‘That doesn’t matter.’ She couldn’t tell a thing from his tone, and she still couldn’t look at him. ‘Of course, if you had another one, maybe a bit more hopeful, you could sing that one too.’
Something leapt inside her, a mongrel beast of hope and fear. A dangerous animal. She looked up, saw him gazing at her steadily, yet without any expression she could define. ‘I could?’
‘Yes.’
‘So...’ She swallowed. ‘What did you think? Of the song?’
‘I thought,’ Luke said quietly, with obvious and utter sincerity, ‘it was amazing.’
‘Oh.’ She looked back down at her guitar, felt tears sting her eyes and blinked hard to keep them back. Damn it, she was not going to cry in front of this man. Not now. Not ever. ‘Well...good.’ She kept her head lowered, and then she felt Luke shift. He’d been sitting across from her, but now he leaned forward, his knee almost nudging hers.
‘I can understand why you’re scared.’
Instinct kicked in. ‘I never actually said I was scared.’ And then she sniffed, loudly, which basically blew her cover.
‘You didn’t have to.’ He placed one hand on her knee, and she gazed down at it, large, brown, strong. Comforting. ‘That song is very personal.’
Which was why she felt so...naked right now, every protective layer peeled away. She swallowed, stared at his hand, mesmerised by the long, lean fingers curled unconsciously around her knee. ‘It’s just a song.’
‘Is it?’
And then she looked up at him, and knew she was in trouble. He was gazing at her with such gentle understanding, such tender compassion, that she felt completely exposed and accepted at the same time. It was such a weird feeling, such an overwhelming feeling, that it was almost painful. She swallowed. ‘Luke...’ Her voice came out husky, and she saw his pupils flare. Felt the very air tauten. This tender moment was turning into something else, something Aurelie knew and understood.
This was about sex. It was always about sex. And while part of her felt disappointed, another part flared to life.
Luke straightened, taking his hand from her knee. ‘I should go. It’s late.’
‘You can’t drive all the way back to New York tonight.’
‘I’ll find a place to stay.’ He made to rise from his chair, and Aurelie felt panic flutter like a trapped, desperate bird inside her.
‘You could stay here.’
He stared at her, expressionless, and Aurelie put away her guitar, her face averted from his narrowed gaze. Her heart was pounding again. She didn’t know what she was telling him. What she wanted. All she knew was she didn’t want him to go.
‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ Luke said after a moment and Aurelie turned to face him.
‘Why not?’
He smiled wryly, but she saw how dark and shadowed his eyes looked. ‘Because we’re going to have a business relationship and I don’t want to complicate things.’
She lifted her eyebrows, tried for insouciance. ‘Why does it have to be complicated?’
‘What are you asking me, Aurelie?’
She liked the way he said her name. She’d always hated it, a ridiculous name given to her by an even more ridiculous mother, but when he said it she felt different. She felt more like herself—or at least the person she thought she could be, if given a chance. ‘What do you want me to be asking you?’
He laughed softly. ‘Never a straight answer.’
‘I’d hate to bore you.’
‘I don’t think you could ever bore me.’ He was staring straight at her, and she could see the heat in his eyes. Felt it in herself, a flaring deep within, which was sudden and surprising because desire for a man was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever. Yet she felt it now, for this man. This wasn’t about power or control or the barter that sex had always been to her. She simply wanted him, wanted to be with him.
‘Well?’ she asked, her voice no more than a breath.
Luke didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Aurelie saw both the doubt and desire in his eyes, and she took a step towards him so she was standing between his splayed thighs. With her fingertips she smoothed the crease that had appeared in his forehead. ‘You think too much.’