She grimaced. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”
“And now that you have thought about it?”
She expelled a short sigh. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it, right? I agreed to this, and that’s a part of it.”
“I’m glad you are capable of being so prosaic.”
“I am,” she nodded. “But we need to face up to the fact that there’s this, um, chemistry, as you said.” She wrinkled her nose, still at a loss for how someone like Matthieu could be attracted to her. It was nothing to do with her physical looks, but more her lack of sophistication, her non-existent interest in hair and makeup and fashion. Her gaze strayed to her chipped nails as if looking for further proof of that.
“I see.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Stop doing that.”
“What am I doing?”
“Making me spell everything out.”
“You’re the one who’s instigating this conversation.”
“Because I’m not a fan of surprises,” she said with quiet determination.
“And last night surprised you?” Somehow, he’d moved closer without her realizing it, so there was no longer the buffer of a big marble bench between them.
“Well, kind of, yeah.”
“Me too.”
She pounced on that admission. “Because you didn’t expect to be as attracted to me as you were?”
“Because it’s been a long time since a simple kiss has driven me to the point of distraction,” he corrected. “I wanted to make love to you on the dance floor, Skye Smith.”
Her eyes flared wide, lifting to his in total surrender and shock. “You did?” Her voice was squeaky, several pitches higher than normal. She quickly brought herself back to the subject at hand. “You did,” she murmured with a soft nod. “So how do we deal with that?”
His eyes scanned her face, and this time when he watched her, it wasn’t because he was trying to read her own feelings so much as make sense of his own. She could see the cogs spinning. “Sex would complicate things,” he said after a beat, frowning. “And I need this to be uncomplicated.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I’d prefer that too.” But yearning was spinning through her, forcing her to look under every rock for alternatives. “And yet…”
He said nothing.
“If we were going to sleep together, it’s better if we talk about it first, to come up with the ground rules.”
His nostrils flared as he breathed out harshly. “I thought you were some prim, never-been-touched woman, Skye, too shy to talk about sex, certainly.”
“I’m not a virgin,” she corrected quietly. “But I’m nowhere near as experienced as you.” That was an understatement. “And I’m not saying we have to have sex,” she back-pedaled quickly.
“But if we do, I don’t want it to make things awkward. So let’s just cross off some ground rules now to get ahead of that.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Well, I’m not interested in any kind of relationship,” she said, scrunching her face. “And I’m pretty sure you’re not either, particularly not with me.” A frown flashed on his face. “I’ve never had a purely physical relationship, but I guess you have, and that’s what this would need to be. It’s only complicated because we’re living together and pretending to be engaged. So I guess the main thing is that we promise not to let this get out of hand. We’re just…friends…colleagues…and sex is just sex. Right?”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re sure you can view it in those prosaic terms?”
“Are you worried I’m going to turn into some hysterical, heartbroken woman when this is over?”
He grinned, shaking his head. “I can’t see it happening.”
“Trust me, it won’t. There’s only one thing my heart wants in this world, Matthieu, and it’s nothing in this room.”