Page 46 of Wilder at Heart
‘What she said.’ He twists around and grins at Elle, and the look in his eyes probably melts her underwear off. If she’s wearing any.
I clear my throat. ‘Anyway.Yes, there was hovering. And leaning. And parted lips, and yearning glances at said lips—from both parties. And I think my boobs even heaved, at some point.’
‘You two considered auditioning as extras onGrosvenor?’ Josh drawls.
‘Josh. That is not a helpful comment,’ Elle snaps, but she softens the blow by sliding her hand over his shoulder and presumably inside his shirt, judging by the contented purr that comes from the front seat.
‘I’ll let the ladies talk.’
‘Good boy. You were saying, Nor.’
‘I feel stupid. I’m not sure why I’m even telling you this. But it’s weird, no? Being like that with him, when we weren’t even supposed to be faking?’
‘It’s not weird, necessarily,’ Elle says carefully. ‘I mean, he’s a good-looking guy, and you’re gorgeous. And you’ve been spending a lot of time together—you’re kind of living together. So of course it makes sense if there’s an attraction. Just because you’re pretending it’s something it isn’t, doesn’t mean there can’t be any real potential there.’
‘I’m sure you’re right.’ I fiddle with the clasp on my evening bag. ‘It’s just—I’m still in love with Jonathan. The whole reason I’m going through this ridiculous charade is to try to scare him into realising he made a mistake. I’m not supposed to be getting distracted by your hot, persistent cousin.’
When I glance up from my bag, Elle’s looking at me in a concerned manner. I roll my eyes.
‘Say it.’
She presses her lips together before speaking. ‘Life doesn’t always get the memo about what we’re supposed to be doing, Nor. I wasn’tsupposedto cave in and give my insanely hot and totally sociopathic, Twitter-dumping, ghosting ex the time of day, but I did. And it turns out, we were the love of each other’s lives all along.’
‘Er, I’mrighthere,’ Josh says.
‘What I mean is, sometimes things are less clearly defined than we’d like them to be. Sometimes we have to follow our gut. And let me remind you that Jonathan treated you badly, and walked away from you. The only guy acting properly towards you right now is Theo, from where I’m standing. Yeah, maybe he’s just trying to get some benefits, but at least with Theo, you always know where you stand. He’s a pretty basic guy. If he was making a move to kiss you, it’s because he’s into you. Doesn’tmean he wants to marry you.’ She shrugs. ‘It’s up to you to decide whether you want to take what he’s offering.’
She’s right. If I should give Theo credit for anything, it’s that he’s up front about what he wants. He’s also kind. He was really sweet to me when I opened up about my background, and I think by the time I finished talking, he understood why I wasn’t biting Mr Danger’s hand off to accept his offer of hot sex. What was it he said?
Oh yeah.I’d like to relentlessly exploit my fake girlfriend’s gorgeous body for sex.Every time I’ve replayed Theo saying that to me, I swear I’ve burned up between my legs. It wasn’t just the words, though they were enough on their own, frankly.
Relentlessly exploit.
Relentlessly. Exploit.
There was something so dirty about the way he said it. A subtext I haven’t allowed myself to explore too deeply beyond the crystal clear visual of Theo bearing down on me.
Beingrelentlesswith me. God, to know what that would feel like.
And he thinks my body isgorgeous?
But no, it wasn’t just what he said. It was the way he said it, his hand dipping into my waist and those ridiculous dark eyes burning into mine, even darker than usual because they were practically all pupil. That beard of his so close I just wanted to scratch my fingertips through it. Feel the friction of it against my face as he kissed me.
Yes, dammit. I wanted him to kiss me. Are you happy? And when I saywanted,I don’t mean I made a deliberate plan to want it. I mean my body was completely drawn to him. To the way I knew he could make me feel.
In his words, we’d behot as fuck together.
Ain’t that the truth?
And because I knew that the way he’d make me feel would not only be incredible, but the absolute and polar opposite ofsafe, I pressed abort.
I desist from telling Elle any of this background to the almost-kiss. She definitely does not need that level of information.
CHAPTER 19
Nora
I’m not sure what level of exhibitionism to expect from my fake boyfriend tonight. We did some browsing of Studio 54 fashion on Google the other night at his place, and he was ricocheting between wearingonlya leather apron or tight, high-waisted jeans, a handlebar moustache and one of those hideous, navel-grazing wrestler vests that expose your whole chest.
