‘How did it go?’
‘Fine.’ Way to go with the verbal skills, Abby, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes and pulling herself together because she really ought to be able to handle small talk with someone whose body she’d explored at length. ‘I mean, as fine as twenty ten-year-old wannabe supermodels can be.’
‘Ten-year-old supermodels?’
She heard the surprise in his voice and could imagine him sitting there, eyebrows up as the ghost of a smile played at his mouth. His mouth... Sexy, clever, and so very damn good at kissing...
‘Abby?’ he said and she snapped out of her delicious little reverie.
‘What can I say?’ she said, and, oh, heavens, the breathiness was back. ‘The client asks and I provide.’
There was a heavy pause during which she, and presumably he, remembered exactly how he’d asked and how she’d provided, and Abby gave herself a good pinch. And gasped at the pain because she hadn’t meant to pinch herself quite so hard.
‘Are you all right? What happened?’
‘Nothing. I’m right as rain,’ she said. ‘Sorry. Banged into the coffee table. How’s the jet lag?’
‘Going.’
‘That must be a relief.’
‘You have no idea. Thank you for your note.’
‘You’re welcome.’ You’re welcome? God.
‘I take it you got home all right this morning.’
She couldn’t say ‘fine’ again, and in any case it hadn’t been fine. ‘After a fashion.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My car had been towed. I had to take a taxi to the pound and get it released.’ After two hours’ sleep with her hair a mess and her party clothes rumpled. Not exactly a good look.
‘Oh, dear.’
‘Hmm. It was a walk of shame I definitely wouldn’t care to repeat.’
There was another silence. ‘Walk of shame?’
‘Just an expression,’ she clarified quickly because she could hear the frown in his tone and she didn’t want him thinking she regretted what they’d done because she didn’t. ‘I have no shame.’
‘Neither do I,’ he said, then after a pause, added, ‘Which leads me to the reason I’m calling.’
For some reason her pulse sped up. ‘Oh?’
‘I’d like to see you again.’
For a moment sheer delight soared through her, and then it plummeted because it couldn’t happen, and oh, dear, was this going to be awkward?
‘Look, Leo,’ she said, concentrating on his emotional repression and strengthening her resolve because despite knowing he was wrong for her she badly wanted to say yes. ‘Last night was great and everything, but I don’t think it should happen again.’
There was a pause. A bit too long, a bit too uncomfortable, and she wondered if he was still there.
‘Really?’ he said eventually, and it struck her that some of the warmth had gone from his voice. ‘Out of interest, why?’
Hmm. She could hardly tell him she suspected he had a problem with expressing his feelings while she was all for it, and that that difference of approach made anything between them a no-no. He’d think she was mad. ‘Because it should never really have happened in the first place,’ she said. ‘I admit it’s a pretty grey area, but I still have an issue with mixing business and pleasure and on reflection I think we fall into that category.’
‘You didn’t seem to mind last night.’