Page 79 of Just One Look
“Because you’re logical,” he said. “And you know that no matter what I say, there’s no real proof. You don’t know me well enough for that. You do know your own body.”
“You are infuriatingly calm,” she said.
He laughed. “It’s my job. Just like yours. You know how you said that the tougher the pressure gets and the higher the stakes are, the calmer you become? That’s how you play rugby, too, if you’re good. Here, we’ll make a loop, go down to the sea, and come back up.”
“It can’t be how you play rugby,” she said. “How can you have all that adrenaline flowing and still be calm?”
He raised his eyebrows. “How can you?”
“Oh.” She digested that a minute. “All right, then. No, I didn’t. But then, assuming you’d used a condom, how would I?”
“If I went in there when you were asleep? You don’t think you’d be sore? Abraded?”
“Wow,” she said. “You reallyareas blunt as me. All right. Lubricated condom?”
“You’d still be sore,” he said. “I’m not small, and you wouldn’t have been ready. Are we done with this?”
“No. You took off my clothes.” Wait. What? He wasn’tsmall?Whosaidthat?
“Folded them, though,” he said. “You were starting to pull them off and having trouble. Did some whimpering, to tell you the truth. Asked me to help.”
“Oh, wonderful. I whimpered.”
“Honestly?” he said. “The whimpering was hot.”
She groaned. “Also, you took off mybra.”
He glanced at her. “You were having some trouble.”
“And you had to help me. Because you’re chivalrous, and I probably whimpered again.”
He smiled. “You did. It was that pretty one, with the leaves. A bit scratchy. It had an underwire, too.”
“Well, yes. I’m somewhat large-breasted, and underwires tend to be necessary. Why are we discussing my bra?”
“I’ve dated quite a few women,” he said.
“You think this is helping,” she said. “It’s not.”
“Quiet. I’m explaining. Underwires dig in, they say. They can’t sleep in them. Also, bras like that are expensive, and you were going to tear it. I didn’t look. I just unhooked it and took it off.”
“Without looking,” she said flatly.
“All right, I may have caught a glimpse. I had three choices. Leave you outside in the cold. Obviously not happening. Take you inside and put you on the bed, and leave you there, fully dressed. Probably the best option, in hindsight. Could’ve let you rip your bra by yourself. Of course, then you’d have been asking me why I ripped your clothes off, so … Or I could put you to bed and make you comfortable, so you could sleep. Which I did.”
“I still don’t really understand that. I can’t find an explanation that isn’t a little creepy for you undressing a sleeping woman.”
He sighed. “I have a couple of elder sisters. You’ve met Sofia. The older one, Lana, goes out and gets pissed occasionally. Or possibly a bit more than occasionally.”
“Uh …”
“Drunk. I’ve carried her to bed a fair few times, and I’ve taken off her clothes, too. What I did didn’t seem odd to me, but I can see it may have been the wrong thing here. Sorry.”
She said,“What?You mean, you and your sister are …”
He stared at her, then said, “No! No. Of course not.”
“How do women usually take that, then?” she asked.
