to talk about Charlie.’ His voice had a rough quality that rubbed over my nerve endings and made me shiver.
‘OK.’ It wasn’t exactly an eloquent response, but it was the best I could manage with him looking at me like that.
‘And just for the record, I can’t explain what happened at the wedding either.’ There was an edge to his voice. ‘It wasn’t like me.’
One look at Kiara’s face had told me that.
Now I couldn’t speak at all. My insides were quivery. Warmth spread through me because right now I was the woman he was with and I didn’t care what had happened before or what might come after.
The lights had changed, but he didn’t move and neither did I.
We were locked together by a shocking chemistry and a total inability to look away.
Honestly, whenever this sort of thing happened in the movies I rolled my eyes. Although admittedly in the movies the heroine was staring at someone like Ryan Gosling, which maybe made the whole ‘struck by lightening’ thing slightly more believable.
But I hadn’t ever imagined it could happen in real life to an everyday person like me.
The connection was so intense and powerful I wanted to bottle it. I wanted to feel that same revved-up level of excitement for the rest of my life. Or maybe I didn’t. I wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep feeling like this.
I thought about Groundhog Day and decided if I could stay in a moment forever it would be this one, suspended in the blissful, almost unbearable excitement of what was to come without any of the trauma afterwards.
Maybe with my New Year’s resolution, all my relationships would feel like this. I’d live the excitement, then walk away before the collapse part.
A horn sounded behind us and I realized we weren’t the only people on the roads.
Nico swore softly and turned his attention back to the car.
He was driving towards the river and I realized I hadn’t even asked where he lived. I didn’t know where he was taking me.
We drove along the embankment, past the Albert Bridge. It was my favorite bridge in London. Elegant and floodlit, it sent sparkles of light over the inky black surface of the water below. When I was little it used to make me think of a woman putting on diamonds for an exciting night out. Rosie called it the Bling Bridge. I didn’t believe in fairy tales, but if I did, this bridge would definitely have featured in mine.
We were in Chelsea and I expected him to drive south because I didn’t know anyone who could afford to live here, but he suddenly swooped into an underground car park.
It was spacious and well lit, but away from the bright lights of the city, the truth suddenly hit me. I was with a man I barely knew.
The blood pulsed in my ears and then he reached across and undid my seat belt. ‘It’s cold. We should go up.’
Cold? I wasn’t cold. I was burning hot.
I was also having second thoughts, despite reminding myself that the fact we barely knew each other was supposed to be a good thing. That was the point of emotionless sex.
And it wasn’t as if he was a stranger. We’d bumped into each other on and off for years, just never really spoken. But honestly, how well did any of us ever really know anyone? My Mum was married to my Dad for fifteen years before she found out he was having affairs. She’d trusted him. I’d been with Charlie for ten months and he’d behaved in ways that made it obvious to me I’d never known him. All we knew about another person was what they chose to show us. You could only know someone if they let you know them.
His apartment was on the top floor and my jaw was also on the floor because it was the penthouse, complete with balcony and views over the river towards my fairy-tale bridge.
‘Wow.’ As praise went, it wasn’t that eloquent, but it was all I could manage. Honestly, I was dumbstruck. How the hell could he afford this? ‘What sort of lawyer did you say you were again?’ He’d told me he was a good one. It was obvious
‘OK.’ It wasn’t exactly an eloquent response, but it was the best I could manage with him looking at me like that.
‘And just for the record, I can’t explain what happened at the wedding either.’ There was an edge to his voice. ‘It wasn’t like me.’
One look at Kiara’s face had told me that.
Now I couldn’t speak at all. My insides were quivery. Warmth spread through me because right now I was the woman he was with and I didn’t care what had happened before or what might come after.
The lights had changed, but he didn’t move and neither did I.
We were locked together by a shocking chemistry and a total inability to look away.
Honestly, whenever this sort of thing happened in the movies I rolled my eyes. Although admittedly in the movies the heroine was staring at someone like Ryan Gosling, which maybe made the whole ‘struck by lightening’ thing slightly more believable.
But I hadn’t ever imagined it could happen in real life to an everyday person like me.
The connection was so intense and powerful I wanted to bottle it. I wanted to feel that same revved-up level of excitement for the rest of my life. Or maybe I didn’t. I wouldn’t be able to eat or sleep feeling like this.
I thought about Groundhog Day and decided if I could stay in a moment forever it would be this one, suspended in the blissful, almost unbearable excitement of what was to come without any of the trauma afterwards.
Maybe with my New Year’s resolution, all my relationships would feel like this. I’d live the excitement, then walk away before the collapse part.
A horn sounded behind us and I realized we weren’t the only people on the roads.
Nico swore softly and turned his attention back to the car.
He was driving towards the river and I realized I hadn’t even asked where he lived. I didn’t know where he was taking me.
We drove along the embankment, past the Albert Bridge. It was my favorite bridge in London. Elegant and floodlit, it sent sparkles of light over the inky black surface of the water below. When I was little it used to make me think of a woman putting on diamonds for an exciting night out. Rosie called it the Bling Bridge. I didn’t believe in fairy tales, but if I did, this bridge would definitely have featured in mine.
We were in Chelsea and I expected him to drive south because I didn’t know anyone who could afford to live here, but he suddenly swooped into an underground car park.
It was spacious and well lit, but away from the bright lights of the city, the truth suddenly hit me. I was with a man I barely knew.
The blood pulsed in my ears and then he reached across and undid my seat belt. ‘It’s cold. We should go up.’
Cold? I wasn’t cold. I was burning hot.
I was also having second thoughts, despite reminding myself that the fact we barely knew each other was supposed to be a good thing. That was the point of emotionless sex.
And it wasn’t as if he was a stranger. We’d bumped into each other on and off for years, just never really spoken. But honestly, how well did any of us ever really know anyone? My Mum was married to my Dad for fifteen years before she found out he was having affairs. She’d trusted him. I’d been with Charlie for ten months and he’d behaved in ways that made it obvious to me I’d never known him. All we knew about another person was what they chose to show us. You could only know someone if they let you know them.
His apartment was on the top floor and my jaw was also on the floor because it was the penthouse, complete with balcony and views over the river towards my fairy-tale bridge.
‘Wow.’ As praise went, it wasn’t that eloquent, but it was all I could manage. Honestly, I was dumbstruck. How the hell could he afford this? ‘What sort of lawyer did you say you were again?’ He’d told me he was a good one. It was obvious
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