Taking a deep breath, Bella dropped her lip gloss back in her bag and ran her wrists under the tap. Then she pulled her shoulders back and practised a smile until it looked as natural as it ever was going to look, pinched her cheeks and shook her hair back.
There, she told herself. That would have to do. Her insides might be a mess, but at least she looked calm and in control.
All she had to do now was go out, plead a headache and ask Sam to find her a taxi, because she didn’t think she could keep up the pretence any longer. The idea of having to continue with the charade and suffering more of Will’s glares and Rosie’s sultry smiles made her smile wobble a little, and her head started pounding so fiercely that she realised she wouldn’t even have to fake the pain.
Briefly closing her eyes and massaging her temples, Bella straightened her spine, lifted her chin and opened the door.
To find Will leaning against the wall opposite, his hands in his pockets, his eyes dark and impenetrable and his expression grim.
Bella froze, her hand tightening on the door handle and her heart banging against her ribs. ‘Will,’ she said, as coolly as she could manage.
‘Bella.’
‘What are you doing here?’
A muscle in his jaw began to pound. ‘You know perfectly well.’
Bella felt a shiver scuttle down her spine. ‘I’m afraid I have no idea what you mean,’ she said, resisting the urge to retreat and slam the door. Because what would that achieve? A closed door to the ladies’ loos was hardly an effective deterrent against a man like him.
Will pushed himself off the wall, stalking towards her until he stood in front of her like a dark immovable mountain, his jaw tight and his eyes glittering. ‘Two weeks?’
Oh. Her chin jutted up. ‘What about it?’
‘How about this?’ he said, pulling her to one side to let a woman go into the bathroom, planting his hands on the wall either side of her head and wiping out her oxygen. ‘Were you or were you not going out with Sam when we had sex on the back seat of my car?’
In an effort to ignore the way the skin of her arms burned from where he’d touched her, the memories ricocheting around her head, and that gorgeous mouth, a mere inch or two from hers, Bella channelled indignation. ‘I can’t believe you want to discuss this now.’
‘What else would we be likely to discuss?’ he said, sounding as if he were gritting his teeth. ‘The weather?’
Hmm. Perhaps he did have a point. And it was pretty obvious he wasn’t planning on letting her go until she explained.
For a second Bella dithered. It was so tempting to shoot him a killer look, say yes, duck beneath one arm and sashay off. That would certainly put an end to everything, wouldn’t it? But then what would that make her?
Yet if she said no, she’d have to explain why she and Sam had been all over each other all evening, and that would be one hell of an awkward conversation.
Will’s eyes bored into hers as he waited for an answer.
Stifling a sigh, Bella gave in. For all her faults she wasn’t a coward. And did she really want Will thinking she was an unfaithful trollop who went round having quickies with any man who came her way? She did not. So awkward conversation it would have to be.
Forcing herself to look him in the eye, Bella straightened her spine. ‘No,’ she said calmly. ‘I wasn’t.’
Some of the tension eased from his body and he drew back a little. ‘Are you going out with him now?’
‘No,’ said Bella, feeling as if she could breathe again. ‘We only met this evening.’
‘So why have you spent the last twenty minutes letting me think you were?’
She shrugged and studied the huge abstract painting on the wall behind him. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’
He frowned. ‘Why?’
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Well, work it out,’ he snapped.
Bella jumped and her hackles shot up. Did he really imagine that she was going to divulge the jealousy, the frustration, the longing that had made her ask Sam to pretend to be involved with her? Or the constant pummelling disappointment that with his issues with commitment Will would never be the right man for her? No chance.
‘Anyone would think you’re jealous,’ she said, deciding that attack was the best way to deal with that particular problem, and giving him a mocking little smile.