“Yes, and I know all the moves people use to deflect. I’m professional grade on both sides of the equation, so you should surrender the information now and save me the trouble of dragging it out of you with some morally suspect method.”

This time Victoria didn’t shy away from the suggestiveness of the remark. “What if I suspect I wouldn’t hate some of your methods?”

“Seeing as how my sex appeal fell short last time—”

“It didn’t,” Victoria said flatly. “Your sex appeal has never been lost on me.”

The boldness of the comment caught Sophia off guard, and she took another sip of gin to try to buy time. “Then why did I end up standing on the other side of your big, heavy door?”

“Because you wanted something I couldn’t give.”

“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”

“Couldn’t,” Vic affirmed in a gentle voice. “Believe me, if you’d pressed up against me and asked for anything within my power to give, it would’ve been yours.”

Apparently, it was Sophia’s turn to open her mouth wordlessly. It wasn’t that she didn’t thrill at the thought of holding such power over such a beautiful woman, but the soft melancholy in Vic’s voice also triggered other emotions she didn’t want to examine.

“But you asked me to be someone I’m not, and you used the possibility of a personal relationship as a sort of bait or reward to entice me into betraying my sense of self. I can’t trade who I know myself to be in order to be with someone else.”

“So much for welcoming morally suspect methods.”

Vic shook her head. “I wish my position were borne of some high-minded principles, but I meant what I said about the difference between can’t and won’t. I’m not that pure.” Vic lifted her eyes and met Sophia’s. “I’m merely incapable of keeping up a charade of that level. I’ve tried. I failed.”

“Hmm.” Sophia hummed like the electricity surging through her, from Vic’s defiant gaze, from her intimate tone, from the openness she’d wilfully revealed. “You know I’m not leaving until I hear this story now.”

Vic’s smile spread as if she didn’t hate that idea. “Then perhaps I should pour us another drink?”

Sophia was no longer sure if Vic was falling into line with her plans or if perhaps it was the other way around, but either way she handed over her glass. “Make it a double, Your Ladyship.”

••••