‘Did you hear me asking you to stop?’
‘You’rein the habit of having sex with strangers?’
She frowned. She wasn’t, but didn’t particularly feel like having that conversation. ‘You sound mighty judgmental for a guy who spent the better part of his early twenties with a different woman every night.’
Thirio’s eyes narrowed, and for a moment he was unspeaking. But not silent. His eyes, his lips, the tension in his face, spoke volumes. She stood perfectly still, watching and waiting to see how he would respond.
‘I’m not that person any more.’ The words emerged darkly, each syllable clipped.
She tilted her head to the side. Something had happened to change him, and you didn’t have to be a genius to guess what.
‘Okay.’ She nodded slowly. He clearly didn’t want to talk about the fire, and she wasn’t going to pry. But as for what had just happened between them? Well, it seemed only reasonable that they give it a bit more airtime. ‘You’re not. And nor am I, truth be told. That is to say, I don’t seduce potential clients I happen to be stranded with no matter how hot they are.’ His lips flickered a little, involuntarily, at her mention of ‘hot’. ‘Never. Not ever. But clearly there’s something between us and I think we’d be stupid to ignore that.’
He didn’t react. ‘What do you have in mind?’
She frowned. A relationship? No. That wasn’t what Lucinda wanted. And not with someone like Thirio. Right now, nothing mattered more to Lucinda than getting her father’s company back in her name and returning it to its former prestige. Her dad deserved that, and Lucinda intended to deliver. A relationship would derail her from her goals. Besides, nothing about this man screamed ‘happily ever after’.
‘I don’t have anything in mind,’ she said after a beat. ‘I just don’t think you should act like we did something wrong.’ For reasons she couldn’t fathom, Lucinda didn’t like the way he was sweeping it under the carpet.
‘Fine.’
But his concession was meaningless. He was just trying to get rid of her. Anger bubbled inside Lucinda. How could he just brush her off like that?
Because it meant nothing to him.
And did it mean something to you?
She frowned, truly stumped by that question. Answers weren’t within her grasp. She toyed with her necklace, staring at him, searching for something to say.
But he was withdrawing from her, his face a mask of disinterest.
‘I’m not looking for a marriage proposal,’ she said after a beat. ‘But I enjoyed what we shared. I enjoyed kissing you and touching you, and I would have enjoyed getting to know you better. I would have enjoyed—’ Heat flushed her cheeks. She shrugged, too shy to complete the sentence.
A muscle throbbed low in his jaw, making her wonder if he was grinding his teeth. Emotions emanated from him in waves, even when his body language was carefully controlled.
Silence beat between them, laced with tension. Lucinda could hear the throbbing of blood in her veins, washing through her ears, and she waited, but he said nothing for such a long time, she began to wonder if he didn’t intend to speak. She took a step backwards, reconciling herself to that, when finally, his voice thickened the air between them.
‘It shouldn’t have happened.’
She opened her mouth to argue, but what was the point? Hadn’t she learned how impossible it was to change someone’s mind about you? Hadn’t she learned the impossibility of getting someone to like you, love you, care for you, or even notice you? Her stepmother had given her a crash course in rejection, and Lucinda heeded those warnings now.
‘Okay.’ She shrugged as though his words didn’t cut her to the quick. ‘I’ll get my things.’
She turned and walked away, head high, ignoring the strange sinking feeling in her stomach. He wasn’t the first person to make her feel like crap, and he wouldn’t be the last. But after the euphoric pleasure he’d given a moment earlier, the contrast stung.