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‘That’s exactly what it is.’ Her chin lifted high, as if she was just waiting for the criticism.
Confronted with that expression, much as he wanted to criticise, he found he wasn’t going to. She was trying—independent and alone. Far more than she’d been five years ago. Good for her, right? Except for some reason it annoyed him more. Why should it matter? Couldn’t he, of all people, understand the need to succeed?
‘Why don’t you come to my hotel and work there? I have a suite—it’s three times the size of this place.’ He knew before he’d finished saying it that it was a mistake. He knew how she’d react—call him worse than a flirt. Thing was, he meant it. Grudgingly. It wasn’t a line.
‘Oh, please, that was so unsubtle.’
Yep, she boxed him right back into flirt mode.
‘But we wouldn’t have to share a bathroom this time.’ He walked up to her, giving into her expectations—and his own need to provoke. And stand closer. ‘Unless you wanted to.’ He smiled and lifted a hand to her jaw, unable to resist touching her again. ‘Now, that was unsubtle.’
He’d never forget the time he’d walked in on her in the bathroom. It had been his first night there that Christmas break. To his relief she hadn’t screamed the place down. She’d been mortified. In truth so had he. He’d covered up by joking, of course. But he’d soon got derailed. The towel had covered her most private parts—parts he’d ached to see. But there’d been so much damp skin on show and with the steam and the sweet scent of her soap? Of course he’d made a play. A huge one.
It wasn’t until the next morning that he’d learned she was Oliver’s girlfriend—the one he’d been with for a couple of years. Who Oliver’s family loved and expected him to marry. The good girl who slept in her own room when she stayed—not Oliver’s. It was all so perfect.
But it was already too late. Liam had been young and dumb and so callow. He’d mistaken insta-lust for love at first sight. He’d been unsubtle in his attention. Unable to stay away.
‘That wasn’t just unsubtle.’ Victoria lifted her chin sharply, so his fingers slipped from her skin. ‘That was sledgehammer.’
‘This is a dodgy neighbourhood,’ he said, wishing he could see her out of here.
‘Don’t try to get me there under the pretext of caring for my welfare.’ She looked amused.
There was no shifting her. And—albeit reluctantly— he respected that. ‘So where do you see it—’ he waved his hand at her desk ‘—in a few years?’
‘You want to know my business goals?’
Yep, oddly he did. ‘How are you going to expand when it’s so dependent on you? What happens if you sprain your wrist or something?’
‘I have business insurance. In terms of expansion—is it necessary? I only need to make enough for me to live comfortably.’
A single bed was never comfortable, no matter how slight she was. She clearly needed to make more than she currently was. ‘How are you going to factor in holidays? When you own your own business, it’s very easy to forget about holidays.’
‘How do you factor in holidays?’ She laughed at him.
‘I love my work. Work is a holiday for me.’ Sailing was and always would be his first, his ultimate, passion. He loved the challenge on the water. It was his home—the place he felt safest. And the most free.
She turned and looked at him. Her green eyes were very bright—he felt their power right into his bones.
‘And you don’t think it’s possible for me to feel the same about my work?’ she asked.
Frankly? No. ‘Not in this environment.’ This place was stifling at best. ‘But maybe it doesn’t matter to you. Maybe you only see what you’re working on.’ He walked over to the scrupulously tidy desk. ‘You’re very good at what you do.’
Victoria couldn’t get over his nerve. He couldn’t try to make it better now with flattery. Not when he hadn’t even seen her work. He’d only seen that mess on the card at the chateau. She’d boxed the others away and right now her desk was completely clear. So he had no idea how good she was. Unless—
A horrible suspicion occurred to her. ‘Did you recommend me to Aurelie?’
He stilled.
‘You did. You Googled me. You found my website. You—’ She broke off.
For once the self-assured expression was wiped from Liam’s face. He looked guilty. He was guilty.
Victoria gritted her teeth. She couldn’t back out of Aurelie’s job now, but a huge part of her wanted to.
‘I didn’t think I was going to make it to her wedding.’ Liam offered an explanation. ‘And I never expected to see you even if I did. But, yes, I wanted to help.’
Help who—her or Aurelie?
It shouldn’t bother her. It really shouldn’t. But she didn’t want to feel beholden to him. And she’d felt so stupidly proud to have gotten this commission. That she was succeeding independently and on her own merit. Oliver had implied that her early success in London had only been because of his contacts. Not the quality of her work. She’d thought this job an antidote to that bite.
‘I mentioned your name when she was boring me with wedding details one day.’ Liam fiddled with one of the tins she had on her desk, pulling out the pencils one by one and dropping them back in. ‘She looked you up herself and decided whether or not to hire you. She likes your work.’
Victoria swallowed. She couldn’t let pride ruin this. She could still get business off the back of Aurelie’s wedding. Her work would speak for itself.
He glanced at her, his sharp eyes assessing. ‘You’re unhappy with me.’
‘Not at all,’ she lied. ‘It was very nice of you to suggest me to her. I’m amazed you could even remember my name.’
‘Come off it, Victoria.’ He stepped closer.
She instinctively retreated. Because sometimes he saw too much—past her polite veneer to what she was really thinking. And wanting.
‘You’re so determinedly independent now?’ he asked, his brows lifting at her attempt to put distance between them. ‘Can’t accept anyone’s help?’ A muscle worked in his jaw. ‘Least of all mine?’ He let his gaze slowly lower— trailing over her body.
She stood her ground, hoping to school her response and this time truly hide her thoughts from him. But once again he seemed to know.
‘What are you so afraid of?’ he baited. ‘You have nothing to fear from me. It would only be the once.’
Victoria smiled, keeping the rest of her expression smooth. ‘Why? Isn’t it going to be very good?’
His attention snapped back to her face. ‘I’ve done the convenient relationship. It doesn’t work. One-night stands do.’
The ‘convenient relationship’? So he hadn’t been in love with Aurelie? Or was this his way of hiding his own deep hurt?
‘I’m not a one-night stand person,’ she answered honestly.
‘Maybe you should try it. Once.’
She held his gaze—still feeling that pull towards him, but she was older and wiser and stronger now. ‘You don’t like to give up, do you?’
There was a slight hesitation. ‘No. I told you I like to win.’
‘And that’s what this is?’ She gestured—fluttering her fingers towards him and then herself. ‘Like an event to be won?’
‘If we don’t explore it, there’ll always be that curiosity. Be honest,’ he drawled, taking another step closer. ‘You’re dying of curiosity. That burning wonder of what might have been.’
‘So poetic?’
‘It’s the Irish ancestry in me. And I’m right. We both know that.’ His voice dropped. ‘We also both know how good it’s going to be.’
‘Liam.’
His lashes lowered. ‘It’s always going to be like this,’ he muttered. ‘It’s inevitable. It always has been.’
No. She’d ceded control of her life for too long—always doing what others wanted. She was in control now.
He’d stepped near enough to touch her and now he did. Reaching out to brush the tips of his fingers on her shoulder.
‘Only once, you say?’ she asked, letting some tease out. Determined to make him pay for this casual attitude. As if all this was was sexual curiosity that could be assuaged in one hit.
‘Feel free to make me change my mind.’ His mouth quirked. ‘Love to see you try.’
She stepped back.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Not happening.’ She folded her arms across her chest. ‘Feel free to make me change my mind,’ she threw at him. ‘Go on. Do your worst.’
Startled, he stepped after her. ‘Victoria—’
‘Was this only ever lust? You’re so driven by base urges you ruined your friendship with Oliver? You almost broke up a relationship? For a quick fling?’
Or was it even less than that? She took another step from him, using the last bit of space behind her and bumping the backs of her knees against the small cot she called her bed.
‘Was it just your overblown need to win?’ she continued. ‘You’re so insanely competitive, did you need to get one over him? Was I nothing more than the trophy of the day?’ She kept her smile on but it was slipping. Quickly.
‘No.’ He frowned.
That didn’t satisfy her. ‘Then don’t cheapen this. Don’t cheapen me.’
Now he looked angry. ‘I didn’t betray Oliver.’
No?
‘I didn’t seduce you,’ he argued, standing so close she could feel his warmth and almost taste the salty ocean breeze that he always seemed to evoke. ‘And I could have.’
‘You think?’
‘I can’t give you everything you want. I can only—’
‘You don’t know what I want.’
He shrugged one shoulder. ‘Marriage, babies, Labradors.’
‘I tried that. It’s not for me.’ Maybe she just wanted acknowledgement of what could have been between them. That this had been more than just a sexual attraction. That somehow, unbelievable as it might have been, there had been a real connection between them that week.
‘So what do you want?’
‘A career. My business.’ She lifted her chin. ‘I was making headway before the divorce. Oliver hated that I was more successful than he was.’ The banking crisis had hardly been her fault. Hundreds in the city had been laid off—Oliver had been one of them. But for whatever reason, her little enterprise had gained traction. But after his affair and the divorce she’d lost it. Now she was back at the beginning. But she believed in it. In herself. ‘I want to build this up into something great. And to do that I need to finish this for Aurelie. That’s what I want. To have work coming out of my ears. For people to love my work.’
He was silent, his eyes boring into her, for a long moment. Then he glanced around her small room again. The plain, utility style room with her neatly lined tins and stacks of paper and materials.
‘That’s all you want?’ he asked.
‘That’s all I have time for.’
‘No time for anything else?’ He suddenly smiled, wicked-incarnate again. ‘Not even one night?’
‘Typical.’ She rolled her eyes, her good humour lifting at the swift return of his. ‘You just want to bang the one who got away.’
‘What, and you think you’re unaffected?’ he teased. ‘I see how you look at me.’
She averted her eyes immediately. ‘Unbelievable.’
‘But true nonetheless.’ He nodded. ‘Look, I respect your aims. And you’re right, you have no time. But let’s clear the air a little.’
In what way exactly? That wicked look in his eye was only growing.
‘I don’t think the air needs clearing,’ she said firmly. ‘One kiss,’ he tempted. ‘We never even kissed.’
That was true. She’d turned away. She still didn’t know how she’d managed it. But she was repeating it now— there’d be no kissing.
He laughed at her expression. ‘Don’t look so worried. It might be a huge let-down.’
‘I thought you were too much of a Casanova to let any woman down that way.’
‘You might let me down,’ he taunted.
‘You’re questioning my abilities?’ She winced at the high pitch of her attempted comeback. Not exactly sizzling.
His smile came so quick, so lethal it shot heat into her abdomen. ‘Well, how good are you?’
‘Better than you.’ She snapped the obvious answer straight back—smart all the way and unwilling to concede a thing.
His smiled broadened.
But hers faltered. She thought about what she’d said. Fact was she was more fizzle than sizzle. The fantasy was shattered. She wasn’t good at all. She’d had one lover in her life—Oliver. And he’d gone and found greater warmth with another woman.
‘Victoria?’
Liam’s smile had died. Was it concern that he was looking at her with? She looked away again. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want a pity kiss, she didn’t want to be a disappointment.
‘It’s not going to be good.’ She cleared her throat and then glued on a smile so he’d think she was feeling it as an easy joke. ‘So let’s just keep it as an unfulfilled fantasy.’
He muttered something, she didn’t know what. She just wanted him to leave now. She had a headache coming on, she had so much work to do. And the emotional spin he’d put her in? It was like going through the washing machine on heavy duty. Only he wasn’t washing away all those old emotions. He was hauling them out again— the stains of the past. Want and desire and silly things that she’d forgotten about.
Except she’d not forgotten. And it still wasn’t the right time. It never would be.
He touched her. His hand cupping, then lifting her chin. She couldn’t look at him. All that sass-talk of a few minutes ago fled, leaving her empty inside. Doubt flurried into the vacant spaces within. He might have stuck with only one girlfriend for a while, but he was still vastly more experienced than she. He’d laugh at how hopeless she was.
