Read Online Mapping the Edge by Sarah Dunant - Free Book Online Page B

front door. She knew it would be he. He had asked for her phone number rather than offering his own. She also knew what she was going to say. The one-night stand had given her everything she needed, even down to what she suspected had been their mutual lies.
    â€œMorning.” His voice was already familiar, the cadence around a single word recognizable. She was surprised by how tender it made her feel. “How do you feel?”
    â€œTired.”
    â€œMe too.” He paused, and the silence was suddenly full of his fingers, slipping inside her skirt, tracing a line down over her stomach. “Do you have to work today?”
    â€œYeah, I’m just on my way out.”
    â€œShame. Listen. I discover that I have to be in London again on Monday week. Can you get free?”
    Thanks but no thanks, remember? But it was already too late. Along with the other things the night had given her had come a sudden taste for more. She would justify it to herself later. She tried to make it sound tough. “Okay. But now I have some rules. No promises, no bullshit. We don’t meet each other’s family and we can stop it anytime either of us wants, all right?”
    â€œAbsolutely.” He had sounded amused. “Anything else?”
    â€œYes. The restaurant has got to be cheaper. I don’t have that kind of money and it’s not all right if you pay.”
    â€œFine. You want to change anything about the sex, or did we get one thing right?”
    â€œI’m thinking about it. For now we can leave it as it is.”
    â€œThank God for that.” Pause. “We picked well, didn’t we?”
    â€œIt’s early days,” she said. “Don’t push it.”
    But of course, they had.
    From behind her in the apartment she registered the sound of a shower turning off. She closed her eyes. A moment later she heard his footfalls on the tiles. He came and squatted down in front of her. She didn’t move. He was dressed in a dark bathrobe, water still clinging to the hair on his arms and legs. He smiled and with his right hand he pushed back a strand of damp hair that had fallen from behind her ear. Still she didn’t react. In the darkness she could barely make out his eyes. He kissed her gently, playing with her lips, suggesting she play back. She followed, then broke away. She put her head back against the chair and closed her eyes.
    He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time on the forehead. She frowned, as if the gesture were in some way painful to her. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. He took her hand and guided it underneath his robe to his half-erect penis. She left it there for a moment. They smiled. Both his invitation and her touch felt more about comfort than passion.
    â€œYou look cool,” she said.
    â€œIt won’t last. You’re already hot again.”
    â€œMmm . . .” She let out a long exhalation, half breath, half sigh.
    â€œAre you all right?”
    She took her time. “I don’t know.”
    â€œWhy don’t you come and lie down?”
    â€œI should have called.”
    He traced her face with his finger. “It’s okay. She’ll be fine. You said so yourself. We’ll do it in the morning.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t have let me fall asleep.”
    He smiled. “It was only for an hour or so. You were tired.”
    She brushed this aside. “I feel bad about her.”
    He looked at her seriously for a moment. “You know what I think, Anna?” he said, as he ran a slow finger down her arm. “I think you feel bad because if you’re really honest you don’t mind that she’s not here.”
    â€œWell . . .” She sat with it for a while, acknowledging the hit. It was a measure of their closeness that she didn’t feel the need to deny it. “If you get any smarter I’ll probably have to be frightened of you.”
    He smiled. “What’s the