Page 6 of About Last Night
She was too damn interesting.
Pull yourself together, you lunatic.
Lula turned away from the disconcertingly gorgeous man in front of her and glanced over to where her party sat laughing at something Emily had said. Her friend was standing and waving her arms around in an approximation of sexual fervour in her typical crowd-pleasing style.
Em would know exactly what to say to a guy like this, and she certainly wouldn’t have made a total fool of herself by coughing all over him.
He’d taken her by surprise, rocking up to the bar before she could formulate a plan about how best to approach him, and she’d been totally unprepared for the immediate visceral effect he’d had on her.
He wasn’t the type of man she’d usually go for – he was scarily charismatic and his powerful virility and snappy smartness gave her the jitters. He was just so chiselled andsmooth-looking with his Roman nose and intelligent, rich brown eyes that sparked with amusement behind a pair of on trend rectangular-framed glasses.
He was totallybusiness.
She had a mad urge to mess with his neatly swept back hair, to ruffle him up a bit and see the raw side of the man concealed beneath the sharply tailored suit.
Blood throbbed through her veins as she entertained the impulse.
She felt slightly bad about not correcting him when he’d asked if her name was short for Louise, but it had occurred to her that she could pretend to be someone else entirely tonight and it wouldn’t matter a jot. She’d never see him again, so why not fully step into the persona she wanted to project? A fake name was a great way to do that, and it wasn’t as if anyone was going to get hurt.
Looking back at him, she realised he was frowning down at her as if trying to figure out what the heck was going through her head. He must think she was a total simpleton, first rambling on about her failed relationships, and now staring around like a vacant airhead.
Gah.
After taking one more bolstering swig of wine, she gave him her most seductive smile.
‘So, what made you pick this particular pub for a refuge from the man-eater?’ she asked.
He shrugged and twisted his beer bottle between his fingers. ‘I’m staying in the hotel across the road and this looked like a suitably dark and shady place to hide.’
‘You don’t live in London?’ That was good. It meant they were unlikely to ever bump into each other again.
Unless they wanted to?
That’s not on the agenda tonight, Lula, get a grip.
Tristan shook his head and frowned. ‘I’m based in Edinburgh.’
‘I’ve never been there. I hear it’s a really cool place.’
‘It is.’
‘So, what brings you this far south?’ she asked.
‘Business. I had a meeting in Canary Wharf today and I have something to do for my father tomorrow.’ His voice had become rougher, as if he was uncomfortable – or maybe bored – talking about it.
Lula nodded and smiled, attempting to hide her anxiety. Her radio training told her she needed to latch onto a more interesting topic of conversation or she was going to lose him.
‘Is it true that men who wear glasses make better lovers?’ She cringed inside, amazed at the guff that came out of her mouth in times of stress.
He let out a startled guffaw. ‘That’s not one I’ve heard before, but since I fit firmly into that category I’m going to sayyes.’
She smiled, happy not to have been slapped down and amazed to feel the atmosphere begin to zing between them again.
May as well go with it.
‘I think it has something to do with losing one of your senses when you take your glasses off – your eyesight, obviously, in this instance – which makes you work harder with your sense of touch.’
He dipped his head in mirth. ‘That sounds like a load of gobbledegook to me, but I’m willing to go with it if it makes you believe I’ll be better in bed than my non-bespectacled rivals.’
