Just dinner, he says. As if it would be possible to have justonething with Nick O’Connor. He always wants everything. One piece, a hand, an arm, isn’t enough for him. He wants it all; but the problem is that, in the end, you’re left with nothing to your name.
“Nick…”
“Do you really want to eat by yourself?”
“I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”
“What’s wrong, Casey, is that a woman like you should never be left to eat alone.”
Was he really just brave enough to tell me that?
“Funny you should say that… Because, from what I remember, you were the first guy to ditch me,” I say, a hint of bitterness creeping into my voice. It’s true that there was nothing between us – nothing amazing, nothing supernatural. He never told me he’d come back for me; but I’d hoped, despite everything.
As soon as I realise that this isn’t a dream, I decide that I don’t have the strength to deal with this tonight. I place my hands on the table and start to get up and leave, when, suddenly, Nick O’Connor – ex-rugby star, ex-model, ex-friend and ex-lover – lifts his gaze and gives me one of his smiles, that saysI’m fucking you, and you’ll realise it soon enough.
“I’m here to prove to you that it’ll never happen again.”
And, just like that, I’m right back to where I started.
“I hate you.” The words are out before I’ve even processed them.
“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” he says, satisfied, stifling a triumphant smile. This was a terrible idea; but the heat rising quickly between my legs, heading for a much more dangerous place, tells me that eight years have just fallen away in front of my eyes.
And I was the one to push them.
I can’t resist Nick O’Connor. And the worst thing is: he already knows it.
* * *
“Wine?”Nick asks, as the waiter brings over his meal.
“Why not.” Tonight couldn’t get any worse, and I’m certain that all the wine in the world couldn’t affect me as much as Nick O’Connor does, just by sitting across from me.
We eat in silence, the embarrassment of being alone again after so long hanging in the air around us. Not that we ever spent our evenings like this in the past. We usually went to the local pub, drove around in his car, or tried to plan practical jokes to play on the team, sneaking into the gym in the middle of the night. We would break a few rules, stay out past curfew, and then he’d help me clamber up the tree next to my bedroom window so that I could sneak in unnoticed by my dad – who would kill me if he ever found out I’d been hanging around withhim. Sometimes Ian and Ryan would come along, too, but they always backed out before we did anything stupid. Besides, Ryan was going out with Lauren at the time, and he usually preferred to spend time with her. Ian had other friends, his teammates. Nick and I were…just the two of us.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Nick says, bringing me sharply back down to reality.
I lift my eyes and look at him.
“Is something wrong?”
“Something? More like everything.”
“Why don’t we talk about it?”
“Well, for a start, he just left me here. On my own.”
“Dick move,” he says, smugly.
“You can hardly talk.”
He raises his hands. “Okay, I’ll shut up and listen.”
“That’s a first.”
“There’s a first time for everything,” he says suggestively.
“Not for what you’re thinking of.”
