Page 75 of Nothing to You
Everyone was looking at them.When had the others stopped talking?
“What?”Rourke asked, putting down his phone.“Nothing to see here.”
“Not if you have your way,” she said.
Rourke blew her a kiss with just his lips.
“You’re circling each other.”The corner of Roxie’s mouth curled.“You don’t even realize how you heat up a room when you’re sparring with each other.”Her friend sighed and looked at Zairn.“Have we lost our spark?”
Zairn laughed.“I’m ready to spark any time you are, Lola.”
“Which leaves Jane and I to entertain each other,” Lilya said.
And Rourke wasn’t going to let that one go.“Maybe Kintyre should check whose kid that really is.”
If there was something to throw at him, she’d have taken aim, but the wine was too good to waste.
“We should go back to Dyce’s, Jane.”Lilya relaxed.“I think there’s still packing to do.”
“She’ll never fall for that.”Roxie drank some wine.“We’re leaving in a matter of hours.She’s packed and repacked for everyone several times.Astrid doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
“You think I upset her?”Jane asked, obviously worried.“I didn’t mean to offend her.”
“You couldn’t offend anyone, honey.”
“Except Radley,” Rourke said.“She offends easy.”
“Because I don’t subscribe to your religion that all men are gods?”
“Feel free to worship,” he said, sliding down in his seat, linking his hands on his head.“Thou shalt not worship any god other than me.”
“Thou shalt not worship.End of sentence.”
“Everyone has the freedom to choose their own god.”
“And it doesn’t surprise me that you’d pick yourself.”She sat up straight.“Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”
“Could be,” he said with a shrug, though his hands stayed interlinked.“Maybe that’s where the genius comes from.”
“Learn a little humility.You’d be far more impressive if you practiced modesty.”
“This is modest, Babycakes.I’ve got the goods to back it up and more than enough cash to sweeten the deal.”
“Paying for it won’t keep you warm at night.”
“That’s why I’ve got you.Why else would I keep you around?I’ve got to look after you and I have to be paid for the pleasure.”
“Half the time I’m lucky if you’re paying attention,” she said.“I like it when you get like this.It reminds me how important contraception is.We have too many men like you.”
“You need men like me.Men like me keep the world turning, Babycakes.And it’s up to women like you to fulfill your role.”
“Which is?”Lilya asked.
She held up a hand, eyes still locked on his.“Don’t engage him when he’s like this, Lilya, please.Be glad you found yourself a real man who knows how to treat a woman like a human being.”
“Lilya’s fulfilling her role, her biological imperative,” Rourke said.“Carrying a man’s child.His son.Making a man for a man.”
“Oh, is that what she’s doing?Not maybe that she has hope for the future?Hope that she’ll be able to raise a man aware of his limits and equality to all other living things?”
