Page 100 of Worth Every Penny

As if he knows what I’m thinking, he nudges my legs apart, his gaze journeying to the apex of my thighs. One eyebrow rises.

“Your pussy is fucking glistening. Are you ever not wet?”

“Are you ever not hard?”

He chuckles. “Touché, Miss Lansen.”

His eyes shutter briefly as though he’s overwhelmed, like he can’t believe I’m real. And then he slides into me like he belongs there and we make love until the sun rises.

30

KATE

Leaving Nico at the airport tore at my heart in a way I hadn’t expected. He ordered a car to take me home and then stood on the tarmac in his suit, watching me drive away. He didn’t wave. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets. So handsome. So sexy. And the further we drove, the more he felt like a dream I couldn’t hold on to.

It might only have been a weekend, but it felt like so much more. And was over far too soon. My emotions are all over the place. My hormones too.

The first thing I do when I get back to the office on Monday morning is check my emails.

Nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. There’s a bunch to clear through, but nothing from Nico.

I check my phone.

Nothing.

Damn it. The post-coital glow that got me through Sunday night is well and truly over. All I have to show for it now are bruises; imprints of our over-zealous love-making. Well, bruisesand the memory of Nico’s raw confession:You, Kate Lansen, are worth every penny I have.

And God knows Nico has a lot of pennies.

Charlie slams his bag down on the desk opposite. “The tube sucks. All those people squished in together. Grim.”

I’m grateful for the distraction, even if he has entered like a sweaty storm-cloud.

“How do you normally get here?”

Charlie walks around to my side of the desk. “Driver brings me in with Uncle Nico. But this morning he pushed me out the door and told me to use public transport. Said I might as well find out what it’s like. ‘Life lesson’.”He makes air quotes with his fingers, his face scrunching. “Learn how the other half live.”

“You’ve never been on the tube?” I ask, unable to conceal the shock that flits over my face whilst simultaneously trying not to react to the mention of Nico’s name.

“No. I nearly went on it once with my mates from school, but then we got a black cab instead.”

“Oh. What did you think?”

“Awful. Truly terrible. I think I need a shower to recover.” He brushes invisible filth off his jacket sleeve with the back of his opposite hand, then switches sides.

He stops mid swipe, his eyes glued to my phone, which is lying on my desk. “What’s that picture?”

“Huh?”

“Your phone background?”

Elly had set it to the picture of the graffitied van that had turned up at Mum’s summer party last week, when I told her and Marie the story. She thought it was so funny that it would amuse me to see it there every day.

When I’d been with Nico at the weekend, I hadn’t even looked at my phone. This morning I’d meant to change it, but forgotwhen Marie started quizzing me about Paris. So there it is, lighting up the phone screen for all to see.

Not professionalat all.

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