Page 182 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

He was proud. Taking this conversation any further was going to make him shut down and Alice got the feeling that, once Mateo shut down, he would never open up again. Of course, she wasn’t going to be around to have any more deep and meaningful conversations with him about his past, but curiosity about him bit into her with sharp, persistent teeth.

Also, for reasons she couldn’t fathom, she didn’t want him to turn away from her because she was getting too nosey. She didn’t know why it mattered but it did—maybe because they were confined here, so it was best for them to get along. Yes, that was it.

‘About today...’ Mateo drawled, picking up where she had left off and strolling to the coffee pot on the counter to get a refill. ‘I usually catch up on my skiing when I’m here but, considering there’s no chance of that, I will spend my time catching up on work instead.’

‘Really? You can do that computer stuff remotely?’

‘Yes,’ Mateo said gently. ‘That “computer stuff” can all be done remotely.’

‘And I suppose time is money when you’re working for yourself.’

‘Never a truer word has ever been spoken. I have an office off my suite, so you won’t see me for most of the day. Sadly, there’s nothing here I can think of to occupy your time, and in the absence of a spare laptop...’

‘I can do stuff on my phone. I can plan out lessons for the remainder of the term. Do you have any paper—pens, perhaps?’

‘Paper? Pens?’

Alice burst out laughing. ‘Now you’re making me think of some of my children at school,’ she teased. ‘They’re experts when it comes to computers, but show them a pen and tell them to write an essay and suddenly I’m asking them to fly to the moon. I teach eleven-year-olds, and my mission is to remind them that the old school way of doing things is still important.’

Mateo grinned. ‘Technology makes everything quicker.’

‘Which is why it makes our brains lazy. If you can press a button and have all the information you need right there, then how are you ever going to learn the value of research?’

‘The “click of the button” scenario leaves time for other important things to be done instead of sifting through old tomes in a library and highlighting sentences and folding pages...’

‘Both of which would incur a fine for destruction of public property.’ Alice grinned back at him.

‘I stand duly corrected.’

Their eyes tangled, the silence stretched and Mateo was the first to break it.

‘And to answer your question,’ he said gruffly, ‘I happen to have both.’ He stood up, suddenly keen to escape the confines of the kitchen, which now felt suffocating. One minute he’d been backing away from a personal conversation he hadn’t encouraged but seemed to be indulging, and the next minute she was making him laugh.

He was suddenly keen to escape. He needed time-out. He would confine himself to his office and stay put until he got his act together. He left her sitting at the kitchen table and returned five minutes later with a stack of A4 paper and a selection of pens in different colours.

‘You use this stuff?’

‘The paper, yes. The pens were bought as a standby years ago, just in case the broadband went down and I actually had to...work on some designs manually.’

‘Okay.’

‘So...er... I’ll leave these with you. If you need me, I’ll be in my office, but don’t count on me for lunch. Help yourself to whatever you want; the fridge is fully stocked. I’ll grab something at some point. When I’m working I tend to forget the time.’

‘Very bad for you, you know,’ she returned absently.

‘What’s very bad for me?’

‘Too much work.’

‘Like I said, Alice Reynolds, I play as well as work...’

Alice was forcibly reminded of the evening before, when the conversation between them had felt dangerously close to the edge...politeness rubbing shoulders with the sort of sexual undertones she wasn’t used to but which had electrified her.

She felt as though she’d entered a whole new world. Mateo was so different from any man she had ever come into contact with. He might have a boring job but he certainly was far from boring. He was sophisticated, cynical and had the sort of self-assurance that made her tingle all over. But more than that, and more than his stunning looks, there was a sense of complexity about him that had roused her curiosity...and, yes,turned her on.

Compared to this beast, Simon was a boy. It was disloyal, but she wondered what she’d seen in him, aside from safety. Just admitting that made her go hot and cold.

‘So you mentioned,’ she mumbled, thrown back into politeness as words failed her and he burst out laughing.

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