There was a long silence. ‘I’ll take that as a “nowhere”, then, shall I?’
‘What’s wrong with carrying on the way we are?’
‘Aren’t you getting bored?’
‘No.’ And then a horrible thought struck him. Maybe she’d had enough. ‘Are you?’ As the possibility that she might say yes flashed into his head something in the region of his chest began to ache.
‘Not exactly.’
The force of the relief that lurched through him nearly winded him. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Well, the sex is fine—’
‘Fine?’
A tiny smile flashed across her face. ‘OK, much better than fine.’ The smile faded and his stomach clenched. ‘But it’s all we ever do.’
‘What’s wrong with that? I thought that was what we agreed. What you wanted?’
Laura let out a sigh. ‘It was. I did.’
‘But?’ He turned his head to look at her, and then when her eyes met his and he saw what was in them wished he hadn’t.
‘I want more.’
In the silence that followed Matt’s heart plummeted. He should have known a no-strings affair with Laura was too good to be true. For, despite all her protests to the contrary, hadn’t he had the niggling suspicion that she was no more cut out for a casual fling than he was for a full-blown relationship? Yes, he had. She was a relationship kind of girl.
But had he listened? No. Because it had been easier not to. And now he was suffering the consequences of his one moment of weakness.
He had to put the record straight. In no uncertain terms, because the tiny flame of hope flickering in her eyes was making his stomach churn. He wasn’t about to casually knock down eight years of carefully built up barriers of self-preservation. For anyone.
‘I thought you weren’t interested in more,’ he said flatly.
‘So did I.’ Laura lifted her shoulders. ‘I was wrong.’
‘Well, I can’t give you more.’
At the rigidity of his expression and the bleakness of his tone Laura’s heart wrenched. Oh, God. She should have taken the first course of action and simply got on the first plane out of here. Because this conversation wasn’t looking good. In fact she was pretty sure that continuing it would only end in pain. Her pain. Yet she wanted to know why he was unable to give her more. Badly. ‘Can’t or won’t?’
Matt’s jaw clenche
d. ‘Either.’
‘Why not?’
‘It wouldn’t be fair on the Sassanians.’
Laura blinked. ‘What on earth do they have to do with anything?’
‘If I got into a relationship there’d be talk of queens and heirs and I won’t let them get all excited about that when I’m not planning to stay.’
What? That was his excuse for his emotional obstinacy? Gossip? She’d never heard anything so ridiculous in her life. And then the last few words sank in and Laura fought not to gape. ‘You’re not planning to stay?’
‘No,’ he muttered, suddenly scowling as if furious he’d let that slip. Well, that was tough. Curiosity spun through her, briefly nudging the need to find out why he was so reluctant to commit to one side.
‘Why?’ she asked.
‘I have a global business. My general manager can’t run it for ever. I need to get back to it at some point.’