Page 26 of Settling the Score

‘Yeah, the view’s not bad.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Come on, give it a rest.’

He laughed then. ‘You’re not interested?’

‘In you?’

She glanced back at him, to see if he was serious.

‘In having a bit of fun.’

A single brow arched upwards. ‘With you?’

He pulled a face. ‘Someone else on your mind?’

‘No,’ she denied, way too hotly.

He made a gruff sound, coming to stand beside her, looking out at the water now. ‘Let me guess. You and Aiden have something going on?’

She grimaced. ‘No. Believe me, no.’

‘You sure? I thought I sensed something between the two of you.’

‘You didn’t,’ she promised.

‘I’ve usually got a pretty good instinct about this stuff.’

‘We… used to date. A million years ago. It… wasn’t serious.’

‘Ahh. That explains it.’

‘Explains what?’

‘The chemistry.’

‘There’snochemistry between Aiden Carter and me now. He’s got a whole bag of puck bunnies at his disposal for that. Then again, I guess that’s true for you, too.’

‘Riiiight.’ He sounded sceptical. ‘If you say so.’

‘I do.’

‘Sure. Okay.’

‘You don’t believe me?’

He turned to look at her thoughtfully. ‘Let’s see what the week brings.’ He moved a little closer. ‘But, for the record’ – he brushed something off her shoulder, his grin carefree and casual – ‘I’m interested and available.’ He gently curled her hair behind her ear. ‘If you’re looking for a distraction from whatever your deal is with him.’

‘We don’t have…’ She tapered off into nothing then met his eyes and smiled. ‘Thanks. I’ll keep it in mind.’ She bit into her lip. ‘In the meantime, I like spending time with you. So, there’s that.’

He held a hand to his chest in a gesture of being mock wounded. ‘Thatwill have to do. For now.’

They turned to head back to the mansion. ‘Want to make it interesting?’ she asked, as the enormous white building came into view.

‘Didn’t I already say that?’

She laughed. ‘You areincorrigible.’

‘So you’ve said.’