The Billionaire's Favourite Mistake(20)

His lips twitched. "Indeed."

Was he laughing at her? "You have to take this seriously, Asher."

"I'm very serious." He tapped the printouts. "This was very thoughtful of you."

"I like to be prepared." She crossed her arms over her chest and rocked  in her shoes. "So . . . do you want to go ahead and get this over  with?"

"Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

She was too nervous to eat anything, and shook her head. "Some other time. Where should we do this? The bedroom?"

His brows went up. "We can go to the bedroom if that'll make you more comfortable."

"I- What? No! Where did you want to do it?"

He shrugged and turned around, gazing about the expansive hotel room. "We can move to the sofa, if you like."

"The sofa is wonderful. Thank you." She charged ahead and moved toward  it. It was, like the rest of the decor, black, and she grabbed one of  the throw pillows on it and hugged it to her chest as she settled in on  one end of the couch. For a guy that needed lessons, he sure was making  her feel like . . . prey. "Bring the printouts and let's go over them  together. We need to get this right."

"I'm sure that, just like anything else, a lot of it is practice." He  tucked the folder under his arm and moved toward her. Yeah, she  definitely felt like a gazelle stalked by a lion. "Lucky for us, we have  an entire month to hone my skills."

Lucky wasn't the word she wanted to use for it. She gave him a tight smile and pushed her glasses farther up on her nose.

He sat down on the couch next to her, their thighs touching. Goodness,  that already felt rather intimate. At least he wasn't looking at her.  Instead, he was reading the first page of the printouts she gave him.  She leaned forward to see what he was reading, and the picture on the  page was of two people, their tongues barely caressing as their lips  parted. For some reason, that picture felt . . . incredibly intimate and  embarrassing. She tucked her hands tight around the pillow and tried  not to squirm at the rush of heat moving through her. This isn't going  to be fun, hormones. Remember how bad he was? Calm down.

Thing was, pregnancy hormones sort of escalated everything . . . even  the need for sex. Which was doubly awkward considering she'd never  wanted sex before, and now she really, really felt cravings at the most  awkward times.

Like right now.

This was the equivalent of wanting to eat something you knew tasted  bad. She knew Asher was terrible at sex, but her body was still  responding to his proximity. Her nipples pressed against her cardigan,  and she was grateful that she was hugging the pillow, because they'd  probably be rather noticeable.

Asher picked up the first page, read it, and then set it down on the  sofa on his other side. "All right, I think I have the gist of it. Shall  we begin?"

"Might as well."

He leaned in and she felt the absurd urge to giggle like a schoolgirl.

"What?" He gave her a curious look.

"This is so very ridiculous."

His smile made her insides feel warm. "Yes, but how else will a man like me learn?"

"Hookers?"

"Very funny. I trust you. I don't trust a lot of people, but I trust you."

For some reason, that made the laughter bubbling in her die. He didn't  trust a lot of people, it was true. He'd been lonely growing up, like  her, and had escaped his foster home the moment he was of age. He'd had  Donna, but after they'd broken up she realized he'd lost the only person  in the world he'd ever let his guard down around. No wonder he'd been  such a mess.

She . . . understood that. She was very careful herself about who she trusted. And it made her hate dissipate. Just a little.         

     



 

Greer remained still, her gaze on his face. It was an oddly tense  moment, both of them leaning close together, faces near each other, but  neither one moving closer to seal the deal. It was a moment in which she  could look at how beautiful Asher was, how close he was to her, and  still feel the old ache of I wish you would notice me.

He looked at her, expression thoughtful, and then reached out and  brushed his knuckles over the line of her jaw. "You're the most  beautiful thing I've ever seen."

That broke her from her reverie. Greer's mouth twisted into a half  smile. "You need to do better than that. You have to make this  believable, Ash."

Asher looked surprised at her response. "You are beautiful. Your skin is like . . ." He paused, studying her and thinking.

"Like . . . coffee?" she chimed in. "Chocolate and cream? Do you know  how insulting it is to refer to someone as a food? Shall I say that you  look like a nice bowl of tapioca yourself?"

"Well, I was going to say your skin is like silk."

Oh.

"But I can go with something else, if you'd prefer." He picked up one  of the printouts with a flourish, studied it, and then turned back to  her. "Greer, my sweet darling, your face is as lovely as a blooming  rose."

She snort-giggled. "The page says that?"

"Nah. It just says to woo her with words." He crumpled up the paper and  tossed the ball of it over his shoulder. "Why don't you think you're  beautiful?"

Why were they going back to this? "Does it matter?"

"It matters to me."

Greer sighed. "I'm a small, dark, half-Indian woman. I grew up in my  father's household. Have you ever noticed that every woman in his  magazine-with a few rare exceptions-is tall and blonde? Big hair, big  breasts, big hips? I have none of those things. I'm quiet and I'm short  and I have to wear these." She gestured at her glasses. "No one ever  notices me. Why should I think I'm beautiful?"

"I think you're beautiful."

"Oh, please. You're the one I tried to get to notice me for the longest  time, and you never did. Your words hold no weight now." Not now that  he'd hurt her and left her pregnant with his baby.

He looked surprised. "You did? When I was with Donna?"

"I wouldn't break up a relationship. But after that, yes. But you were  too drunk to ever see me." She shrugged, wishing the words didn't still  cut like a knife. "Until I threw myself at you and then you just nailed  me and left me pregnant. By the way, thanks for that."

He rubbed a hand down his face. "Every day I learn a new, unpleasant thing about myself, it seems." He looked . . . sad.

That bothered her, and it shouldn't have. She didn't want to make him  sad. She just wanted them to be done with each other. "Can we please  just kiss now?"

Asher's smile returned. "Didn't realize you were so eager, Greer."

"I'm not!"

"Really? You just demanded that I kiss you." He slid a bit closer to  her on the couch, so close that her legs were practically in his lap.  "Allow me to oblige."

She closed her eyes and braced herself, waiting for the onslaught of  tongue. She could get through this. Lots of people kissed every day.  She'd just have to be patient until he got better.

His amused chuckle broke through her thoughts. "You're bracing yourself  as if I'm about to power wash your mouth with my tongue."

"Aren't you?" she retorted, opening her eyes. "That's what I seem to recall from last time."

He threw his head back and laughed, collapsing backward on the couch.  "Damn. My ego is completely shredded around you, Greer." He clasped his  hands to his breast, as if shielding his heart. "You never go easy on a  guy."

A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth, but she refused to let it  grow. "Should I? I'm just being honest. It really was not good, Asher.  Though maybe I should have told you that you were incredible so I  wouldn't be stuck here tonight."         

     



 

His laughter sobered and he gave her a warm look. "I'm glad you're here tonight."

She said nothing, just hugged the pillow tighter. When they were like  this? Oh god, she could see falling in love with him all over again. The  laughter, the teasing, the simple joy of being in his presence? Of  seeing that gorgeous smile beaming down on her? It was easy to forget  that he'd shattered all of her dreams such a short time ago.

But everything was different now, and she needed to remember that. "Can  we just do this, please? It's been a very long day and being pregnant  makes me tired."

"Of course you're tired. Here, you get comfortable on the couch and  we'll approach this in a different way." Asher leaped up and moved  across the room, heading for the TV. He picked up the remote and started  to flick through to the movie rentals. "Do you know of any good movies  that feature a lot of kissing? Maybe for tonight we could just watch it  on the screen instead, and slowly move into the real thing."

Oh goodness, that sounded so much better. "Kissing movies?"

"Yeah. Nothing porny, because that won't show me how to kiss properly.  Just normal sorts of movies where normal people kiss the women they  love."