Chapter 8 Becky #2
She was struggling to act normally. “So is your mother in full-on matchmaking mode? Are you likely to find lots of single women invited for Christmas?” She decided that the best thing was to make a joke of it. Get it out in the open.
“I hope not. I prefer to choose my own dates.”
“And how is that going?”
He helped himself to bread. “Evidently not well enough for my mother.”
“Which is why you didn’t tell her we were sharing a room. I get it. But she’d be scraping the barrel if the only woman she could think of to match you up with was me.”
“Why is that? I happened to notice that more than one person stared at us when we walked in.” He lifted his gaze to hers and she noticed that behind his glasses his eyes were a mesmerizing glacial blue.
Why hadn’t she noticed how blue his eyes were before? If someone had asked her what colour his eyes were, she wouldn’t have had a clue.
She swallowed. “They were probably thinking that woman is wearing her sister’s dress . Or else what is a man like that doing with a girl like her? ”
He reached for his wine. “Or maybe they were thinking that we make a beautiful couple.”
She put her fork down. “Will, I know you’re teasing me, but could you stop? You’re freaking me out.”
“Why am I freaking you out?”
“Because we don’t think of each other like that, and we never have.” Enough. Enough! “This duck is delicious. How is your fish?”
“It’s good.” He put his glass down. “Doesn’t your mother interrogate you about your love life?”
“No. She knows better than to waste her time. I’m not one for spilling my innermost feelings, you know that.
” Except that she had, hadn’t she? With him.
She could feel him looking at her and suspected her cheeks were as red as her dress.
“Not usually, anyway. And definitely not to my mother. So have you dated anyone since—” She rummaged in her mind for the name of the last person he’d introduced her to. “Elsie?”
“No. There has been no one since Elsie.”
“She seemed—nice.” She tried her hardest to sound convincing, although if she was honest she hadn’t warmed to Elsie at all.
“And she was totally crazy about you. When we all went to that wine bar for your birthday last year, she seemed very into you.” Which had been annoying if she was honest because she hadn’t seen Will for a few months and had been trying to have a proper conversation with him, which hadn’t been easy with Elsie draped over him like another layer of clothing.
Elsie had been friendly enough on the surface, but Becky had sensed an underlying hostility that hadn’t made sense to her. “What went wrong there?”
He finished his fish. “She ended it.”
“Oh.” Becky wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Was he sad? “I’m sorry. And you even introduced her to your parents.”
“Yes. That was a mistake.” He put his fork down. “That was delicious. I assume you have room for dessert?”
“Of course.” She grinned at him. “You don’t really need to ask, do you? Why was it a mistake to introduce her to your parents?”
“Because it complicated everything.”
“Relationships are always complicated. It’s the reason I avoid them.
I like things to be ordered and logical, and there is nothing ordered or logical about emotions.
” She waited while their plates were removed.
“Did she break your heart?” She felt fiercely protective all of a sudden.
What was wrong with Elsie? Who would want to break up with Will?
He picked up his wineglass. “No.”
“Good. But now I see why your mother is matchmaking. She wants to get you out there again.”
The waiter appeared with dessert menus but Will shook his head and gave him a quick smile.
“We don’t need the menu, thanks. Just bring us anything that has chocolate. And a couple of spoons.”
“We have several—”
“Great. Bring them all. Thank you.”
Becky leaned forward. “Will Patterson, did you just order all that saturated fat and sugar? Is the god of cardiologists about to strike you down?”
“Probably. But I’m sure there are worse ways to go.”
The desserts arrived and were placed in the centre of the table. Three plates showcased different chocolate confections.
“Yum. Why did I bother with a main course? I could live on dessert. This is amazing.” Becky dug her spoon into a miniature sponge that oozed hot chocolate sauce. “I didn’t think you were a chocolate addict.”
“I’m not. But I know you are.”
“For a moment there I thought I was learning something new about you. I can’t eat all of this by myself or I’ll never fit through the door of our room, so you’d better help me.”
He picked up a spoon and tasted the chocolate tart. “So how about you? Have you been dating?”
“No. Too busy.” She saw him raise an eyebrow and sighed because she knew why he was asking.
“Okay, not too busy. Too crap at dating would be more accurate. It’s like job hunting.
You have to project your best self the whole time and it’s exhausting.
All that small talk and smiling and trying to be interesting and magnetic when all you really want to do is head home and watch a good movie in bed with a massive bowl of popcorn. ”
“You could put that on your dating profile.”
She ate half the chocolate mousse. “You don’t think mentioning bed at that point would attract the wrong sort?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m any better at dating than you are.”
“Why is it so hard?” She thought about Elsie, who she’d thought had been madly in love with Will. “Life has a weird sense of humour, doesn’t it? You’d think humans should be designed to only fall in love with people who love them back. It should be programmed into us somehow.”
“It would certainly make life more convenient.”
“And less painful. Still, at least we have chocolate.”
“True.” He cut another slice of chocolate tart. “This is good.”
“It is. This was a great idea. You have great ideas.” She finished the mousse. “This is how I want to die. Are you going to finish that tart?”
“No, you go ahead.” He shook his head in wonder as she took the last slice. “I’ve never been able to figure out how someone so small can eat so much and remain small.”
“I burn it all off in nervous energy.”
They finished their meal, headed upstairs and Becky rooted around in her bag for the key.
Why was he standing so close to her? She couldn’t concentrate.
And then she realised he didn’t have much choice about it because here in the eaves of the hotel the corridor was barely wide enough for two people.
Her heart was pumping, and she felt a tightness low in her stomach.
Desperate, she fumbled with the key, but she couldn’t get it to turn in the lock. “Stupid thing—”
“Let me.” He covered her hand with his, calmly jiggled the key and the door opened. The contact lasted only a few seconds but left her feeling as if she’d touched a live wire.
“Great. At least we’re not sleeping in the corridor.” She walked into the room, but it brought her little relief because he was right behind her. “Here we are. Our spacious suite. With one bed. It’s like a romcom, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” He closed the door and turned the key, ensuring their privacy.
She swallowed. So now they were locked in together. It was a sensible, precautionary measure. She would have done the same thing herself if her key-turning skills weren’t so bad.
“Yes. Rosie is addicted to stories with just one bed. Hero and heroine forced together, that kind of thing.”
“Okay.” He put the key down on the table near the door. “I’m trying to see the romantic potential in that. I’m assuming that in a romcom, one bed doesn’t mean someone has to sleep on the floor.”
“No. One bed is supposed to be a shortcut to romance. You’re forced to share. It’s a cold night. Things happen. Will, you have to know this.”
“Why would I? I’m more of a crime guy. In the books I read, if there is one bed then there’s usually a dead body tied to it. But I’m enjoying the education. Don’t stop.”
“That’s pretty much all I know. I’m not exactly a romance expert. That’s more my sister’s area.” And now she wished she hadn’t started babbling about romantic comedies. The last thing she wanted to think about was romance. And there was nothing remotely amusing about this situation.
With the door closed she was conscious of just how small the room was. Conscious of him. She never thought of Will that way and now, thanks to that phone call with his mother, she was thinking of it. And it was uncomfortable. She wanted to reboot her brain and start over.
She felt horribly jumpy and on edge. He, on the other hand, seemed maddeningly relaxed.
“Are you all right?” He undid the buttons of his shirt. “You seem tense.”
“Just tired. We should get some sleep.” Not exactly a reboot but the closest thing. “If the weather improves, we could make an early start.”
“No point in rushing. It will be icy first thing, and we need to give them time to clear the snow.”
She felt boiling hot and wanted to strip off a layer of clothing, but you couldn’t exactly strip off a dress. Why did Rosie love dresses so much? It made no sense to her. They were okay for a couple of hours, but then she just wanted to tug it off and pull on something more comfortable.
She rummaged in her suitcase and found what she was looking for.
“I don’t sleep naked so you needn’t worry that I’ll give you an eyeful in the night.”
He stared at what she was holding in her hand. “Reindeer pyjamas?”
“It’s Christmas, in case you’d forgotten.”
“You have nightwear for each season?”
“Just Christmas. They were a gift from Granny. Rosie’s are covered in snowmen. I wear them pretty much all winter because they’re comfy and they keep me warm if I thrash around in the bed and lose the covers.”
“You do a lot of thrashing?” His smile caused her heart to skip a few beats.
“It has been known. I also talk in my sleep and walk in my sleep. If that happens just steer me back to the bed. No need to wake me up.”
“I had no idea the night ahead was going to be so exciting.” Casually, he reached for the buckle of his belt, and she froze for a moment and then fled to the bathroom.
“I won’t be long.”
“Becks—”
“I just need the bathroom.”
“Are you all right? Did you eat too much chocolate?”
“Yes, something like that.” She closed the door between them and leaned against it.
Would he actually have undressed with her standing right there?
Had he forgotten she was in the room? No, it wasn’t that.
It was just that they’d known each other forever and he didn’t see her that way.
“Probably shouldn’t have drunk that wine. ”
This was not going the way she’d hoped. She should have felt relieved that they’d been forced to stay overnight because it gave her a reprieve from the family reunion she was dreading, but right now she wasn’t feeling relieved.
Frustrated with the workings of her mind, she turned on the cold water and splashed her face.
She wished Will had never called his mother, or at least that they hadn’t had that conversation.
Now she kept imagining him naked. And she kept thinking he was looking at her in a different way which was definitely her imagination going into overdrive.
She took a deep breath and then yanked the dress over her head.
This was insane. She had to stop thinking this way.
Will didn’t have those sorts of feelings for her and she didn’t have those sorts of feelings for him, either.
They had a long friendship and yes there was love, of course there was, but not that sort of love.
Not the heart-racing, rip-each-other’s-clothes-off, explosive type of love.
The love she felt for Will was warm and safe and quiet. There was nothing explosive about it.
She wasn’t like Rosie, who fell in love quickly and then fell out of love at approximately the same rate.
Becky had only ever been in love with one man in her life.
And he’d married her sister.