Bargain in Bronze

“So it wasn’t successful?”

“It was.” She pressed her chin into the pillow. “And I wanted it to work so I agreed to a delay in getting my pay. I knew the money would be coming in. It had to be, I was making so many bookings.”

“You weren’t being paid?” he asked, incredulous.

Yeah, okay, maybe she had been a bit naïve. “He said it was going to take a couple of months. And I was happy to hang tight. I had savings that I came over with. I really believed in his service. He was so good with online design. Really gifted.”

“But?”

Of course there was a “but.” “He was into a lot of things online,” Lexie admitted wearily. “And he wasn’t nearly as good at gambling as he was at building that website.”

She heard Luke mutter something inaudible. Yeah, she had a similar reaction when she’d found out. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

“How long since you’ve been paid?”

“A couple of months.”

He drew a sharp breath. “And your savings?”

“Gone.” That’s why she couldn’t get into a flat right away—she didn’t have the deposit. She didn’t have income to pay the rent. She didn’t have anything. But she was going to fix that really soon.

“He took advantage of you.”

“He didn’t.” Lexie sparked up. “He had a problem and he was very good at hiding it. I wasn’t the only one he let down.” She wasn’t that naïve. Many others had lost money—other bright, capable people. It wasn’t that she was just some lamb that needed sheltering and wasn’t able to take care of herself. She’d grown up.

“So now what?”

“Now I get a new job and I get on with it.”

“What kind of job?”

“Any kind of job.”

“Online?”

“Probably. It’s what I’m best at. I’m not that great in a café.” Though right now she’d take anything.

“Do your parents know?”

“No.” She reached down and smoothed the edge of the sheet with one hand. “I don’t want them to.” They were old now and she didn’t want them to worry any more than they already did. She was a big girl, she could fix it. “They insisted I come to London. They know I’ve wanted to for years but I didn’t want to be such a long way from them in case anything happened to either of them. I don’t want them to worry more than they already do.”

He nodded. “Does Dani know?”

“Not the worst.” She didn’t want her best friend to go back to thinking she was less than a notch above incompetent. It had taken years to prove herself—that student exchange trip to America had been the first, but since then she’d taken several trips abroad—a wholly capable woman who could handle anything.

“But you told me.”

Yeah. Crazy, huh? Lexie flicked a glance at him but he had his eyes shut. She couldn’t help taking another look at his bronzed chest then too. The wide expanse of smooth skin and muscles beneath was beyond impressive. He was fitter than any guy she’d ever seen. He always had been handsome but now he was in another league altogether. All of a sudden Real Luke was far more enthralling than Fantasy Luke had ever been. And now that she was older, she fully understood the pleasure that could be had with him. All her basic instinct hormones screamed for it. She actually licked her lips as she stared.

Then she remembered herself. Hell, he could open his eyes any second and catch her gawking and she knew what a playboy he was. She’d get over the lust—she wasn’t being used again. She looked back into her own lap and pressed her hot cheek on the cool pillow she still clutched.

He groaned as he shifted position, turning to lie on his side away from her.

“Are you okay?” she asked, wincing herself as she watched how obviously painful it was for him to move.

“Tired. Sore. I took some painkillers.” His laugh turned into a moan. “I took a lot of painkillers.”

Of course he had. Here she was dying of lust and he was uncomfortable and cramped in his strip of his massive bed, slowly zoning out on drugs.

“How many?” she asked.

Silence. Silence that went on too long and started to worry her.

“How many painkillers did you take, Luke?”

More silence.

She peered over his shoulder so she could see his face. He looked exhausted—his mouth pressed tight and turning down at the corners as if he was sad or in pain. Had he taken a whole bottle of painkillers? She started to sweat—and not in a sexy way. She didn’t want him overdosing on her watch. He was so fit that medication probably had more of an impact on his system than it would on anyone else’s. But he wouldn’t have taken more than a doctor had prescribed, would he?

“Luke.” She shook his shoulder, mentally blanking out the feel of his hot skin and solid muscle under her fingers. “Are you okay? Luke?”

Sleepily he opened one eye. “Lexie?”

“Yes, it’s me. Are you okay? How many painkillers did you have?”

He simply closed his eyes again, only now he was smiling. “Lexie.”

She stared at him. Seconds slowly ticked by and she realized he really was asleep—his breathing deep, regular, relaxed. That easy breathing meant he was okay, didn’t it? But the painkillers still bugged her. She couldn’t decamp to the sofa now. She’d lie beside him for a little while to make sure he was all right.

She gathered up another couple of pillows and redistributed them, using them to make a mini Great Wall of China down the middle of the bed. Then she looked over them at his broad, bronzed back—his muscles were still discernable even though he was relaxed. She’d watch him for a while—annoying man. She couldn’t help but worry. Mango jumped up on the bed and burrowed into the pillow mountain. She put out a hand to pat him so he’d lie still.

Keeping watch was the least she could do, right?

Chapter Four

Luke woke early, his knee aching like murder, but his mind felt fresher than it had all day yesterday. He carefully flexed his muscles, remembering everything. Lexie in her gold lace. Lexie being cheated out of her pay at work. Lexie landing in London with no money and no place to stay. Lexie on his sofa.

He turned his head and swallowed back a yelp of amazement. Lexie wasn’t on his sofa. Lexie was on his bed. His pulse hammered. Why on earth was she asleep in here?

The last thing he remembered was talking with her. He’d had that handful of painkillers and had been fully zoning out. She’d insisted that she’d be the one to sleep on the sofa. He’d been too sore and spaced to be the gentleman and take it himself. Yet here she was with a ton of pillows randomly scattered between them? Jeez, had he completely forgotten something awesome happening?

Oh, as if. There was no way he could have gotten up to anything, with the state his body had been in. Though he wouldn’t mind now. Except he didn’t want to wake her this second—he wanted to look at her without worrying about what his own expression might be giving away.

She was on her back and her cute kitten pajama top had rucked up, revealing the smooth stretch of her stomach. In the bunched-up cloth he could see that a couple of pink buttons had come undone. He leaned a little closer, his eyes widening. She was literally playing peek-a-boob. Luke gritted his teeth. He shouldn’t look, he really, really shouldn’t.