Page 47 of Say Hello, Kiss Goodbye

“Little Miss Busy is back in business.” Sarah smiled. “I guess you won’t have time for much else. It’s good last night’s sex adventure was a bust.”

What? Leia furrowed her brow. “No, it wasn’t a bust.” She scratched her bedhead. “Tarquin was amazing. He’s definitely talented—in more ways than one.” She sat back, remembering him between her thighs, his tongue warm and persistent, making her climax again and again. A blush rose on her cheeks. “Why’d you think last night was meh?”

“You came home early. I hope you took a cab—the Night Tube can be sketchy.”

“Tarquin drove me.”

“Drove you?” Sarah’s voice rose, a soft smile tweaking the corners of her mouth. “From Shad Thames? That’s easily an hour-long round trip.”

Leia nodded, her eyes falling to the floor and the umbrella she had lent him days earlier. “Well, he offered…”

“Sweet! How many guys would leave a warm bed in the middle of the night for a girl they barely know?”

“In my experience, none.” Leia plucked the pen from her gratitude journal. He was lovely. Ignoring my scar, wanting to spend the day with me, wanting to cook for me… so attentive and caring like—oh. Shit! Like he was auditioning to be my boyfriend. She bit her cheek. I can’t tell Sarah all this. She’ll get more excited and have us married off before I fly home.

“So, why kiss goodbye to a kind, hot Brit with amazing stamina and morning wood?”

“Oh my god!” Leia swept her hair off her shoulders, twisting it into a bun. “I’m so not talking to you about that!” She stabbed her pen through her messy up-do, keeping it in place. “I left because cuddling and staying for breakfast are things couples do, and we are not a couple.”

Sarah lifted her chin, her eyes narrowing into a squint behind her glasses. “Nice hickey.”

What? Leia winced. “Where?!” Her hands flew to her throat. “I didn’t see it last night.”

“The hollow by your collarbone. Left side,” said Sarah. “He’s a bit of a keener, eh?”

Fuck. Leia grabbed her phone and opened the camera app. How bad is it?

“When are you seeing him again?”

Reversing the camera, Leia angled the screen in front of her neck. “I dunno.” She tilted her head and tugged her pajamas aside. Ah, jeez! Tarquin’s amorous souvenir earned a frown and a terse “Ugh.” This is my fault, telling him to kiss me hard. She closed her eyes tight for a beat and dropped her phone in her lap, but her fingers fled back up to her stretched collar, yanking it over the purple mark. “We had fun, but…I think we want different things.”

“What? Anal?”

Leia snorted out a laugh. “Saz! No! I think he might be looking for something more than sex.”

“Didn’t you discuss that?”

“Yeah, but still. It’s just a feeling I have.” Leia closed the neck of her pajamas one button at a time ensuring that Jordan—when he snored himself awake—wouldn’t spot Tarquin’s love bite and piggyback on Sarah’s teasing.

Sarah scooped up her Will and Kate mug. “I think you’re overreacting.” She peered inside and sneered at the cold dregs of last night’s milky tea swirling in the bottom of the cup.

“No, I’m being cautious. I can’t get involved with someone who wants something I can’t give.”

“Just because Tarquin was a gentleman last night doesn’t mean he’s catching feelings, Ley. It means he’s nice! You’ve just forgotten what that’s like. Seriously, your alarm bells are triggered too easily. Not every guy is an asshole, you know.”

No, just the ones I get mixed up with.

“What was his place like?”

“Like a castle in the sky—no joke.” Leia slumped back into the couch. “Imagine a historic warehouse converted into apartments, and his place is the lavish penthouse with five massive floors.”

Sarah’s eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. “Five?”

“Yep! We took his private elevator to get to the top one.”

Mouth agape, Sarah curved forward in her wheelchair. “He has his own elevator? God, he’s a man after my own heart.”

I knew she’d love that. Leia chuckled. “I wasn’t surprised he has lots of man-toys, but I didn’t expect so many books. They’re everywhere! On shelves, coffee tables, all neatly stacked—even inside a red telephone box.”