‘Oh. Well. Yes. But I saw someone,’ she said, linking her hands and, he thought, for some reason holding on tightly. ‘Did a course. Got over it.’
‘You did a course?’
‘Yes.’
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘There are a lot of things that you don’t know about me.’
‘Clearly.’ Such as… ‘What are you doing here, Lily?’
For a moment she just looked him. Swallowed. Then pulled her shoulders back. ‘OK, well, the thing is…’ She paused then took a deep breath. ‘The thing is, I want to know what’s going on here, Kit.’
At her words Kit went very still and his brain went on high alert.
‘What do you mean?’
‘With us.’
Wasn’t it obvious? He’d thought it was. But maybe it wasn’t. His heart began to thump, though with what he didn’t know. ‘What do you think is going on?’
Lily blew out a breath and threw her hands in the air, as if some sort of dam had burst and she couldn’t hold back any more. ‘I don’t have a clue, do I? First you’re all “let me in we need to talk it’s urgent” and pushing me up against a wall, next you’re rushing halfway across the globe to come and find me, and now you couldn’t be less interested. I don’t understand it.’
Kit blinked as if he’d just been thumped in the chest. She thought he wasn’t interested? Why would she think that when he’d gone overboard trying to show her just how interested in her he was? ‘I’m interested,’ he said roughly.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. ‘Oh, yes, sure. In a brotherly kind of way.’
His jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed. What the hell? ‘You think I’m being brotherly?’
‘What else would you call it?’ she said, jutting her chin up. ‘The constant helping hand and all the buddy-buddy stuff. The sea-urchin-spine-vinegar thing. Not to mention this current seriously misplaced concern for my well-being.’
‘Not brotherly,’ he said tightly. ‘Not brotherly in the slightest.’
‘Then what is it?’ she said, her cheeks pink and her chest heaving. ‘Because it’s driving me nuts. Completely nuts. I don’t want your help, Kit, and I don’t need your concern.’
Kit could feel the rush of blood to his head, the pounding of his heart. ‘What do you need, Lily? What do you want?’
‘What do you think?’
‘Tell me.’
‘OK, fine, I miss you.’
He went very still, every cell of his body hovering, waiting. ‘We’ve spent the best part of the last four days together.’
‘I miss your touch. I miss your nearness. I miss your kisses.’
‘So what’s the problem? Sexual frustration?’
‘Damn right that’s the problem,’ she said, her eyes flashing and her breathing going all choppy. ‘Partly. You owe me an orgasm.’
‘Well, why didn’t you say?’
‘I’m saying it now.’
He took a step towards her, his eyes not leaving hers. ‘Say it all,’ he said.
‘Everything?’