Page 13 of About Last Night
‘And, to be honest, I’m not a good bedfellow anyway. I movearound a lot. And I steal the sheets. I’d keep you awake and you’d regret even suggesting it.’
He was frowning now, clearly baffled by her word vomit.
‘It’s okay, Louise, I wasn’t suggesting that.’
She sighed and rubbed a hand over her forehead, feeling downright sleazy now for not telling him her real name. ‘It’s been fun, Tristan.Reallyfun, but I think it’s best if I don’t hang around.’
Argh, how were you meant to do this kind of thing without sounding like a prude or a heinous bitch?
Tristan stood up and caught hold of Lu’s arm as she turned to go. ‘Hey, wait.’ Drawing her towards him, he bent to kiss her again for the last time, attempting to make it a kiss she’d never forget.
The groan she gave in the back of her throat made him think he’d succeeded.
He felt discombobulated by her sudden need to depart and wanted to slow her down, keep her for a bit longer, even if it was only for one extra minute.
Breaking away, she gave him a look of pure regret. ‘I’m not going to be able to leave if you keep doing things like that.’
He smiled. ‘That’s the idea.’
Her gaze flitted to the floor and his stomach sank as he realised he’d said the wrong thing. This was a one-night-only thing. That was all he’d thought he wanted – until he’d found how sexually explosive they were together. Now he wanted to suggest he stayed in London for an extra day so they could spend one more night together – one verylongnight – to give them the chance to explore exactly how much more fun they could conjure up between them.
Letting her go now seemed like such a travesty.
Apparently, Lu didn’t share his view.
She stepped forwards to give him one last soft kiss on the lips, then turned and walked swiftly away, closing the door quietly behind her.
And then she was gone.
After showering, he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, trying to ignore the way his body seemed desperate for more of Lu’s intensive attention. His eyes looked brighter than normal and his skin was flushed and glowing. That was what a good, hard bout of amazing sex did to you. It made you look and feel alive. Something he’d been missing for a while now.
He’d been surprised by how much he’d loved the way Lu had taken control. Normally he was the one leading things in the bedroom – it had never occurred to him not to – and he’d been pleasantly surprised by just how much he’d liked it when she took over. And by how willing he was to trust her. Maybe it was because he had to be responsible in every other part of his life; handing control over to someone else for a change had been liberating.
Going back into the bedroom, he gathered up his clothes from the floor. His gaze caught on something the size and shape of a credit card as it fell out from the folds of his shirt. He scooped it up and looked at it. It was a driver’s licence. Louise must have dropped it out of her bag when she went looking for condoms. A feeling of euphoria rose in his chest. He might have just found a reason to contact her again.
Turning it over, he glanced quickly at the cute picture of Lu before reading the name underneath it.
Tallulah Lazenby.
His whole body went cold as the name sank into his brain. Why was it so familiar? And why was he experiencing this sick, sinking feeling?
Grabbing his laptop, he opened up the mail from his father giving him the details for the meeting at the radio station tomorrow. He scanned the text until his eyes alighted on the name of the woman his father wanted to fire.
Tallulah Lazenby.
She’d told him her name was Louise.
She’d lied to him.
His mind flitted back to all the moments that evening where she’d seemed to correct herself or change up her performance with him.
She’d known who he was all along – deliberately latching onto him and seducing him, perhaps hoping he’d think twice before firing her from her job.
He’d been played for a fool. Again.
Flinging the card across the room, he flopped down onto the bed, furious with himself for being stupid enough to think this had been one of those genuinely serendipitous events.
Hot humiliation washed through him, followed by icy anger. It felt just as bad as when he’d found out Marcy had been cheating on him.
