Liar! My mind threw the word at me so hard I flinched.
What the hell was I going to do? My flippant comments to James weren’t true. I didn’t want to spend my life collecting dole money for cigarettes and booze. Add a brat to the mix and he could write more social commentary on the propagation of the underclass. I could be his case study.
My laugh was bitter. My parents wouldn’t tolerate the shame of single parenthood in their home. If I didn’t marry the man who had “plundered my womanhood” our fragile link would be severed forever. I needed their support, such as it was. My peers were independent decision-making individuals but I was afraid of being on my own again. I was reliant on my parents’ goodwill to live somewhere I had a better chance of staying clean. I looked at the bottle in my hand.
I was pathetic, and James had been right to jeer at me.
There were no mirrors in my bedroom but my reflection in the window was clear. Could I face that girl without the usual blast of debilitating pain? With a deep breath I looked into her eyes, searching deep. I lasted about seven seconds before the explosion hit me, making me clutch my forehead as I absorbed the shock.#p#分页标题#e#
Nothing had changed.
I lifted the bottle to my mouth, took another swig and settled back to finish my birthday present.
“Caroline.”
The voice was husky and male, and it sounded as though it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. I shifted on the bed and my nostrils picked up a whiff of brandy and expensive cologne. It grew stronger, closer to my face, the scent so delicious I took another sniff. The warm pressure on my shoulder increased, shaking me out of sleep. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times into the pitch black. I stared into the dark, reaching out with my hand for the feel of something familiar.
“Darling, it’s James.”
His voice was close to my ear. My hand froze and the cloying aroma of sickly sweet roses wafted up from the sheets. Shit, I was in Caroline’s room. She had black out blinds and a torture rack she called a bed. No wonder my back was aching and my shoulders sore. James mumbled something and the mattress depressed next to me.
His lips grazed my ear. “Let me explain.”
I jerked fully awake and scrambled to sit up. Why was I naked? Oh yeah, I’d got cosy with my Absolut and ended up trying on Caroline’s designer dresses. Things were a bit fuzzy after that but I’d obviously crashed in the buff. I drew my knees into my chest and patted the mattress next to me, coming up with nothing. Darkness be damned, I made a move to scuttle off the bed, but James’s slightly slurred words stopped me.
“I’m glad you decided not to sleep at Veronica’s tonight. Now we can talk. Yes, I kissed Paisley, but I put a stop to it before we went too far.”
Wow. A part of me admired James for telling Caroline about our kiss but most of me wished he weren’t so upstanding. I opened my mouth to tell him who I was and he shifted closer. Underneath the faint waft of brandy and cologne was the potent, male smell of his skin. The combination hit me like the perfume equivalent of the forbidden fruit, tempting me to lean in and inhale him more deeply.
His hand landed on my arm with the heaviness of the alcohol challenged, zapping my skin with a hot, sizzling jolt. He hiccupped and apologised, and I grinned. The haughty lawyer must have indulged in a drink or ten after Caroline ran off to sulk. James didn’t seem ready to pass out but he was beyond tipsy. I thought it was funny, but I was sure Caroline would have been upset so I stifled my laugh.
James’s tone was censorious. “Paisley needs to be put on a lead, flaunting herself like that and trying to turn me on. I would never stoop so low, Caroline, I meant what I said.”
My amusement disappeared as James’s humiliating jeer outside the bathroom came rushing back, wiping away my smile. I wanted payback and I knew exactly how I was going to get it.
Never stoop so low, huh?
I’d make him admit he wanted me and then reveal myself and laugh in his face. I didn’t even think about what would happen after that. What can I say? It made Absolut sense at the time. All I had to do was ignore the effect James had on me and I would have my revenge.
No problemo.
I whispered, imitating Caroline’s cultured tone. “Why did you kiss Paisley?”
“It will never happen again,” he said, hiccupping.
“Does she turn you on?”
A frustrated noise came out of his throat. “Paisley is immature and just as vulgar as you said, a common glass of water most men would drink to slake their thirst and then forget.”
Arrogant prick.
I let out a huff that was, ironically, exactly like one of Caroline’s. James hiccupped and I turned towards the sound of his voice, ready to return his insult. Then I remembered I was naked and clamped my hand over my mouth. He would accuse me of throwing myself at him, of being so desperate for sex I would trick him into it by lying in wait. This called for a change of plan: get off the bed, get dressed and then get angry.#p#分页标题#e#