Page 31 of Good Girl
I smile and shrug. ‘Maybe. My last boyfriend, Hugh, was the sort of person that would stay put until someone moved him and I was too insecure about sex to make anything happen myself.’
‘It sounds like you need to adjust the preferences on your dating profile.’
‘I don’t have a dating profile. I only ever meet men through work.’
‘Like this guy you’re so keen to impress—Adam,is it?’ He says the name as if he’s offended by it.
‘Yes,’ I reply, a little bemused by that. He’s not even met him so his insinuation that he’s not worthy of my attention is a little misplaced.
‘What is it about him that gets you so hot?’ he asks. There’s an aggressive undertone to his voice now, as if he feels a need to compete. He’s such an alpha male.
‘He’s one of the brightest minds in our area of research. I’ve had some really enlightening conversations with him about my PhD topic. He really knows his subject. And he’s clearly going places. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he ends up with a Nobel prize.’
‘A Nobel prize, huh?’ Sandro raises a derisive eyebrow as if he doubts this very much.
‘Probably,’ I say, bristling a little on Adam’s behalf.
‘He sounds to me like the kind of guy that thinks way too much of himself. Especially if he’s happy to pass up the opportunity to be with a smart, attractive woman like you.’
‘He really doesn’t,’ I argue, although thinking now about the dates we’d gone on, he’d mostly talked about himself and asked very little about me. ‘He’s a busy, in-demand guy who everyone holds in high esteem and wants a piece of. Especially women. He has every right to be a bit full of himself. He’s worked hard to be top of his game, so he’s entitled to be picky about who he chooses to spend his time with. And how,’ I bluster, though I’m less sure of myself now.
‘And this is the guy you’re so desperate to get into bed?’ Sandro mutters with such distain I feel a shiver of indignation run the length of my spine. ‘He sounds like a total narcissist.’
I feel myself getting hot with irritation. ‘Actually, he’s exactly the kind of man I want to spend the rest of my life with—someone who’ll be able to look back on his time and know he’s made a difference to the world. Someone who’ll stimulate me intellectually.’
The door buzzer goes and he rolls off the bed to go and collect the pizza. ‘Well, before you propose marriage to him, can I recommend you check he can stimulate you in bed as well? I think you’re gonna find that’s just as important,’ he says as he exits the room.
‘That’s the plan,’ I call after him, with a confidence I’m not feeling any more. It’s funny, but it occurs to me now that ever since I’ve been here in Italy with Sandro I’ve not given Adam a second thought. Until just now when he mentioned him.
I guess that’s the power of Sandro’s charisma coming to the fore.
Meeting him has really opened up my eyes to how sexual impulses can befuddle your brain and cause you to act in all sorts of uncharacteristic ways.
Hormones have a lot to answer for.
But I have to keep my head on straight. We’re only going to be together for another couple of days. The trouble is, after talking to Sandro about him, I’m beginning to wonder whether Adam really is the sort of man I should be chasing. Whether he’ll give me the kind of love and affection I’ll need from a long-term partner. Whether he’ll make me feel alive, like Sandro does when I’m with him.
I push this rogue thought from my mind. I’d be crazy to start imagining there could be anything more between Sandro and I. He’s made it clear he loves his free, non-committed lifestyle and I need someone steady in my life, not someone who’s going to forget I exist the moment I walk out of the door.
Sandro
For the first time in my life I’m wishing that time would slow down instead of speed up. To my surprise I’m really enjoying having Juno here with me in Florence. Things come to life when she’s around and she has a way of brightening up the room whenever she’s in it, as if she emits some kind of positive force. It seems to be infecting me too because I find myself smiling all the time. And the sex is incredible. I’ve never been with anyone so openly and honestly responsive. There’s no pretence with her. No acting cool. No game-playing. She finds such joy in learning new things. It’s inspiring and refreshing.
And I don’t want it to end.
I’m also having a hell of a job maintaining my determination that she should lose her virginity to someone else. I’ve come close to giving in a couple of times, when she’s had her hand wrapped around my cock and all I can think about is how amazing it’d feel to thrust it inside her hot, tight pussy. But I don’t want the responsibility of being her first. No matter what she thinks, there would always be an emotional attachment between us because of it, and I don’t want that.
It could make things way too fucking complicated.
Speaking of complicated, my father calls me that night in a good mood to congratulate me on the successful job I’m doing of rehabilitating my image. Apparently there’s been a lot of interest in his social realm about Juno and I, which surprises me, but then I suppose we’ll be viewed as a pretty unlikely couple and people are always curious about that sort of thing.
I’m actually really regretting the phone calls I’ve been making to the paparazzi now, after getting to know Juno better. I’m hoping she won’t see any of the pictures that my father tells me have come out in the Italian press. Luckily she seems completely uninterested in reading gossip pieces or looking at social media so she should miss them.
But I’m worried about any possible backlash when she gets home. I’ll feel like shit if the press starts to hound her there. So we’ll need to be more low key from here on in. No more tip-offs to the paparazzi. The only trouble with that is there’s a new gallery opening in the city tomorrow night, which I’d really like to attend, and they have a famous, well-respected Italian artist exhibiting so the place will be crawling with press.
But there’s no way I’m going to sneak out and leave Juno at home. I don’t want to lie to her about where I’ll be. I’ve already done enough skirting around the truth as it is.
I’m walking towards the kitchen to fetch myself a stiff drink when I hear the sound of Juno’s voice coming from her bedroom. She’s left the door slightly ajar and through the small gap I can see her sitting up against the headboard, talking to someone on her mobile.
