Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“There’s no need to look so pleased,” Lucas said. “And no, I’m not. I’m going there to take care of personal business.”
“Take as long as you need. Don’t come back, even. That’s half my job here done if I get rid of one of you.”
“Just go, Luke.” Oliver sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I’ve dealt with Rose’s temper enough today as it is without you pissing her off even more.”
Was that a compliment?
It felt like a compliment.
It probably shouldn’t, but it did.
I was taking it anyway. I didn’t get complimented often, so even dubiously half-hearted ones were a pretty boost to my already substantial ego.
Luke nodded his head. “Then I’ll speak to you tomorrow morning,” was all he said before he left the room without saying another word.
“Wow. He could have said goodbye,” I said, staring after him.
“Are you somehow hurt by his indifference towards you?” Oliver said dryly.
I snorted. “Please. I would be happiest if we never shared another word between us.”
He stared at me.
“What?”
“Are you sure you don’t have a twin sister hidden somewhere? Perhaps a local doppelganger?”
“I’ve already told you that I only have a brother. I suppose the doppelganger is a possibility, but I can’t imagine they’d be anywhere near as charming as me.”
“That’s exactly why I’m wondering such a thing. The more time I spend with you, the more I can’t believe you’re the same Rose I met that night.”
I paused. “People act differently depending on circumstances. I was obviously nice to you when we first met. Back then, you weren’t trying to ruin my life.”
“That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“It would be if you weren’t ruining my life.” I waved my hand. “Either way, thanks to you, I know better now. Always ask for someone’s name before you do the dance with no pants.”
He slowly removed his glasses and let them dangle from between his finger and thumb. “Are you intending to jump into bed with the next handsome man you come across, princess?”
“Only after confirming they’re neither an aristocrat nor a foreign prince willing to pay me one million pounds if I send them my bank account details.”
“This is no good. You’ll have to stay here.”
“What? Here? Why?”
“I can’t possibility inflict your particular brand of chaos upon any other man.”
“That’s a funny way of saying, ‘Rose, you’re so wonderful that I can’t let anyone else have you.’”
He rested his chin on his hand as a grin slowly spread across his face, making his blue eyes sparkle. “Sure. We can put it that way.”
I flinched. “I was joking.”
“I wasn’t. Although I might not have used the word wonderful. Perhaps… effervescent.”
“Effervescent? What does that even mean?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“I would, yes, hence why I asked.”
Oliver laughed, finally putting down his glasses. “Don’t you have bigger problems right now?”
“An endless number of them.”
“I mean an immediate one. You know very well that I’m attracted to you, yet you’re in my office in nothing but a terry bathrobe without a care in the world.”
My cheeks flushed, and I turned away as nonchalantly as I could. “I’m not only wearing this, actually. I’m wearing the shirt you left because it’s all that fits me.”
“Are you telling me that under that measly dressing gown you’re wearing my shirt? And nothing else?”
“Well, I’m wearing my knickers, but otherwise, yes. It’s not like I have any other clothes.”
“And you don’t feel any sense of danger at all by sharing such knowledge with me?”
I peered over at him. “No. I reckon I could take you in a fight.”
I wouldn’t pass up a chance to make him choke on a knuckle sandwich.
Just once.
“Knowing that you’re wearing nothing but your underwear and my shirt under that doesn’t make me want to fight you, princess. It makes me want to fuck you.”
Oh.
That kind of danger.
“That doesn’t sound like my problem. Perhaps you should keep your own perverted desires to yourself.” I coughed and got to my feet. “I’m going back to my room until someone comes with clothes and I can leave this place.”
“Rose. You can’t hide in there.”
I sighed and walked over to his desk, then perched on the edge of it, peering back at him. “If you’re trying to seduce me, don’t bother. I’m not responsible for your lust, Oliver.”
“You made me responsible for yours when you came onto me by telling me that I had a face you’d like to sit on.”
“And it was indeed a very comfortable seat,” I said. “But that was then, and this is now.”
“And now?”
“What about now?”
“Do you really feel nothing?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Why would I feel anything? You’re a grown man, I’m a grown woman, and we fucked with no expectations past that one time. That’s all there is to it. What is there for me to feel?”
Except the occasional traitorous tingling of my libido.