Read Online About Last Night by Ruthie Knox - Free Book Online Page B

she were able to look at her journal or out the window or anywhere, really, but directly at his handsome, clean-shaven face.
    She bet he shaved with a straight razor. His jaw practically gleamed.
    Silence had never been her strong suit. She only managed about ten seconds before blurting out, “So who was he?”
    “My brother.”
    As she’d thought. “He didn’t like me much.”
    “Winston is a wanker.”
    Cath had to smile at this, but she couldn’t forget Nev’s sudden change in temperament. “Is that why you didn’t introduce me?”
    “I’m sorry about that. It was terribly rude. I was momentarily … distracted, and by the time I recovered, you’d gone.”
    How inconvenient, to believe him. It would be so much easier if he were a jerk or a liar. So much easier if she could hold on to what was left of her anger. But she couldn’t. City was one of the good guys, after all. So she let it go, and the fortifications groaned, because anger had been the stoutest of the flimsy devices propping them up.
    “I’d like to make it up to you,” he said. “Will you let me take you to lunch?”
    Another spear, another thunk . Oh, man, this was hopeless.
    Men never asked Cath to lunch. They asked her if she wanted to hang out, to catch a movie, to come home with them, but they didn’t ask her to lunch. Not before she’d slept withthem, and certainly not afterward.
    “Why would you want to do that?”
    “The usual reasons, I suppose,” he said with a puzzled frown. “I’m interested in you. I like you. I want to get to know you better.”
    Thunk, thunk, thunk .
    She and City were over and done with, but he seemed to have missed the memo. Or he’d read it, then shredded it.
    So send him another copy .
    She didn’t want to. She knew she should, but she so didn’t want to. “You’re just trying to get me back into bed with you.”
    Nev’s mouth curled up at the corners, and he lowered his voice, leaning closer. “Of course I’m trying to get you back into bed with me. I loved having you in my bed. I’d like to chain you to my bed.” He trailed a finger down her bare arm, leaving a trail of sighing nerve endings. “But I’d also like to have lunch with you.”
    Thunk .
    Desperate to maintain her resolve, Cath gestured toward a woman at the other end of the car. “Isn’t Portia there more your type?” Tall, blond, and refined, the woman was dressed for the office in a pencil skirt and an expensive-looking white silk blouse. Cath, by contrast, wore a cheap black sleeveless top and pants from Zara. Her fingernails were bitten to the quick, her hair hopelessly wispy. He didn’t want her. She was a mess.
    Nev glanced over at the woman and then looked back at Cath, his smile widening as his eyes traveled the length of her body. “I know what I want, Mary Catherine.”
    Her nipples drew tight, and she felt a rush of moisture soak her panties. Stupid, traitorous body.
    “I can’t,” she insisted.
    “Dinner then.”
    “I mean, I can’t go out with you.”
    “Ah.” Concern furrowed his forehead, and Cath tried not to find it adorable. She failed. “Is there someone else?”
    “No.”
    “Good.” He smiled again, and she smiled back before she could catch herself. She needed to remember to watch out for sneak attacks. Nev tilted his head, considering her. “What then, you don’t fancy me?”
    Tell him you don’t. Tell him you don’t fancy him one bit .
    She gave him the same slow once-over he’d just given her. “What’s not to fancy?”
    New Cath threw up her hands, disgusted with the whole situation.
    “So you do fancy me, but you won’t see me.”
    “I won’t go to lunch with you.”
    “Or dinner.”
    “Right.”
    “Are there some other circumstances in which I might be permitted to see you?” He was teasing, but his eyes were serious.
    She shouldn’t do this. She couldn’t seem to help herself. “Tell me something, City. Did you just happen to be on this train, or did you show up