Well, then, what? Maybe she’d got the wrong end of the stick from the photos but that didn’t mean Marcus hadn’t been shagging his way round London like a thirsty man looking for a drink. After all, he hadn’t been naked and horizontal with her, had he? Yet they’d still managed to have a pretty great time.
‘I hope you’re not going to say that I’m the only person you’ve had sex with in the last nine months,’ she said, aiming for withering incredulity but, what with the unfathomable feeling of hope bubbling through her, failing dismally.
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
‘Really?’
‘I’ve hardly been out recently, let alone swinging from the chandeliers.’
She sat back and stared at him. ‘So why did you tell me you were busy tonight?’
His eyes were on hers. Steady, dark and intense. ‘Because you are the only person I’ve had sex with in the last nine months,’ he said, ‘and I’m finding wanting a repeat of it increasingly on my mind.’
‘Oh,’ she said faintly.
‘Quite.’
‘That’s the last thing either of us needs.’
‘I know. Doesn’t mean I don’t still think it.’
As did she. All the time, if she was being brutally honest. But they’d just have to live with that. They weren’t animals. They were rational, sensible people who knew what was good for them, and what wasn’t. Still... ‘Maybe we should keep off the subject of sex tonight.’ It wasn’t as if they didn’t have plenty of other things to talk about. It should be a doddle.
‘Good idea.’
Her stomach growled and his mouth hitched up into a small smile. ‘And eat.’
‘Even better.’
* * *
r /> Keeping off the subject of sex was fine. Keeping from thinking about it was an entirely different matter. Ever since Celia had walked through the door Marcus had been aware of every move she made, no matter how tiny. All his senses felt heightened and it seemed to him that his body was trying to tune itself into hers or something. Whatever was going on it was odd. Frustrating. Deeply disturbing.
It didn’t help that she kept groaning in ecstasy at the food he’d cooked. Every time she did, all he could think of was his bed upstairs and her on it. That was, when he wasn’t mentally sweeping aside everything on the table and feasting on her down here instead.
As his body tightened uncomfortably Marcus thought that whatever Celia hoped to achieve by tonight, they wouldn’t be doing it again, because this wasn’t just ‘supper’, this was torture.
‘This is delicious,’ she said with a wide, warm smile that only strengthened his resolve to keep his distance once the nightmare of this evening was over.
‘Thank you. Like I said, it’s not hard.’
She put her fork down and took a sip of tonic water. ‘So what have you been up to since I saw you last?’
‘Work.’ Driving himself insane.
‘Is that all?’ She arched an eyebrow and grinned. ‘Careful, Marcus, you might turn into me.’
‘To compensate I also spent a couple of days climbing in the Peak District.’ In the hope that the physical exertion might result in mental exhaustion, and he’d be able to go five minutes without thinking about her. Not that it had worked.
Her eyes widened. ‘I heard Dan took it up a while ago, but I didn’t know you climbed too.’
‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me.’
‘And that’s what tonight’s all about.’
It was, and he could do a lot worse than focusing on that rather than the way her hair shone and her eyes sparkled. Because conversation was easy enough, wasn’t it? And with any luck it would make the time fly. ‘What about you?’
She shrugged and gave him a self-deprecating grin. ‘Work, mainly.’