“Me?” Sarah suggested.
“I didn’t say that!”
She snickered. “Its fine, I said it. It’s true. And you and I are very different people who look for different things from the guys we hook up with. You’re playing in a different league now. In fact, I think you’re playing a different sport, and one with very different rules. And as a veteran of this particular sport, I gotta tell you…people play dirty.”
I smiled. It was so easy talking to Sarah; nothing was off-limits, I could say anything in complete security and confidence and knew that the advice I would get back would be honest and well-meaning, if not always good.
“There’s the whole royal thing as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not really…” I struggled for the word. “Appropriate.”
“Appropriate?” Sarah pulled a face. “What are you now, the Queen of England?”
“She’s actually quite nice if you catch her on the right day.”
“I’m sure that over there in merry old England there’s all sorts of things that aren’t ‘appropriate’,” Sarah continued with the authority of one who had never left US soil. “Cold beer, sandwiches with the crusts left on, forgetting to tug your forelock when the lord of the manor comes past.”
“I haven’t travelled back in time,” I said with a grin. “Does all your information on England come from watching repeats of Downton Abbey?”
“Pretty much,” Sarah admitted. “But my point remains, who gives a rat’s ass what’s ‘appropriate’? You’re a woman, he’s a man, and the rest is all bullshit.”
“I’m working for his family,” I said. “Office romances are doomed at the best of times, and when you add in the fact that the tabloid press would have a field day if they found out, then…I really don’t want my face on the front page of The Sport.”
“The what?”
“It’s a newspaper over here.”
“Dumb name.”
“Maybe, but that’s not the point. I can just see this going so badly.”
Sarah shook her head. “You see, you’re condemned out of your own words: office romance. And you’re right, office romances never work. But a casual fumble in the stationery cupboard during lunch break is absolutely fine. You’re already looking at this as a romance and I say again—be careful. He just doesn’t seem to me like that kind of guy. He’s been trying to get you into bed since he met you and you think that now he’s succeeded, he’s all of a sudden looking for something long term and heartfelt? I don’t want to smash your dreams, Keira, I really don’t, but I’m not seeing it.”
I nodded glumly. “You’re right. I won’t let it happen again.”
Sarah nearly choked on her red wine. “What, are you high?! I never said that! I said be careful. Be hopeful that its love, but be aware that it might just be sex. And be grateful that if it is just sex, at least it’s good sex. Don’t break up with the best you’ve ever had! I didn’t suggest that even remotely.”
“I don’t want it to be just sex. I like him. Despite everything, I like him.”
Sarah leaned forward. “Be honest with yourself. If you found out that for him, this was about nothing but sex…would you want to stop having it?”
I opened my mouth to reply. Of course I would stop, I wasn’t interested in meaningless sex, especially with someone for whom I might have real feelings. That could only end badly for both of us. But the words to express that just didn’t come as my mind took me back to the events of earlier that evening.
Could I really give up that kind of mind-blowing, earth-shattering sex under any circumstances?
Maybe not…
“That’s what I thought,” Sarah said smugly, catching the look on my face. “If you want my advice, hope for the best, expect the worst, and in the meantime, lie back and enjoy the ride.”
And, although it was starkly contrary to everything I’d ever believed about myself, I thought that in this particular situation and with this particular man, that was pretty good advice. Of course, it was also probably a really stupid thing to do, opening me up to getting my heart broken and my face on the front of every tabloid newspaper in Britain, but after a lifetime of alternating the decision-making process between my head and my heart, I thought it might be a good idea to let my libido have a turn in charge.
It was about time, right?
Chapter 11
Andrew
The sound of a vacuum cleaner going in my room first thing in the morning was usually enough for me to start the day in a bad mood, but this morning it was music to my ears. The girl of my dreams was playing a little joke on me, and I was more than ready to play one back on her—one which I was sure would be better received this time round. As I went to throw back the covers and reveal myself in all my glory, I looked across the room at Keira with a smug smile on my face.