“You. Then we’ll take turns.” I squeezed his hand back.
“Okay.” Ryan shifted onto his side, facing me. “How old were you when you lost your virginity?”
I laughed. “That is such a boy question to ask!”
He nodded. “But it tells me more than your age.”
“Because I talk so much.”
“No. You just give detail.”
He had a point. “I was seventeen. It was with a boy I went to school with, because I didn’t want it to be with another actor. Phil had been out with half my year, and he’d taken the virginity of at least two of my friends – I was pretty sure Emma had slept with him too, but she’d denied it – so I figured he might know what he was doing.”
‘Did he?”
“I guess so. It wasn’t a horrendous experience. It wasn’t overwhelmingly good either. I slept with him again the next time I was home from filming, and even went there a third time a couple of years later, although he hadn’t improved by then and I’d had better.” I smiled at the memory. Phil had been a decent lad. I hadn’t been drunk, he’d never taken advantage and he’d never made me feel used at any point, which was a lot better than some of my friends had found after their first times. “Any further questions?”
“No. Your turn.”
I was on my side now, facing him, the duvet pulled up over us. I considered my questions, because I had given them a lot of thought over the last week, although tonight had made me change my mind about a couple of them.
“Who is Lotte, besides your business partner?” I didn’t know if I expected him to answer or find a response that didn’t give much away.
I felt his gaze on me as much as I saw it, and I wished I could work out what he was thinking.
“She was my girlfriend when we were younger. We met at a coding club in sixth form after she’d moved over from Denmark, and we dated until we were twenty. We sold an app we’d designed for over seven-figures. She moved to Silicon Valley to be with other tech-heads, and I stayed here to play football.” His mouth curved into a soft smile. “It was intense; we were spending all our time together other than when I was training, and it got too much.”
“Do you think you’ll get back together after you stop playing football? That’s not another one of my questions, by the way.” I prodded his chest with my finger, feeling the hard muscles underneath.
His hand shifted onto my hip. “No. That’s done with. I know I hurt Lotte when it ended. She would rather I’d quit football and carry on the business with her. I offered to sell her my half at a reasonable price, but she said she would rather I was involved. So here we are.”
“Have you slept together since things ended?”
“I’m sure you’ve used up all of your questions by now.”
I shifted closer to him. “No, just the one.”
His hand slid down to my ass. “Hmmm. Maths not a strong point?”
“Is that one of your questions?” I nuzzled his chest.
His laugh caused vibrations to run through me. “No. You got loads of follow ups. That counts as one of mine.” He stilled. “Yes, we’ve slept together since things ended.”
“Do you still have feelings for her?” I wanted to yank the words back as soon as I’d said them. It shouldn’t matter if he did or didn’t.
I heard him swallow. “Yes. We’ve been friends for over ten years. It’s been too easy when she’s given me a hug for it to morph into something more.”
“Is Lotte single?”
“Yes. She’s had a couple of relationships since we split but they didn’t last. I don’t know if she’s seeing anyone now. She didn’t mention it when I was over there in the summer, and we didn’t sleep together then.” He relaxed. “I don’t ever see us getting back together.”
“Maybe you will.” I hoped they didn’t. That was bad of me.
There was softness in his smile. “No. I think we’ve both moved on. My turn.” He flipped me onto my back, his limbs holding him over me. “What’s your favourite position? Sex-wise?”
“You chose that as one of your five questions?”
He dipped his lips towards mine, his eyes gleaming evilly. “Yep. There were no rules about what we couldn’t ask.”
