Read Online Nobody but Him by Victoria Purman - Free Book Online Page B

shoulders and then dipped to his abs. ‘You’re even more gorgeous naked, you know that?’ She shrugged, regarded him through heavily lidded eyes. ‘So you don’t like to fuck in the shower. That’s fine with me. I’ll fuck you anywhere. The kitchen table. The floor. Your bed.’
    Think about her parents. Yeah, think about her parents in the next goddamn room. Ry spun on his heel and headed to the bedroom which, judging by the way she followed him, Amanda seemed to take as an invitation. But when he hurriedly dragged on some jeans and a black, long-sleeved T-shirt, the look on her face transformed from come hither to pissed off. She stormed back to the bathroom and re-emerged with the towel cocooned around her body.
    Only when he was fully dressed, safe, did he look at her again. Was she humiliated or furious? It looked like both.
    ‘Amanda. Why don’t you go and put some clothes on? There’s something I need to tell you, and it’d probably be best if you weren’t naked while I was saying it.’
    Amanda hugged the towel closer around her, didn’t take another step towards him. ‘Just say it, Ry. I’m a big girl.’
    Ry exhaled in frustration but kept his voice low. There was no point in being a nasty bastard.
    ‘Look, I’m sorry if I’ve given you any indication that this …’ Ry pointed from her to himself and back again, ‘ … this was ever going to happen. It’s never going to happen, Amanda. I’m sorry.’
    And even as he was saying the words, trying to explain what he meant in a cruel to be kind way, her eyes welled up with tears and, yeah, he was pretty sure it was humiliation he saw in her face, not fury. Then he figured out that whatever he’d done, whether he’d slept with her or rebuffed her, he was always going to be the arsehole. And he’d have to take that like a man.
    Amanda shuffled over to his bed and plonked herself down on the edgeof it. With one end of the big fluffy white towel, she reached up and wiped her cheeks.
    ‘You can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?’
    Ry sat down beside her. ‘I know what it’s like to be lonely, Amanda. But wanting to try me out for size ’cos I look like the perfect candidate? Not a great idea.’
    ‘You look just like him,’ she whispered, trying to smile but giving up and dropping her gaze to her linked hands.
    ‘Like who?’
    ‘My boyfriend.’ She tried to laugh but it sounded empty. ‘My ex -boyfriend, I mean. We were together for four years. Four years and he leaves me. Can you believe that? I thought if I just got right back on the horse and kept on riding that … somehow … I’d be okay.’
    Now it all made sense. Her desperation and her hopelessness. This wasn’t about him. It was about the other guy. Amanda was trying to kill off the memory of a lover by sleeping with someone else.
    What a fucking stupid idea.
    He should know.
    Ry shoved those bitter memories down his throat. ‘Look. Why don’t you get dressed. Let’s go downstairs and make breakfast for your parents, butter them up before we break the tragic news to them that we’re not getting engaged.’
    And then Amanda smiled. It was perhaps the first genuine smile he’d seen from her all weekend. ‘They’ll be heart-broken you know. They love you.’
    ‘And someone else will love you one day, Amanda. You can count on it.’
    But it won’t be me.
    Julia had spent hours scrubbing and scouring and her hands felt soggy from being inside sweaty rubber gloves. She’d filled up most of the day with her stress-relieving cleaning binge and was waiting for Lizzie to arrive with a supply of empty cardboard boxes she’d nabbed from the pub. What had once transported bottles of wine would soon be packed with things that needed to be removed from the house, whatever decision Julia made about its future. Renting or selling, there were things that needed to be dealt with. Old linen. A kitchen full of dishes, platters, cake tins, agedcrockery and cutlery. Laundry cupboards