Five Dates with the Billionaire - Alyssa J. Montgomery Page 0,33
reason she didn’t want a relationship.
It might be the reason she was still a virgin.
Oh God, Connor. What are you thinking? You’re not seriously becoming involved with a virgin?
‘Scusi.’ A photographer claimed their attention.
A woman on stilts, dressed in some sort of historical outfit with a hooped skirt, accompanied him. ‘Photo signore?’
‘No thank you.’
Damn. This was a conversation he and Mia should be having in private.
The photographer gave a gracious bow and the couple moved off to find other tourists.
‘We should join the queue,’ Mia said.
Connor couldn’t care less about seeing the palace. ‘You and I are completely different. If you wanted an affair based on slaking physical desire, you’d have dressed differently before now, gone to some club and picked up a guy at a bar.’
‘You’re assuming I haven’t. Maybe I’ve tried. Maybe I need someone who stimulates me intellectually as well as physically and that person doesn’t hang out in the bars I’ve been to.’
That threw him.
The muscles across his shoulders and up the back of his neck tightened. Every vertebra felt as if it’d been pulled rigid. ‘Have you?’
‘No.’ She gave the answer grudgingly, then her tone was almost pleading. ‘I don’t want a relationship, Connor, but that doesn’t mean I want to die a virgin, either.’ He watched her chest rise and fall as she took a breath. ‘What I want is great sex with someone who wants the same thing—no strings attached and very short term.’
Shit. The thought of Mia flaunting herself at a bar to pick up a random guy to experiment in casual sex did crazy, stupid things to his blood pressure and winded him like a kick to the groin. He needed to look away from her for a moment while he tried to shield himself from the bombardment of unfamiliar emotions.
Let it go. It’s got nothing to do with you.
But what if it did have something to do with him? What if those kisses they’d shared had stirred her reckless line of thinking to life?
Mia was Gran’s friend and his employee and he felt protective of her.
‘Please don’t go out looking for some stranger to initiate you into sex.’
The tilt of her chin was a clear challenge. ‘Why?’
Hell. How had he ever got into this conversation?
‘Because you’re a woman.’
She started to splutter in outrage. ‘What an incredibly sexist—’
‘No. Hear me out. Despite the push for absolute equality, there are some fundamental differences between men and women.’ He steamrolled over her predictable reaction and tried to make her see sense. ‘For starters, picking up a total stranger from a bar puts you at physical risk: you have no way of knowing he’s not some serial killer and unless you have some qualification in martial arts you haven’t mentioned, there’s a good chance he could overpower you if he wanted to.’
‘Oh, for goodness sake!’
He didn’t care if it was farfetched. One way or another he had to make her see sense. ‘Secondly, it’s apparently not … a comfortable physical experience for a woman the first time around. If you choose the wrong lover—an inconsiderate one who’s more out for his own pleasure than yours—it could be a bad experience for you.’
‘Fine.’ It looked as though it was costing her to stand there and face him without shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other. Her voice was shaky as she asked, ‘Can you recommend anyone?’
For a good ten seconds, it was impossible for Connor to draw breath.
If anyone had told him he’d be having this conversation with any woman—let alone Mia Simms—he would’ve ridiculed them. She kept wrong-footing him. He would think he pretty much had her pegged and then she’d say or do something to throw the picture he formed out the window.
Oh hell. He didn’t know what to think of her anymore. But if she was inexperienced and he took her to bed, it could cause a mountain of problems. He didn’t want to break her heart. Hell! If Mia became emotionally attached to him, Gran would probably insist they get married!
You wouldn’t be taking advantage of her. She’s issuing you with an invitation and at least you’d make the experience good for her.
Bloody hell. He was going crazy here.
Never mind protecting Mia. More and more it felt as though he was the one who was way out of his depth and in danger of drowning.
‘You’re on your own there, Mia,’ he told her abruptly. ‘Let’s join the queue.’
Gritting his teeth, he made for the end of the line.