Frisky Business (38 page)

How could she have got it so wrong? Chuckling to herself, she thought of her efforts to seduce him with her sexy underwear, only to have him smother her in bedclothes and cosy up with her to watch TV, completely immune to her semi-naked charms. When Kit had asked her to be his fake girlfriend, he had meant it. He just wanted her as camouflage. Last night he had been playing a part, and he had assumed she was too. He just happened to be very convincing, and somewhere along the way she had forgotten they were faking it and had let her libido run away with her.

Now in the calm of the morning, she was able to get some perspective. She could even see the funny side – though she still cringed a little at her ridiculous attempts to get off with him. God, what had she been thinking? At least she’d ruled out the BDSM thing. But the vanilla seduction had been a total bust. Did that mean Kit was gay? She knew Lesley would think so, but Lesley hadn’t spent a night with him in a wardrobe. Maybe he was bisexual …

Anyway
, it didn’t matter, she thought, as she started heading back towards the hotel. Though one thing was for sure – whatever Kit was into, he wasn’t interested in doing it with her. So that was that. At least she knew where she stood, and she found she didn’t mind. Some sex would have been nice, but other than that … she realised she just didn’t feel that way about Kit anymore.

It was light by the time she retraced her steps, the sun bright in a clear blue sky. Following the stream, she came to the little wooden bridge leading to the chapel. A few ribbons still clung to its posts, fluttering in the light morning breeze. As she turned in the direction of the hotel, she realised she wasn’t the only person up and about. A lone figure was sitting on one of the benches across from the bridge. He was bent over, his arms resting on his knees, but as she drew closer, she saw that it was Ethan. He looked up as she approached.

‘Good morning.’ He smiled up at her, shielding his eyes from the low sun.

‘Morning.’ She slid onto the bench beside him.

‘You’re up early,’ he commented.

‘Yeah, I didn’t sleep very well.’

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, studying her face intently.

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ she said, brushing off his concern. ‘I guess it’s just sleeping in a strange bed, and missing Luke.’ She couldn’t very well tell him the real reason – sexual frustration, head spinning after your brother rejected my advances. ‘So what’s your excuse?’

He shrugged. ‘I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I went for a run.’

‘Wow, that was very energetic of you. Kit’s still sleeping like the dead – at least, he was when I got up.’

‘Yeah, Sinead’s the same.’

Literally shagged out probably, Romy thought, after a thorough
seeing-to last night. Lucky thing! ‘So, it was a good night last night, wasn’t it?’ she said, drawing her feet up onto the bench and wrapping her arms around her knees.

‘It was. Though I have one major regret.’

‘Oh? What’s that?’

‘That I didn’t get to dance with you.’

‘Oh! Yeah, that was a startling omission.’

‘It really was. My younger self would be disgusted with me for letting the opportunity go by.’ He shook his head ruefully.

‘That’s very sweet of him. But maybe it’s just as well. Your girlfriend mightn’t have been too happy about it.’

‘Sinead? She’s not the jealous type. Anyway, she’s not my girlfriend. She’s just … someone I hang out with.’

‘And you hang out with her in bed?’

His answer was a sheepish grin. ‘Sometimes.’

She grinned back, rolling her eyes. ‘Anyway, I hope your younger self isn’t too upset with you.’

‘Oh, he is. He’s outraged. You were in my top three, you know.’

She smiled. ‘Wow, I’m flattered.’

‘Yep, you were up there with Jennifer Aniston and Lara Croft.’

‘In what order?’

‘First you, then Jennifer, then Lara.’

‘You don’t have to say I was number one just because I’m here. I can handle losing out to those two.’

‘No, it’s true. That was the order.’

‘I can’t believe Lara Croft came last! I’m impressed. That seems very mature of you.’

‘Well, I think it went in order of realness. Lara was really fit, obviously—’

‘Obviously.’

‘Very hot. But she was just a graphic image. Jennifer Aniston is a real person—’

‘But you only ever saw her on TV.’

‘Exactly
. Whereas
you
,’ he said, eyeballing her, ‘you were a real live girl, walking around our house in 3D. I could speak to you and you’d answer me! It was very exciting.’ He shook his head, smiling.

Romy laughed. ‘Well, I can see why your younger self would be mad at you.’

‘He may never forgive me.’

‘I wish there was some way we could make it up to him.’

‘Maybe there is,’ he said, getting up off the bench. He stood in front of her and held out his hand.

‘What? You want to dance? Here?’ She looked around. There was still no one else outside.

‘Why not?’ He grinned.

She wasn’t exactly dressed for dancing – but then neither was he.

‘Come on, this is a big deal for me,’ he said when she hesitated. ‘Imagine if you got to be with someone from your laminated list.’

‘Well, when you put it like that …’ She took his hand and stood up slowly. ‘We don’t have any music.’

‘Ah!’ he said, raising a finger in the air. He dug into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out an iPod.

‘Very smooth,’ Romy said while he turned it on and began scrolling through songs. ‘Young Ethan would be proud. You might redeem yourself in his eyes yet. Or maybe not,’ she added, giggling as he took ages to choose a track.

‘Don’t rush me, woman,’ he growled. ‘This is a big moment for me. It has to be right.’

Romy dug her hands into her pockets and waited.

‘Okay, here we go.’ He stretched out the earphones, and placed one of the buds in his ear and the other in hers. Then he took one of her hands, placing his other hand on her waist, and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Romy
nodded, wrapping her free arm around his back as the opening bars of REM’s ‘I’ve Been High’ filled her head. ‘I love this song,’ she said.

‘I’m not a very good dancer, by the way,’ he whispered quickly as they began to move slowly together.

‘That’s okay.’

They looked at each other in silence as they shuffled around on the grass, occasionally exchanging little smiles. As the music swelled, Ethan let go of her hand, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. Romy laid her head against the solid wall of his chest with a contented sigh. As she relaxed against his body, she forgot their surroundings, losing herself in the music and just enjoying the feel of Ethan’s arms around her. She didn’t want it to end.

When the music stopped, they stood in each other’s arms for a moment, still connected by the thin wire of the headphones, neither of them moving to pull away. Romy lifted her head with difficulty. She felt like she was just waking up from a lovely sleep.

‘Damn,’ Ethan breathed, ‘I should have picked a longer song.’ He shot her a look that made her breath hitch.

God, he was an accomplished flirt, Romy thought. No wonder he’d got so many girls lining up to sleep with him. ‘Well, that was … nice,’ she said softly, pulling away. ‘Do you think your younger self is appeased?’

‘Yes, I think he’s pretty chuffed with me right now.’ He smiled smugly, gently removing the earphones before releasing her. ‘Thank you.’ He dropped a kiss on her forehead.

‘You’re welcome.’ She shoved her hands in her pockets, suddenly feeling awkward. ‘Well, I suppose I should go and have a shower.’

‘Yeah, me too,’ he said, but made no move to go.

Finally she turned to leave, but he stopped her with a hand on her elbow. ‘Romy, can I ask you something?’

‘Sure.
’

He swallowed hard, appearing nervous. ‘You and Kit …’ he began hesitantly, and Romy’s heart plummeted. ‘You’re not really together, are you?’

‘What?’ She looked at him sharply. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘That’s not an answer.’

‘I said you could ask me a question. I didn’t say I’d answer it.’

‘Hmm. I think maybe you just did,’ he said with a gentle smile.

‘No! I didn’t—’ she started to protest, but she was interrupted by his phone chiming with a text alert. He pulled it out of his pocket to read the message.

Damn!
Why hadn’t she just automatically said that of course she and Kit were together? She could have said that they’d slept together last night and it wouldn’t even have been a lie. Instead, she’d increased his suspicions. But he’d caught her off guard. It was one thing pretending to be Kit’s girlfriend, but she hadn’t been prepared to be called out on it. She had no idea that Ethan wasn’t buying it – or Hannah, she guessed. That would explain the strange looks they’d been giving her, and their whispered words on Thanksgiving. They knew she was a fake girlfriend, just like Lauren and the others before her.

‘Sinead,’ he said, waving the phone at her before shoving it back in his pocket. ‘Everyone’s meeting for breakfast in about half an hour. We’d better go and get ready.’

They walked back to the hotel in silence, Romy frantically scrabbling around in her brain for something she could say to allay his suspicions. If she was too defensive, it would just have the opposite effect, but she needed to say something. She felt she had let Kit down.

‘Ethan,’
she began as they got to their floor and were about to part ways. ‘What you said—’

‘Forget it,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. I’ll see you at breakfast.’

‘Yeah, see you.’ She felt deflated that she wasn’t going to get to say her piece – though she still wasn’t sure exactly what she would have said.

‘And thank you for the dance,’ he said before turning and striding down the corridor to his own room.

Kit was up and dressed when Romy got back to the room. She felt she should tell him what Ethan had asked her, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. He was so happy that they were fooling everyone, and she didn’t want to upset him by telling him otherwise – not yet anyway. They went down to breakfast together after she had showered and dressed, joining Ethan and Sinead, who were already seated at a large table. Other members of the wedding party gradually filtered in to join them.

Kit was as attentive to her as he had been the previous night, back in the role of solicitous boyfriend now that they were in public again, but Romy felt horribly self-conscious, aware of Ethan and Hannah watching them and not buying it. She was glad now that she hadn’t told Kit. She would hate him to feel as embarrassed and uncomfortable as she did. It wasn’t just knowing that Ethan and Hannah suspected their relationship was bogus; she felt awful about deceiving Laura and Colm, and it gave her no satisfaction that they were taken in by her and Kit’s act. It was different when she thought they might get together for real. Now that she knew that wasn’t going to happen, she felt very awkward playing his
girlfriend in front of them, and much as she loved them, she was anxious to get away.

There was also the fact that her behaviour around Ethan was becoming worryingly crush-like. She found her eyes constantly straying in his direction throughout breakfast, and she didn’t even want to name the emotion she felt as he fussed over Sinead. Their dance on the lawn hadn’t helped, bringing a warm, fuzzy feeling every time she thought of it. Sinead looked rested and well taken care of, Romy thought with a pang of resentment. And she seemed to have worked up a gargantuan appetite, putting away vast quantities of food, Ethan smiling indulgently at her as he passed her yet more soda bread.

All things considered, she was itching to get away, so when Laura invited her to dinner at their house later on, she didn’t hesitate to decline.

‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘but I really need to get home and collect Luke from Danny’s.’ She was looking forward to having a quiet night in with her son. It was amazing how much she’d missed him, even though she had only been away for one night.

‘Oh, is Danny babysitting him?’ Kit asked. ‘I thought it was your mum.’