The Mistresses Collection. Оливия Гейтс

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СКАЧАТЬ were really close.’

      Were. She paused, wondering about why that was. But she wasn’t going to pry about anything so personal. Besides, he was only sharing this to make her feel as if she weren’t putting him out. ‘And how long is it since the two of you shared a room?’ she asked bluntly.

      He laughed. ‘About twenty years,’ he conceded.

      Hmm. ‘So this arrangement...would be...brotherly?’

      ‘Sure.’ His eyes crinkled even more at the corners. ‘I really am used to sharing. Sometimes it’s really cramped quarters when I’m on an assignment.’

      ‘All the more reason for you to have your space now you’re at home.’ She really shouldn’t stay.

      ‘You don’t take up that much space.’ He grinned amiably. ‘I like to curl up like a cat.’

      Ha. ‘I slept beside you last night. I know how much you stretch out.’

      A rueful expression crossed his face. ‘Did I leave you any room?’

      ‘Less than an inch.’

      ‘Sorry about that. We can do something better with the pillows.’

      Caitlin pressed her lips together for a moment to suppress the heat suddenly flaring inside. She could well imagine his physical demands would be great. He was the kind to want more. To take more.

      ‘I can’t let you do this.’ Ugh, her voice had gone husky. She cleared her throat. ‘I’ll disturb you.’

      He hesitated for a moment. ‘I can sleep through anything.’

      Actually, she figured that was true. He’d been out cold last night. ‘So you’re suggesting that we—two total strangers—share this one room?’

      ‘I am.’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘It’ll only be for a couple days at most. I’ll be heading out on another assignment soon. You’ll have the place to yourself the rest of your month.’

      Given she had no back-up plan, what choice did she have? But there was that one thing and she couldn’t not spell it out. ‘You honestly think it can work given what you thought on seeing me here last night?’

      ‘I was really tired. Not thinking clearly.’ For the first time he glanced away from her first. ‘You can’t blame me. I think most men look at you and think “sex”.’

      ‘Is that supposed to be a compliment?’ she drawled acidly.

      ‘Hey, I’m just a man.’

      ‘But you’re not, are you? You’re not just any man.’

      He looked back at her. ‘I think you’ll find I’m very much just a man.’

      ‘Given that, I’m really not sure it’s a good idea I stay here.’

      He studied her silently. Then smiled gently. ‘Sweetheart, you have nothing to worry about.’

      Somehow—ridiculous as it was, given he was trying to reassure her—she felt even more insulted than she had last night. ‘Sweetheart?’

      He grinned. ‘Sugar, honeypot...’

      ‘You’ve obviously forgotten my name is Caitlin.’

      ‘I haven’t forgotten anything about you.’ A glitter intensified the laughter in his eyes.

      That kind of focus was enough to make any woman blush. She drew breath, fighting the flare of heat in her cheeks. ‘Okay, I definitely can’t stay here.’ She’d be safer on the streets.

      ‘Sure you can.’

      ‘Not if you’re going to flirt like a bulldozer,’ she grumbled. She didn’t want any man-attraction stuff in her life right now. She wanted peace.

      He laughed. A deliciously low, warm, infectious sound. ‘You don’t like flirting?’

      Caitlin fought to keep hold of her grump and not succumb to his charm. ‘It’s not appropriate.’ He didn’t even mean it.

      He looked even more amused. ‘You honestly don’t think a guy and a girl can share a room without...’ He raised his brows.

      Oh, now he was making her seem like some kind of sex-crazed spinster. ‘It’s not that but—’

      ‘Ah, you do think I’m attractive.’ He nodded in a confiding way, his grin absurdly boyish.

      Confound the man, he was confusing her. ‘You know you’re attractive,’ she answered almost crossly.

      ‘I do?’ He turned his head and ran a finger down the thick red welt of the scar that came out of his hairline, cut across his temple and sloped crookedly down his cheekbone. ‘This is attractive?’

      Caitlin stared first at the scar, then into his suddenly impenetrably dark eyes. Was there an edge of bitterness? He was insecure about it? When the world knew how he’d got it? What he’d gone through?

      ‘Your eyes are attractive,’ she said quietly. His eyes were lethal. And they were just the beginning.

      He shook his head, his smile returning but a little twisted. ‘My bank balance is attractive. So is my surname—the family connection. The fame.’

      Fame didn’t make him attractive to her. She knew fame cost—not with the clichéd sweat, but soul. Fame-craving people sacrificed their humanity. But she got the feeling he was as unenthusiastic about fame as she was.

      ‘Are you trying to play the pity card?’ She adopted a sassy tone to lighten the prickly moment. ‘You’re worried the only reason women want you is because of your assets, not your personality?’

      ‘You tell me.’ His lips twitched.

      ‘I’m not stroking your ego.’

      He chuckled warmly again. ‘So you’re not attracted to me.’ He nodded again as he spoke. ‘Guess that means we’ll have no trouble sharing the room.’

      Hmm. She considered his tactics and had to acknowledge he was good. She could be too, right? And she really couldn’t afford to go anyplace else. ‘And obviously you’re not attracted to me,’ she said with a small faux sniff.

      He looked at her silently, the single dimple appearing again.

      ‘Given you fell asleep before you even hit the mattress,’ she added, vaguely piqued. ‘And you were desperately saying no.’

      His shoulder lifted, a scant apologetic gesture. ‘I didn’t want to have to be nice.’

      Another wave of heat caught Caitlin by surprise. ‘You didn’t want to have to be nice—in bed?’ She cocked her head, the provocative words tumbling from her tongue. ‘If I were a hooker, wouldn’t it have been my job to be nice? It would only have been about getting off for you. You could have done your thing in twenty seconds and we’d both have been happy.’

      ‘That’s СКАЧАТЬ