She pressed her lips together. ‘Tough words.’
He gave the slightest shake of his head. ‘Not really. They were all true. But I lashed out—I punched him—just as Addison walked through the door.’
Her hand went up automatically her mouth. ‘Oh, no.’
He gave a sorry kind of smile. ‘Oh, yes. Bad boy through and through. No wonder she doesn’t like me. I think she can’t believe Caleb and I are still friends ten years later.’
Lara shook her head. There was something about the way he’d said the words. ‘You’re not all bad,’ she said quietly, as she reached across the table and squeezed his hand.
His brown eyes fixed on hers. She lifted up her other hand. ‘Look what you’ve done. Look what you’ve done for me.’ She gave him a little smile. ‘You’ve broken my run of loser boyfriends.’ She laughed. ‘And that’s been going for my entire life. That’s quite a feat, you know.’
He turned her hand over and started to trace little circles in her palm. ‘I’m sorry, Lara. You’ve no idea how much I like you. I’ve never told anyone about my parents before—I’ve never told anyone about my fight with Caleb before. But with you? It’s just easy. It’s just as if it’s meant to happen.’
Their gazes connected again. It was like a little zing in the air.
It’s meant to happen.
She took a deep breath. ‘You’ve given me confidence again, Reuben. Confidence I haven’t had since I was a fifteen-year-old girl. You’ve made me question myself. You’ve made me question my potential and whether I’m doing what I really want to. I needed that. I needed that so badly. So thank you.’
His fingers stopped tracing the circles. ‘What happens now?’
She licked her lips. ‘Now we do what we’re supposed to.’
He signalled to the waiter that they were finished and stood up. It was kind of hard not to stare at the part of his body that was right in front of her. But he seemed to be reading her mind, because he caught her hand and pulled her close to him.
Close enough to get the full effect.
She gulped. There was no chance of misunderstanding.
One hand splayed across her back, the other stroked a finger down her cheek. ‘Want to go see the show?’
She shook her head. ‘I think we should make our own show,’ she whispered.
Her heart was clamouring inside her chest. She was conscious of the fact that every time she inhaled her breasts brushed against him. Conscious of the fact his eyes were fixed entirely on hers.
A tiny little part of her brain was screaming, If you wanted to capture the bad boy, you’ve got him.
She ignored every red flag that tried to raise itself above the parapet. For the first time in the last few weeks she felt entirely in control.
She felt confident in herself and her actions.
She didn’t expect this to go anywhere. She had no expectations except for the here and now. She’d never thought like that before. But if she put up walls around herself then when Reuben walked away she’d be protected.
She slid her hand around his waist and grabbed his bum. This power thing was intoxicating. ‘Shall we?’
The walk to the cabin had never felt so short. When she fumbled with the card Reuben’s hand closed over hers, his breath at the back of her neck.
His voice was low, throaty. ‘Lara, are you sure about this?’
The door clicked open and she spun to face him.
He’d never looked more handsome. Those dark brown eyes were pulling her into a warm chocolate oblivion. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, tugging him towards her.
‘I’ve never been surer.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
REUBEN WAS DRUNK. Drunk entirely on Lara Callaway. She was like an infectious disease. A drug. And at some point he would tell her how he actually felt.
Just not right now.
Right now he’d just watch her sleep and wonder how on earth to play things when she woke up.
Because he should say something—shouldn’t he?
He should talk to her about her job. About finding somewhere to stay. He could offer that she come and stay with him—it’s not like he didn’t have the room.
But it was almost as if something was stopping his tongue from functioning. It was the weirdest thing in the world. Every time he tried to imagine himself in a different place from where he was now he just couldn’t see it. Couldn’t see himself as part of the partnership. Couldn’t see himself in a loving, reciprocal relationship.
It was ridiculous. He was adult enough to know that he was capable of whatever he wanted to be. But there were still those ingrained memories from childhood—and even now his reluctance to visit his family home. His associations of family were different from other people’s. He hadn’t realised how much it had scarred him.