Avril Tremayne - The Dating Game

‘We’re on a tight deadline, bluebell. No time to lose.’ He looked curiously at her when she didn’t move. ‘A few minutes ago you couldn’t wait to absquatulate. What’s the sudden problem?’

‘It occurs to me that I may have got carried away in here. With just you and me, it seemed easy. You have a way of …’ She trailed off, not quite brave enough to suggest he was a master manipulator. ‘Of putting women at ease.’ Nice save, if she said so herself. ‘But Lane and Adam are out there and that … changes things.’

‘Changes things how?’

‘I have no idea how they’ll interpret what’s going on with us.’

‘It’s straightforward. There’s nothing to interpret.’

‘Think of the relationship intricacies. What if Lane doesn’t end up with Adam? What if she decides she wants to pick up with you where she left off?’

‘I told you—past tense.’

‘But Adam won’t want me anywhere near you, regardless , if she dumps him. And he’s not exactly the most forgiving guy on the planet, so he might not want me anywhere near you even if she doesn’t dump him, now she’s waved you in his face like a red flag at a tank.’

‘I think you mean red flag at a bull.’

‘Trust me, I mean tank. And I don’t want to have to watch him kill you over something to do with me.’ She covered her face with her hands. ‘And I know I’ll end up hating you if you hurt my brother—if you hurt him emotionally , I mean, because he’d wipe the floor with you physically.’

‘Thank you for that vote of confidence.’

‘I might end up hating Lane, too. And even though I want to slap her right now, I love Lane.’

‘So just wait it out for six weeks and don’t hate either of us until our time’s up. You won’t have to see me again and you can mop up the rest any way you want. I’ll even help you do it.’

Her hands dropped, and she regarded him with disbelief. ‘It doesn’t work like that with feelings. You hate people, you like them, you love them, but you do it unconsciously. Even if you’re ambivalent, it’s not something you decide, it just happens.’

‘In my experience, feelings can be controlled.’

‘I don’t believe that.’

‘I’ve seen it, first hand. In fact, I’m adding that topic to the rulebook—controlling one’s emotions. Meanwhile, bluebell, the choice is yours: confess all, or keep me a deep dark secret. Won’t bother me either way.’

‘How can I keep you a deep dark secret when they’ll see us together out there?’

‘They won’t see us together. Adam dragged Lane off in highly dramatic caveman style ages ago.’

‘What? No!’

‘Why so surprised?’

‘It’s just not him , to go caveman over a woman.’

‘I promise you, he was Grade A Neanderthal. Now don’t make me get all caveman and drag you out to the party.’ Pause, while he searched her face. ‘Are we good, bluebell? All I’m doing is painting you with your clothes on. It’s probably the most innocent thing I’ve done for nine years. Not worth any angst.’

He sounded almost bored. And Sarah felt suddenly, painfully gauche, to be thinking there was anything untoward in what they were doing.

‘We’re good, I guess,’ she said. ‘But I do want to keep it on the down low, at least for now. Until I figure out the … the ramifications, consequences, complications.’

‘Not that there should be any ramifications, consequences, complications, but okay, “the down low” it is. A phrase I never thought I’d hear coming out of my own mouth.’ He reached out a finger, flicked it carelessly against her cheek. ‘Now, let’s go and get you hooked up.’

Sarah smiled, but as they walked out of the storeroom, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d dived headfirst into dangerous seas; the shore of her old life was already receding, the undertow dragging her out of her depth.

CHAPTER FOUR

David Bennett: wingman.

If anyone had told David he’d end a night out trailing after a girl like an anxious duenna after she’d rejected his sexual advances out of hand, he would have laughed his head off.

And yet here he was.

He’d thought he’d swayed the outcome towards sex for a moment in the storeroom when Sarah had arched right into his savagely unapologetic boner. But nope. It was as though she’d made him, somehow. As though she’d twigged that he was testing her. It was a novel experience, being caught out, seen through. And what made the situation even more remarkable was that Sarah had resisted him so easily, right in the middle of telling him he was, in fact, irresistible.

No, he corrected, he himself wasn’t irresistible; it was his air of ennui that was irresistible. And damn if that didn’t make him want to laugh his head off too. Not that laughing deflated his erection; to his surprise, it had the opposite effect.

He wondered how many of the men buzzing around Sarah like bees around a honey pot were being similarly afflicted in the groin area. The thought made him uncomfortable in a way he didn’t understand. Unless it was that he wasn’t seeing anyone in the gallery worth their effort—as he’d been communicating to Sarah via a strange telepathy she seemed to understand innately. It was amazing what you could achieve with a series of finger twitches, glancing frowns, eyelid flickers and half-shrugs. He probably looked like a palsy sufferer to anyone watching closely, but the silent language seemed to do the job.

An engineer called Harry—flick. Edward the dentist—flick. Earnest China expert Felix who’d made a beeline for her and actually kissed her cheek—flick. Four others, gone within as many minutes. It was getting ridiculous. There had to be someone in the room who wasn’t a total loser.

Sarah had obviously reached the same conclusion, because she was converging on him in her tottering-on-high-heels, stopping-for-a-chat, strutting way, with a determined sparkle in her eye. ‘There has to be one who passes muster,’ she said through a too-large smile as she sidled close to him.

‘If you’d stop hitting on the conservative intellectual types, we might find him. Who are you trying to date? Your father?’

‘My father is not conservative.’

‘All right, then don’t deliberately not date your father. Okay, that sounds repellent, but you know what I mean. Either way, no more guys with glasses and pokers up their backsides.’

‘They didn’t all wear glasses.’

‘No, one out of ten didn’t wear glasses. And they all, bar none, had the poker shoved high enough to have them singing falsetto. No, don’t argue, just listen: no glasses, no plain blue ties, no supercilious smirks. Okay?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Okay.’

‘And don’t roll your eyes. You know I’m right.’

‘I said okay, didn’t I?’

‘It’s how you said it.’ He swept his eyes around the room—in one direction, then back … and stopped. Victim located. He cocked his head to the left. ‘Over there. The guy with the dark hair, on the long side.’ Slight pause. ‘ Too long, if you ask me.’

‘Hello? You’re talking to me about dating my father but from where I’m standing, I could just date you if that’s going to be your attitude. Are you going to check them for tattoos as well as hair length? What if they ride motorbikes, Dad?’

‘Shut up, brat,’ he said, trying not to laugh. ‘Look at him, not me. Black suit, white shirt buttoned up to the neck but no tie. See? He’s raising his champagne glass to his lips. Good, he’s seen me. He’s coming over.’

‘You know him?’