you’d know what type of underwear I wear, wouldn’t you?’
‘Of course I would. But it’s not relevant because I’ll never need to use that information.’
He glanced at her again. ‘You don’t know that.’
‘I could have just made something up had the need arisen.’
‘Are you always this dishonest?’
Miller exhaled noisily. She was never dishonest. ‘No. I loathe dishonesty. And I hate this situation. And what’s more I’m sick of having men think that just because I’m single I’m available.’
‘It’s not just because of that?’
‘No,’ she agreed, thinking of TJ. ‘My client isn’t really attracted to me at all. He’s attracted to the word no.’
‘You think?’
‘I know. It’s what has made him his fortune. He’s bullish, arrogant and pompous.’
‘Not having met the man, I’ll have to trust your judgement. But if you want my opinion your client is probably more turned on by your glossy hair, killer mouth and hourglass figure than your negative response.’
‘Wha—? Hey!’ Miller braced her hands on the dashboard as the car swerved around a bus like a bullet, nearly fainting before Valentino swung back into the left-hand lane two seconds before hitting a mini-van.
‘Relax. I do this for a living.’
‘Kill your passengers?’ she said weakly.
He laughed. ‘Drive.’
Miller forgot all about the near miss with an oncoming vehicle as his comments about her looks replayed in her head.
Did he really think she had a killer mouth? And why was her heart beating like a tiny trapped bird?