Page 18 of One More Sleepless Night

To do what? Succumb to her allure and his total mental collapse? Or pick her up, toss her over his shoulder and carry her up to bed? ‘For what?’ he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat.

‘Lunch. Or what passes for lunch in my world.’ Her mouth curved up into a funny little half-smile and his stomach felt as if someone had grabbed it and twisted. Hard. ‘I’m not much of a cook, I’m afraid—not enough time spent in the kitchen probably—but I’ve cobbled a salad together from last night’s leftovers and was wondering, would you like to join me?’

No was the answer he should have been looking for if he wanted to retain any kind of sanity, but clearly he didn’t because all he could think right now was that he was hungry, her smile was as inviting as the idea of food and his brain was so addled with lust, confusion and frustration on top of the lingering pangs of guilt and shame he could barely remember his own name, let alone come up with some kind of suitable excuse.

‘Sure,’ he said and wondered what she’d think if he walked up to the wall and started banging his head against it. ‘Why not?’

‘It’ll be five minutes.’ She tilted her head and regarded him thoughtfully. ‘In the meantime, why don’t you take a dip? You look a bit hot and bothered.’

Watching her saunter back into the kitchen, Rafael resisted the urge to get up close and personal with that wall, and instead shoved his hands through his hair while calling himself all kinds of idiot for being so weak.

Maybe a long morning beneath the hot sun had resulted in more than just the paradox of being piqued instead of pleased that she didn’t want to talk through her issues. Maybe it was also responsible for an evident meltdown of his brain cells, because one way or another Nicky was driving him demented, as was his total inability to know what to do a

bout any of it.

Perhaps a swim wasn’t such a bad idea, he thought darkly, heading upstairs to don his swimming shorts. The icy water of the pool would no doubt have the same effect as a cold shower, and it might even clear his head long enough for him to work out how to fix the exceedingly uncomfortable problem he was still facing.

Something had to be done, because he might have sorted out one dilemma but there still remained the issue of the unrequited lust he was suffering from, which if it continued any longer could well end up doing permanent damage to his body.

The question was, what to do?

Frowning as he began to assess the options, Rafael threw a towel over his shoulder and headed back downstairs. Taking care to avoid the kitchen and the dangers that lurked within, he stepped out onto the patio and strode along the path that led to the pool, frustratingly none the wiser.

He dropped the towel on a sun lounger, walked up to the edge of the pool and dived straight in.

Perhaps he should ask Nicky to leave after all, he thought, relishing the way the icy shock that hit his body obliterated the heat inside him, and beginning to scythe through the shimmering water as he made for the other end. Maybe he should leave, although frankly he didn’t see why he had to when it was his house.

Or maybe, just maybe, he was going about this all wrong.

Rafael reached the end and surfaced. He rubbed the water out of his eyes and drew in a deep breath as a bubble of clarity burst in his head.

God, he was, wasn’t he? He was going about this in completely the wrong way, and frankly if he conducted his business in such a manner he’d be bankrupt within weeks. Because how could he fix this—or any problem for that matter—when he wasn’t in full possession of the facts?

As was very definitely the case here. He didn’t have all the facts, did he? All he knew was the way he was feeling, the desire and need and longing he was burning up with. He had no idea how Nicky felt about anything. For all he knew she could be burning up in the same way he was.

OK, so she hadn’t shown any sign of it so far, but then he was pretty sure he hadn’t either, so she could well be just as crazed with lust as he was and equally adept at concealing it. After all she’d been eyeing him up yesterday evening at supper, hadn’t she?

And if that was the case then maybe she was waiting for him to make the first move. Or maybe she was as baffled by all this as he was and was also struggling to work out what to do about it.

Hmm. Whatever Nicky was or wasn’t doing, and frankly his head hurt just trying to work it out, he clearly needed a new, more obvious strategy.

*

So much for a new and more obvious strategy, Rafael thought darkly an hour later as he fought back the urge to grind his teeth.

Honestly, short of yanking Nicky into his arms and kissing the life out of her he didn’t think he could have been more obvious.

Over lunch he’d hit her with his full arsenal of moves, which admittedly wasn’t huge as he’d never had to work so hard to entice a woman into his arms, but nevertheless he thought he’d done his best.

He’d complimented her on the salad that hadn’t been nearly as bad as she’d made out, and had then set out to be as attentive as he could. Although she’d been remarkably unforthcoming, he’d asked her dozens of questions about herself and her work, and had happily complied when she’d turned his questions back on him. He’d been genuinely interested and he thought she’d been the same.

Encouraged by that he’d shot her endless warm smiles, flashed her wide grins he’d been told were devastating, and been as charming as he knew how. He’d even left his T-shirt and shorts off after his swim to give her ample opportunity to ogle his near-naked body should she wish to do so.

But had any of it made even the faintest scrap of difference? No, it had not. There he’d been practically combusting with lust—not least because now he didn’t have to imagine what she looked like in a bikini—and Nicky couldn’t have been less bothered.

To his growing frustration she’d hadn’t shown the slightest interest in his body and had been spectacularly undevastated by his smiles. In fact, at one point, after a wide, and, he’d thought, particularly blinding smile, she’d frowned and had had the cheek to ask him if he was feeling all right.

Now she’d settled herself on a sun lounger, was rubbing suncream into the legs that had been haunting his dreams, and he was slowly going insane. Unable to drag his gaze away, he had a sudden vision of those hands roaming all over him, caressing every inch of him, and his body hardened.

---