enly made him think an affair with Laura was a very bad idea. However no-strings.
‘You,’ she said, fluttering her eyelashes up at him, ‘are incredible.’
So was she. Pretty irresistible, too. And a dozen other things he really didn’t want to think about.
‘I really do have to go,’ he said, leaning away from her, picking up his watch off the floor and frowning.
‘Now?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh. Well. Of course,’ she said lightly, pulling the sheet up over her chest and tucking it beneath her arms. ‘Maybe we could have lunch?’
Matt shook his head and got up. ‘I have a meeting.’ Lunch, or any kind of interaction that wasn’t of the horizontal and naked sort for that matter, wasn’t an option.
Her face fell and a flash of disappointment flickered in her eyes. ‘Sure,’ she said, with a smile that he thought looked a little forced. ‘Fine. I guess I’ll see you around, then.’
That wasn’t what he’d meant, either. Feeling like a heel, Matt leaned down and gave her a long slow kiss. ‘What are you doing tonight?’ he said, pulling back before he could decide to cancel his meeting and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed with Laura.
‘Nothing.’ A relieved grin spread across her face and his heart suddenly thumped with something that felt weirdly like alarm.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he muttered, telling himself not to be ridiculous. A casual affair with Laura was nothing to get alarmed about.
‘Great.’
Except it wasn’t all that great, thought Laura, sitting in the library and idly flipping through a book of old photographs and plans a fortnight later.
At first she’d been only too happy with the arrangement. It had been her idea after all, and as they’d seen each other every night since Matt had returned from Athens she didn’t really have anything to complain about. Her horizons had been broadened considerably and the sex had been getting better and better. And as a bonus, her body, having never been put to such energetic use, was more toned than ever before.
Her fling with Matt was exactly what she’d wanted. Hot hassle-free fun.
So why was it leaving her feeling increasingly dissatisfied?
Laura closed the book with a thump, sat back and frowned. Why did it hurt that he didn’t ever seem to want to meet up for lunch? Or dinner, or on any of the other occasions she’d suggested? Why did it hurt that he never asked her to do anything other than spread herself across the nearest available flat surface?
When had hot casual sex become not enough?
Suddenly finding the library stifling, Laura got up and stepped out onto the terrace. The breeze caressed her skin as she wandered across the stone, leaned her elbows on the balustrade and gazed over the gardens.
Oh, God. Maybe, despite all her efforts to convince herself otherwise, she just wasn’t cut out for an affair. Maybe Kate had been right, and she was more of a commitment fiend than she’d realised.
And if that was the case, she thought, following the path of a butterfly as it fluttered from one exotic flower to another, where did it leave her? Her mind whirred. Did that mean she did actually want a relationship? With Matt?
Her heart sank. God, she hoped not. Because what a disaster that would be. She could still recall the look on Matt’s face when she’d suggested their fling. His relief when she’d told him she wanted nothing more from him than mind-blowing orgasms couldn’t have been more transparent.
Wanting a relationship with Matt would bring nothing but pain and she’d be an idiot to hope for more than a fling.
But the more she thought about it, the more undeniable it became. And the more undeniable it became, the faster her heart plummeted.
Uh-oh.
Who’d she been trying to fool?
She did want more than just mind-blowing sex. She wanted to know what Matt was thinking. What he was feeling. All the time. She wanted to know what had made him the man he’d become and what his dreams were. She wanted to know how he felt about the death of his father and why he was so driven. She wanted to share her life, her dreams with him.
She wanted everything.
Which so hadn’t been part of the deal.