twist the tap off and his proximity made her heart skitter anew.
‘Thank you,’ she said, backing away enough to escape the kitchen, jug in hand, the spark of an idea creeping up on her that she just knew she should quash before it took hold. It wasn’t wise, it wasn’t rational...but still, it was there...
Would one night do it?
One night—with him?
She walked around the flat, watering the plants that adorned it, all the while feeling his eyes on her, penetrating her, lighting her up from top to toe. He’d resumed the position he’d been in earlier, his brooding silhouette resting up against the bathroom door. And just as he had then, he clouded her judgement, her mind struggling to function under the effect of his gaze.
Would one night release her from this? Clear her mind and rid her body of this insane need so that normal service could resume?
‘I think you’ve given that one enough.’
‘What?’ She frowned and followed his line of sight to the spider plant she was tending to, seeing the water pooling at the pot rim, a trickle commencing down the side. She cursed, her cheeks warming as she righted the jug. Seemed she couldn’t even cope with the simple task of watering plants in his presence—unbelievable.
‘Can you pass me some kitchen towel?’ she snapped and then cringed, realising she was projecting her frustration onto him and making herself add a guilt-ridden, ‘Please?’
She wished she hadn’t softened her request when she saw how his eyes danced, how amused he was at her fluster, knowing it was because he understood the cause.
‘Sure.’ He pushed away from the door and headed into the kitchen area.
She forced her eyes away. She couldn’t carry on like this. For however long it took to find his sister a home, she needed to get this under control. Christ, she needed his sister to spread a good word. Not tell every Tom, Dick and Harry that she was an airhead... Or, worse, that she couldn’t stop lusting after her brother long enough to concentrate.
‘Here,’ he said, coming up alongside her and offering out the paper towel.
‘Thank you.’
She didn’t quite meet his eye as she took it and bent forward to clean up the mess.
Now was the time, she realised; if she wanted to put the idea to him, she needed to do it now. ‘One date.’
He stilled in the periphery of her vision. ‘A date?’
‘Yes,’ she said, ignoring the bemusement in his tone.
Hell, you’d be bemused if someone had just burst out with those two words.
Straightening up and smoothing her wrist over her hair to right it while avoiding the damp kitchen towel clutched in her hand, she nodded. ‘Let’s go on one date together.’
‘You want to do that?’
Yes... No... Yes.
The words whirled through her mind as their gazes locked and she lost herself in his warm, amber depths, a wedge forming in her throat.
Are you crazy? Do you really know what you’re letting yourself in for?
She headed for the kitchen, praying he hadn’t spied her hesitation. She prided herself on knowing her own mind, for heaven’s sake—why was he making that so hard?
‘Yes, I do,’ she said, placing the jug back on the drainer, grateful that her voice gave away none of her internal wrangling and feeling her resolve swell.
You’ve put the idea out there, you can bloody well follow it through.
Turning to look at him, she leisurely travelled his entirety, taking in his sheer beauty, his continued silence and bemusement, and her tummy gave the smallest little flutter. Was he going to turn her down?
Hell, no.
‘Unless, of course...’ she said the words softly, teasingly, her legs moving of their own volition to close the distance between them ‘...you don’t want to?’