She felt him smile against her lips and that, somehow, was the most sensual moment of all. He kissed her jawline and her neck, paying special attention to her pulse point, before he drew back his head to look at her.

“As much as I don’t want to, I’m going to make myself stop,” he said. “I’m hoping one day soon we won’t stop and you’ll maybe see why it was better not to fall straight into bed last night or today.”

D’Arcy reluctantly withdrew her hands from his shirt. Her mind was screaming at her: One day. I don’t have one day. I’m only here for two weeks. But she only said playfully, “It feels as if you have everything in good working order down there so that can’t be why you don’t want to.”

He smiled and rolled off her, onto his back, lying next to her, hand reaching out to take hers.

“Will you tell me?” she pushed, wanting to know why this man was so delightfully old-fashioned when it came to sex.

He sighed. “See, this is where you don’t necessarily need to say everything that’s on your mind.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she lied. Then she came clean. “But I’d really like to know. I have no idea if I terrify you or if I turn you on or if I annoy you or…”

He kissed her knuckles. “Definitely the first two. Occasionally the third.”

D’Arcy felt a pang of something unfamiliar—something like tenderness—at his words, which confirmed her suspicion that he was a little shy. That she was his polar opposite. But that he was still here anyway. So she waited, not wanting to press him again, hoping he would trust her enough with whatever he wanted to say.

“Basically I used to be an asshole,” he said eventually. “It started at college and got worse when I was a lawyer; associates fresh out of university work hard, play hard and drink hard, and I was one of that pack. It was too easy for all of us to get girls; we had money and prestige and so one-night stands became a way of life. I never dated anyone properly and I was an arrogant prick. I hated myself for it but it became like this horrific game that I was trapped in. I didn’t know what I’d be if I didn’t keep doing it. Until…”

He stopped and D’Arcy very carefully made herself stare at the sky and not look at him because she sensed it was hard enough for him to say all of this, let alone with her gawping at him while he did. “I’m listening,” she said quietly, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

“Until one of the girls went a little crazy. Which I deserved. I always used to go back to their houses; I never wanted anyone to know where I lived. I never gave out my phone number. But I told them all I was a lawyer because it was impressive and one girl tracked me down to the law firm where I worked and she turned up there. I spoke to her harshly; it was inappropriate of her to come to my workplace but I hadn’t been a saint so I could hardly blame her for behaving likewise. She turned up every day for a fortnight until I got one of the secretaries to catch the elevator down with me to where the girl was waiting and I kissed the secretary right in front of her. The next day the girl slashed her wrists in reception.”