Page 31 of The Alpha Escort Agency
“I’ve never cuddled anyone like this — I mean someone who is the opposite sex while we are both very naked.”
“We are very naked,” he says, and his hand strokes down her spine and pinches her backside. She punches him playfully in return and he catches her fist. “Are you … are you trying to tell me you were a virgin the first time we met?”
“God, no.” She raises her head to look at him. “No!” She lowers her head back down onto his chest. “I’ve just never been in a long-term relationship, not that I’m saying this is a long-term relationship. It’s just I’ve been concentrating on myself and my career. I still am.”
“You saying you never had a boyfriend, then?”
“Well, yes, casual ones as a teenager, but it was never serious enough for them to stay over.” She fiddles with the course hair that trails down the lower half of his stomach. Was that too honest? Limited relationship experience doesn't usually win you any prizes. “How about you?”
There’s a silence, and she lifts her head a second time to look at him. “One, a long time ago,” he says.
She watches the way a cloud seems to pass momentarily over his face. “Was this the ‘sometimes you realise it was bad’ one?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm. Let’s not talk about exes while we are still very naked in bed together,” she mutters.
“Yes, please,” he says.
She closes her eyes briefly, willing the moment to pass. “Tell me more about you, Rory.”
“I’m not sure there’s much to tell,” he says stubbornly.
“Ha! You know whenever someone says that, it always turns out they do.”
“I told you most of it already. You know what I do for a living.”
She nods, willing her cheeks not to blush.
“I told you I’m a Londoner and I take photos.”
“Where did you grow up?”
“Same place I live now.” Lifting his head, he fluffs up the pillow and then shuffles further down the mattress.
“Really? You’ve always lived there, you’ve never lived anywhere else?”
“Like I told you, I’d happily move to the countryside tomorrow, but I can’t leave my grandparents.”
“Your grandparents?”
“Yes, they raised me.”
She senses the aroma of his scent shift slightly, as it had done when he’d mentioned his ex, and she knows this topic makes him uncomfortable. Does that mean she shouldn’t pursue it? Yet, it seems rude to ignore it. “What about your parents?” she whispers.
He clears his throat, and it makes his chest vibrate. “I never knew my dad, and my mum sort of fell in and out of my life. She buggered off too some years ago.”
She runs her palm across his stomach as if trying to soothe him, and he captures her hand and squeezes it. “I’m sorry," she says.
They're silent for a moment and she can hear the pipes groaning as the boiler switches on and the rhythmic drip of water running off the gutter onto her window pane. “How about you?” He circles his thumb around her palm. “I’m thinking, two parents, one sibling.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“No, I’m just observant. The kids' paintings on your fridge say ‘To Aunty Alice’ and there’s what looks like a photo of your parents in the living room.”
“Impressive. Were you snooping?”
“No, cleaning.”
