“Argh!” Mia groaned. “But I want deeetails!”
Skye forced a smile. “And I’ll give them to you, laaaater.” She winked. “Big hugs, talk soon.” She blew a kiss at the screen before disconnecting the call, sliding the phone into the pocket of her jeans and moving towards the glass doors which led into the kitchen.
“My step-sisters,” she explained with a grimace. “Wanting to know all the details.”
“Ah.” He nodded thoughtfully. “And you don’t like lying to them?”
Skye’s lips parted. “Erm, no, not really.”
He slid a cup of just-poured coffee across the bench. “For you.”
“Thank you.” She curled her hands around the cup gratefully, keeping her distance on this side of the bench. He’d made her feel a thousand and one things the night before; it was more important than ever that Skye keep her distance. She had to control the desire that was flooding her system. They both did. It would be so easy to forget this was just a ruse, but then where would she be? Her life was in Australia, and at the end of this three-month period, she intended to go home and set up her life just the way she wanted it.
And if she lost her head for a little while with Matthieu de Garmeaux? Would that really be the end of the world? She sipped her coffee, turning her back on the kitchen, breath catching in her throat. Her head she could stand to lose. But her heart? She could never let that fall. And how easy it would be to be drawn into this man’s life, to fall for his charms, to forget that he was being considerate and attentive to fool his family! And then where she would be?
Skye had never been one to obfuscate. She was a straight-talker from way back, and though her nerves were all jumbled up in her body, she found herself tilting her face, angling it towards him. When their eyes met, though, she almost lost her nerve. But memories of the kiss they’d shared were everywhere, and she knew that she’d regret it if she didn’t have this conversation.
“Matthieu, we need to talk.”
He didn’t react visibly, yet she felt the spark ignite between them, familiar and hot, supercharging her blood.
“Do we?”
She nodded, sipping her coffee. “About last night.”
He waited, silently watchful.
“You’re really not going to help me out here, are you?” She said on a soft sigh.
“Do you need my help?”
She straightened her spine, drawing on her reserves of determination. “No.” She moved towards the bench, placing her coffee down. “In the vineyards at Champagne, you said we have chemistry. Did you mean it?”
His face gave little away. “What do you think?”
She swallowed past a suddenly constricted throat. “And when we kissed last night, did you feel that chemistry?”
His eyes were lightly mocking. “I’m pretty sure you know the answer to that.”
Heat flared in her veins. “Yeah, I think so,” she mumbled, looking away.
“And this bothers you?”
“Yes. No.” She shook her head, anguish in her features. This was a hard conversation to have, particularly when all the feelings she was trying to discuss were bubbling through her. “I think we need to have a proper conversation about how we’re going to manage the physical…erm…side of things.”
He lifted a brow, and she shifted her weight from one side to the other. “Meaning?”
She opened her mouth to answer then clamped it shut again. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” She grumbled, arms crossing over her chest.
His laugh was soft and husky. Desire exploded. “I’m interested in where you’re going,” he said, after a beat.
“I just think we should discuss it so we don’t get caught unawares. When we go to your grandparents, there’s going to be more kissing, and touching—,”
“And sharing a bed,” he slipped in with a tilt of his lips that drove her wild.
“Oh, crap. Sharing a bed?”
“They’d think it was pretty strange if we didn’t have the same room.”