‘Have I embarrassed you?’
‘Of course not!’ She laughed dismissively. ‘Do I strike you as the sort who embarrasses easily?’
‘Yes.’
‘That shows how little you know me,’ Georgie said gently. ‘Which is understandable. Like you said, thisisn’t a relationshipso you’re really not going to know the first thing about me. Truth is, I get along really well with guys. Always have done, which is why I don’t embarrass easily. You wouldn’t believe the stuff they’ve confided in me over the years.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Yes!’
‘What sort of things?’
‘Oh…problems with girls…disappointment with being dropped from sports teams…hassle with friends…’ She rolled her eyes.
‘And that’s a good thing? Playing agony aunt to angst-ridden immature boys? Are you agony aunt to the grown-up versions of them as well?’
‘I never said they were angst-ridden or immature, and yes. It’s…yes, of course it’sa good thing. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s very rewarding to be empathetic. Actually, I’m not sure why we’re having this conversation. Didn’t you want to have dinner with me so that you could find out what Flora and I did today?’
‘I’m finding this topic of conversation more interesting at the moment. Can’t say I’ve ever met a woman who’s found fulfilment in playing agony aunt to men. I, personally, can’t think of anything more repulsive than pouring my heart out to a DIY agony aunt in the hope that she might come up with some hocus-pocus solution to my problems.’
Georgie’s mouth tightened.
In one fell swoop he’d managed to somehow put his finger on the swirling insecurities that were embedded in her dealings with the opposite sex.
‘That’s not what empathy is all about,’ she muttered with a surge of sour resentment. ‘Listening and being sympathetic is all it takes to make someone feel better about themselves and their situation.’
‘And what about the power of attraction?’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Sex. What about that?’
‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. I mean,obviously, I know what the power of attraction is all about! I’m just not sure where you’re going with that…er… observation…’
‘Where does animal attraction fit in with all these men you counsel? Doesn’t that reduce your relationships to platonic ones? You surely can’t find any man attractive when you’re done mopping up his tears and giving him a pep talk about squaring up to the playground bullies?’
He grinned and Georgie wanted to smack him because he was just so damned self-assured.
Self-assured and just sosexy. Hair tousled, dark stubble, dark eyes glittering with amusement. Stupidly, unfairlysexyand the conversation, instead of turning her off, had sparked something inside her that had ratcheted up every nerve in her body.
‘I like to think of myself as a nuanced person,’ she told him coolly and his grin widened.
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means that maybe we can decide on what we’re going to eat because it’s been a long day for me and I’d like to get to bed.’
‘Sure.’
He shrugged but he was still grinning.
‘I haven’t asked…how are you feeling?’
‘Decidedly better now that the tablets have kicked in and I’m having some human interaction.’
And a bit of fun, was what Georgie thought. He was a man who was accustomed to filling every second of every minute of every day with action.
He worked hard and he played hard and in between there was precious little downtime.
