Ian pressed through the turnstile. Liam took a deep breath. One hurdle over. Now he had to figure out the best way to get close to Avery Charles.
It didn’t help that the very thought of sliding into her bed got his dick hard. Yeah, he couldn’t lie to himself. She might be some sweet, innocent thing, or she might be hiding something dirty beneath all that sugar.
Either way he knew exactly what Avery Charles was. She was trouble. Luckily he was a man who could handle a little trouble.
Avery smiled at Simon Weston. He was a very nice man, and she was so deeply uninterested that she had to fight back a yawn.
And that really wasn’t a nice way to think. He’d been nothing but polite to her. She forced herself to focus in on him. Simon was very sweet and often made her laugh, but they were in completely different departments so they hadn’t had occasion to spend much time together.
Though he seemed to try to be around her. It was a mystery.
“I was telling Jason the other day that he simply had to try the new Indian place in Soho. The fish curry is amazing. Nothing like I got when I went to Bangalore, but it’s the best you can get in London.” Simon leaned forward a little. “You know we could go there for lunch one of these days. The food here can’t be great.”
It was overpriced, and she often had to scarf it down on her way back to Charing Cross, but nothing could compete with the views. She’d spent her hour looking through the Elgin Marbles rooms, carefully reading every placard, amazed that she was looking at the very same work that had decorated the Parthenon. She almost teared up thinking about it, but Simon Weston didn’t seem like a man who would understand that a bunch of ancient marble could fire her imagination. It pointed out to her that while she had many fascinating conversations with her very intellectual boss, she was lonely. Thomas was into economics and business. Though he tried, she could see his eyes glaze over the minute she started talking about art. Simon was the same way. And she was drifting. What had he said? Oh. The food. “It’s okay. A sandwich is a sandwich, though I’ve come to really love salmon and cream cheese.”
She had a bit of a distracted brain.
Simon’s fingers drummed along the table. “Rumor has it you come here every day.”
She stopped, hands in mid-motion of bringing her sandwich to her mouth. “There are rumors about me? Gosh, you guys must be really bored.”
She was the dullest thing in the world. Her great and grand scandal was forgetting to recycle on occasion. Well, that and the fact that everyone assumed she was sleeping with her boss. Which she wasn’t.
Simon grinned. He was quite adorable. He was tall and lean and had Hollywood-actor good looks, but he also seemed a bit calculating. She couldn’t figure it out, but there was something in the way he looked at her that made her feel like he was sizing her up and making decisions based on some matrix in his head. “Well, life at United One Fund can be quite boring, but with the boss in town, it’s picked up considerably. We’ve never met the big guy in person, you know. And meeting his lovely assistant was even better.”
Avery set her sandwich down, completely unable to figure out how to handle the problem of Simon Weston. He was a lawyer and had been with the company for almost a year. Like almost all of the employees of the Fund, as they liked to call it, Simon had taken a pay cut to work for a foundation known for its good works.
He was obviously a good man. So why did she think he had ulterior motives for pursuing her? Nothing in his manner told her he was attracted to her except his words. And why did she think she should follow her instincts? She didn’t have any. She barely knew how to function in the dating world. She knew next to nothing about men. Her only experience had been Brandon, and he was a distant memory now. When she thought about her husband, her memories were of a happy, sweet smile and the awkward way he’d loved her. They’d been so damn young. He was a ghost, and her memories were starting to fade. She was practically a virgin again.
Except virgins didn’t miss their babies.
Avery took a long breath and forced herself back into the moment. The moment was everything. Forward. Always forward.
She was well aware that every woman at the Fund thought she was completely insane for turning the tall, lean blond god of a man down. It seemed to be yet another reason for the rumor that she was sleeping with Thomas.
Her new neighbors were easier. The two Americans who had moved in after Mrs. Elenora Pettigrew had decided she needed the country air were perfect. They were gorgeous. Simply divine. They were easy to talk to. Well, Adam was. Jacob seemed to grunt a lot, but he was friendly enough. She could look at them all she liked because they were also gay.
At least she thought they were. She was confused here in England. No. They were Americans. They were gay. Straight American men didn’t wear pink polos with skinny jeans.
It would be easier if Simon was gay.