Breaking Through. AM Hartnett

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СКАЧАТЬ to my sister,’ she grumbled. ‘She’s a temp – sometimes – but if you ask her she’ll tell you that she’s a musician. In all fairness she made more money with her music in the last six months, but that’s only because she hasn’t taken an office job and doesn’t have to get up in the morning. Too bad she blows about half of it on herself.’

      ‘So how do you support yourself and a baby?’

      The place was too nice and the food too good to indulge any further talk about disappointment, so Miranda shook her head and told him she was changing the subject.

      ‘I want the truth: why did you pick me up? And don’t give me your bullshit about chivalry.’

      ‘There’s some truth to that,’ he said with a sheepish look. ‘You looked so sad and pathetic standing there, I couldn’t bear it.’

      ‘But?’

      ‘But …’

      He lifted his cup and took a sip, and he didn’t need to say anything more. His hazel eyes told her the answer to her question, and the quiet hunger that radiated back at her made her feverish all of a sudden.

      She pushed her damp hair off her hot neck, and her pulse fluttered in her veins as he lowered his cup. The corners of his mouth quirked, telling her that he knew exactly what he had just done to her.

      ‘You’re not my type,’ she told him, seeing no point in beating around the bush, ‘not even a bit, and that whole bathroom thing was a bit of a turn-off.’

      ‘Right.’ The laughter that shook his voice irritated her and at the same time amused her, and she couldn’t hold back a smile.

      ‘But you did buy me a four-dollar scone, so I suppose you’re all right.’

      ‘Oh, is that all it takes?’

      ‘To get me on my back?’ She shook her head and giggled. ‘No, but it’s a start – and you haven’t tried to bullshit me yet, so I like that.’

      Simon frowned. ‘How do you know?’

      ‘I just asked you pretty much point-blank if you wanted to get in my panties, and you didn’t try and act like it never crossed your mind. If you were trying to bullshit me, you’d be spoon-feeding me some crap about how you’re not that kind type of guy and then try and win me over by telling me about how your job makes it so hard to meet women. If you were bullshitting me, you’d have spun that whole bathroom thing into your tale of woe somehow, expecting me to sit here and go, “Poor baby, so sensitive and sad – how can I not sleep with him?”’

      ‘I sincerely hope you’ve never fallen for that.’

      He finished his tea, tore off a piece of her scone and popped it into his mouth as she studied him. After a moment under her scrutiny, he slung his arm over the back of the chair and sprawled out, legs bumping hers under the table.

      She didn’t pull away. She let him settle with his knee resting against hers, and enjoyed how the warmth crawled along the inside of her thigh, reaching for a more intimate shelter.

      ‘Why did you get in my car?’ he asked.

      ‘I was sad and pathetic,’ she countered.

      Simon cocked his head. ‘And?’

      ‘And, honestly? That’s it. I just wanted a ride home, but now I’m having a good time.’ She met his gaze with a nod. ‘I think I can overlook the whole bathroom thing.’

      He groaned. ‘Can we please drop that once and for all?’

      ‘Are you embarrassed by it?’

      ‘I’ve gone from embarrassed to mortified.’

      ‘I’m thrilled that you’re mortified, and yes, I’ll drop it now, but I might need a cookie to make up for taking away the one thing I have to hold over your head.’

      ‘I’ll get you two cookies if I can get your phone number.’

      The line of communication they had been weaving back and forth between them drew taut with his request and pulled her closer to him even though she didn’t move a muscle. Miranda found it hard to speak.

      She still didn’t understand why he would want to sit and have coffee with her, and she didn’t understand why he wanted her number now. Picking her up with the purpose of getting her into bed – that she understood, but this reaching out threw her. He wasn’t her type, and she’d bet money she sure as hell wasn’t his.

      It’s not that he had charmed the memory of the event in the bathroom from her mind. In fact, it was at the forefront of her thoughts. In that silence, she couldn’t stop thinking about sex.

      He took a slow sip of his tea, and the throaty sound of his swallowing it reminded her of the one he’d made as he went deeper into the woman’s throat. That sound rattled around inside Miranda’s head, and as he rubbed his thumb around the rim of his mug she couldn’t help imagining the same motion stroking her through her bra.

      ‘I don’t –’

      She started to tell him she didn’t think it was a good idea, that one cup of coffee wasn’t enough to convince her that he could aspire to be her type, but that’s not what came out. Her arousal had rattled the words right back down her throat.

      ‘I don’t have any evenings free,’ she finally said. ‘I work from two until eight, six days a week, and go right home because my sister goes on stage at ten.’

      ‘That’s fine,’ he said easily, but she wasn’t finished.

      ‘And I have an eighteen-month-old in the mornings, so even breakfast is out. Lunch is debatable, depending on whether you like kids and having carrot sticks thrown at you.’

      ‘What is it you’re trying to do here?’ he asked her with a chuckle.

      ‘I’m just saying, I don’t know what you’re looking for but you might not get it from me.’

      Simon leaned forward and grinned. ‘I’m just looking for your phone number.’

      Miranda couldn’t think of an argument against that, and, with him looking so devilish and boyish at once, she didn’t want to give him one, so she told him her number and watched him type it into his phone.

      ‘I should get your cookies and get you home,’ he said with a satisfied air.

      ‘Are you going to get me lost again?’

      ‘I make no guarantees, but if I do I’ll pay for you to take a cab to where you need to be in time.’

      As they reached the entrance and he shook out his umbrella, Miranda gave his jacket a tug. ‘Did you seriously get lost, or was this the long way of getting my phone number?’

      He placed his hand over his heart. ‘I swear, may God strike me dead, I didn’t mean to take that wrong turn. It’s not my first, either. Last week I went to get my car detailed, and at the intersection right in front of the shop I went the wrong way and ended up on the highway.’

      Miranda СКАЧАТЬ