Lusty Billionaires Bundle(182)

‘I don’t see any reason why we should meet again. And I’d really rather Personnel posted the cheque to me. I’m going to be out and about looking for a job. I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to pop in at the drop of a hat.’

‘Sure. Well, whatever.’

‘Just slam the door behind you. It self-locks.’ With that, she turned away, dismissing him.

Suited him just fine, Curtis decided, striding out of the room and slamming the front door behind him.

It had all gone according to plan. Really. He had come to state his case and state it he had. What she had said had only confirmed his suspicions that she had been a dangerous near miss. She had wanted more and she had told him so in no uncertain terms. He was a free man. He would spend the rest of the school holidays juggling his work so he could take Anna out, maybe even buy her some new clothes in the sales, before she went back to school. He thought back to that day when his daughter and Tessa had gone shopping, the glow of achievement on her face. Well, he didn’t think he would be able to match that as far as shopping partners went, but so be it.

It would be his first step in getting his life back to normal, back where he wanted it to be, where he was in control. Leave the unpredictability for his job.

He drove to his mother’s house, having originally planned to return to the office where he would be able to submerge himself in work. In his head he played out the conversation he had just had with Tessa. He didn’t want to. What he wanted was to now wash his hands of her altogether. But his mind was refusing to co-operate.

He had done what he had set out to do. That was good. Leaving her with the impression that he had somehow, ludicrously, managed to get involved with her sister was a misconception he hadn’t been able to ignore in the end and he had sorted that out.

Frowning as his logical brain backtracked and fitted pieces together, he very nearly went into the back of someone at some traffic lights that had turned red. A minor interruption to his concentration. There was some link he should be making, he thought restlessly, some vital connection, and then as his car purred away at the traffic lights it happened and it was like being catapulted into the air at full speed.#p#分页标题#e#

Tessa was a commitment girl. She had said so herself. What she had failed to mention was what he was now figuring out for himself.

Commitment girls would never get involved with a man purely because it promised to be a spot of fun, no matter how powerful the attraction might be. He knew that in the depth of his bones and from the very summit of his experience. Women who seriously sought commitment wouldn’t even be attracted to a man like him. They might look, but they would never venture near.

Which meant that Tessa had become involved because…because…

The conclusion that he had been inexorably working towards now presented itself to him. She had fallen in love with him. Maybe she didn’t realise it herself, maybe she was just pretending to herself that, really, it had all been fun and she had got out before it was too late, but he thought otherwise. He thought that she had fallen in love with him even before she had slept with him and, subconsciously, her physical capitulation had just been the logical consequence of her emotional involvement.

He found that he was driving on automatic, not even realising where he was going, and was startled when his car suddenly appeared to be at his mother’s place. His head felt fuzzy, almost as though important brain connections had been subtly altered so that his responses weren’t what they should be. Everything was just a bit off kilter. And there was a pounding rush deep inside him, which he couldn’t understand or deal with. He just knew one thing. His narrow escape must have been a hell of a lot narrower than he had imagined. He felt as though he had been too close to a fire and had been singed.

Singed but not burnt. Lucky him. And tomorrow he would probably be fully healed and ready to move forward. He would have her out of his head. In a week’s time, he might even be seeing someone else, someone uncomplicated, straightforward and up for some fun, no strings attached…



A mere three days later, when Tessa spotted him in the gossip column of the newspaper, cavorting with a blonde, she made her mind up. She needed a break. The thought of seeing the new year in with Lucy around, puzzled and curious and waiting for the right time to launch into a detailed interrogation, just wouldn’t do. Nor would the inevitable sleepless night, heady fuzzy with thoughts of him kissing the blonde as the clock struck twelve.

She had to get away, right away. Be on her own in different surroundings. The familiarity of the house stirred up too many painful memories. The four walls were no longer her haven but her torture chamber, impregnated with his dynamic, restless personality, and she needed time out from it.