Page 5 of About Last Night
He liked that about her. He liked it a lot.
In fact, now he thought about it, she was the first woman to pique his interest since Marcy had left him.
Taking a step towards him, Lu looked up directly into his face, her gaze roaming over his hair, his eyes, snagging on his mouth.
There was something in her expression that made his libido sit up and take notice. He smiled, feeling the intensity of their attraction heat his blood.
Something like determination was playing across her face, as if she was having an internal fight with herself.
Intriguing.
He narrowed his eyes. ‘Should I be worried here? Do you have an insanely jealous lover who’s about to storm over and demand I step outside or something? Only you seem to be arguing with yourself about the wisdom of talking to me.’
She let out a deep guttural laugh, the dirty carnal suggestion of it playing along his senses, making something fizz deep in his throat.
He swallowed hard.
‘Nah. I’m freshly out of a disastrous fling with someone who couldn’t care less about me, actually. I seem to have a knack for choosing losers and users.’ She swayed towards him. ‘What is it about me that screamssucker, do you think, Tristan?’
He knew he shouldn’t articulate what had just flitted through his mind, but there was something about her beleaguered expression that made it impossible to resist.
‘From where I’m standing,suckeris a word full of possibilities.’ His gaze dropped to that smooth, curvy pout of hers as it twisted into a smile and he saw her shift in her heels as she twigged exactly what he was insinuating.
Lu took another hefty swig of her wine before placing the glass carefully back onto the bar, her fingertips catching the stem at the last second so that it spun and rocked for a moment before settling down to its former inanimate state. The spots of colour on her cheeks flared further outwards.
Was she nervous? Or excited by the idea?
He realised with uncomfortable certainty that he hoped it was the latter.
Whoa, boy. Put the brakes on that impulse.
Chatting to a woman in a bar was one thing, but taking it further wasn’t on the agenda right now.
Was it?
‘You celebrating something?’ he said, nodding towards the huddle of women at the table she’d just vacated, in an attempt to take the charged atmosphere down a notch or two.
‘A friend’s birthday. We both work round the corner so this is our after-work local.’ Something troubling seemed to occur to her and she frowned and picked up her glass again, taking another large gulp of wine. After giving herself a little shake, she flashed him a wide smile.
‘How about you? What are you doing here all on your lonesome?’ She made another move towards him, drawing herself up to her full height and putting out an arm to casually lean on the bar, bringing her tantalising floral fragrance with her.
He drew in a deep lungful of her heady scent and smiled down at her. ‘I ducked in here to avoid being mauled by a woman with a hungry look in her eyes.’
She looked at him steadily. ‘She fancied a slice of you, did she?’
‘I got that impression, yes.’
‘And you didn’t feel like being her Tristan Topping tonight?’
He laughed. ‘Or any other night.’
She swallowed and stared somewhere to the left side of his head before flicking her gaze back to his. There was a flash of something he couldn’t quite pin down in those baby-blues.
She was one contrary lady. One minute, cool and assertive, buying him a drink, the next uncertain and wary.
He’d not come across someone like Lu for a very long time. Since splitting with Marcy, he’d only seemed to meet women who had formed hard, flawless shells around themselves, who gave him a perfectly polished response every time – who thought theywere giving him what he wanted, when actually he was repelled by their phoniness.
But this woman had something about her that he couldn’t bear to step away from just yet.
