Read Online So Far Into You by Lily Malone - Free Book Online Page B

him. Seth stepped back.
    She clicked her tongue and sighed in what sounded like genuine disappointment and he almost felt sad for her until she added, ‘Your problem is you’re not nasty enough.’
    â€˜The hell I’m not.’ Certifiable. She had to be.
    â€˜You’re not,’ she said, emphatically, turning slowly to face him. ‘You ruined it when you said you’d brought coffee to my house. A nasty guy wouldn’t bring coffee.’
    He gripped her arm, gave it a shake. ‘I am not nice. And you don’t make a bluff like that based on whether or not I bought you coffee . What if I was some psycho?’
    â€˜I didn’t say you were nice. I said you weren’t nasty enough. Not nasty enough to do … this.’ She waggled her finger between their bodies, like a pheromone metronome. ‘Not properly.’
    â€˜Go sit there, crazy girl. Let me think.’ He pushed her gently toward the couch and watched her walk away, remembering how beautiful she was when she moved, forgetting whatever it was he needed to think about.
    Lucky for him, Remy sat with her knees pressed together and her palms on her knees. The clutch and release of her fingers in the fabric of her trousers was the only sign that gave her tension away.
    Where to start? He had so many questions. ‘You’re not gay?’
    â€˜I’m not.’
    â€˜You weren’t spinning that story for a bloke, surely.’
    â€˜No. Not a bloke.’
    This was like pulling teeth with a pair of tweezers. ‘Then why do you do it?’
    â€˜Do what?’
    â€˜Make phone calls like that. What’s that all about?’
    She lifted her chin. ‘I do it for the money, Seth. So I can pay the bills.’
    â€˜And you didn’t want to tell me your mum stacked shelves.’ He shook his head. Give him another few minutes and he might find this whole thing funny. Not quite yet. ‘There’s nothing wrong with working at a supermarket, Remy. Compared to—’
    â€˜Compared to what I do?’ She cut him off.
    â€˜It’s only one step from a prostitute, Remy. And a baby bloody step at that.’ He didn’t like it. He didn’t like one bit of it, and there wasn’t much use pretending otherwise. ‘There are other ways to get money, like a loan from a bank. Did you ever think of doing that?’
    â€˜You find me the bank that will loan a twenty-three-year-old girl who hasn’t held a job more than six months, and her unskilled mother, any money. We don’t have any savings. We don’t have any collateral except Mum’s crapped out Nissan.’
    â€˜What bills are we talking about here exactly? I get the impression we’re talking about more than a utilities bill, or the rent?’
    She pinched the knee of her pants. ‘It’s not about paying bills, so much.’
    â€˜Are you in debt, Remy? You and your mum?’ The urge to look after her gripped him. ‘You could ask for an advance on salary. We’ve done that before when staff members have been experiencing hardship. It’s no big deal.’
    â€˜I bet you have a policy for it.’
    He did, but damned if he was confirming that right now. ‘You need to ask your manager for an advance. I think we advance up to two weeks’ pay. Greg Trimble brings the request to the board or to me. Depending on what the problem is, we might be able to do more than two weeks.’
    Her shoulders did this little jump when he said two weeks’, like she found it funny. ‘Thanks for the offer, Seth. But we’re fine.’
    â€˜What kind of debt are we talking about here, Remy?’
    â€˜It’s nothing. Don’t worry. I’m used to looking after myself.’ She picked up the pages of the itinerary she’d knocked off the couch earlier and sneaked a peak. ‘Charles de Gaulle?’
    Changing the subject. ‘That’s in Paris.’
    â€˜I