The Piano Man Project Page 0,61

make it?’ she asked, her voice small and laced with uncertainty.

‘Knob off. I can make tea. Go and sit down, I’ll bring it through.’

Hal made Honey a sandwich while he waited on the kettle, taking it all through and placing it on the coffee table when it was ready.

‘You didn’t have to …’ she said. At least it sounded as though she’d finished crying now.

‘Just eat,’ he said roughly, not especially proud of the chicken and brie salad sandwich he’d made her but glad to be able to offer something.

‘You make good sandwiches,’ she said after a while. ‘And nice tea.’

‘Feeling better now?’ he asked, even though her voice already told him the answer.

‘A bit. Thank you.’

‘Want some whisky?’

‘Best not,’ she laughed, and then she stopped laughing. ‘Know what I really would like, Hal?’

Danger. He could almost smell it; the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

‘Honey …’

Her hand moved to his knee, warm and firm, her fingers grazing the skin where the soft denim had split open.

‘I shouldn’t have asked you to come in,’ he said quietly.

‘And I shouldn’t have come to your door when you piss me off so much, but I did, so I guess we’re even. I can’t stay away from you, Hal.’

‘Try harder,’ he frowned, distracted by the slow stroke of her thumb over his kneecap.

She took a while to speak again. ‘I’ve been thinking about something. I have a proposition for you,’ she said, her voice brave and breathless.

He swallowed hard. ‘What kind of proposition?’

He heard her swallow even harder. Gather herself. ‘One night, Hal. No strings. No dates. One night, show me how good sex feels for everyone else.’

Fuck, fuck, fuck. How could you make your mouth say one thing when your brain really wanted to say something else? Hal couldn’t, so he said nothing at all.

‘I know you don’t want a relationship, and that’s okay because I don’t either. In fact I think we’d be bloody terrible together. I’m not asking you for romance, just sex. God knows why, but when you touch me, I feel more. More than I’ve ever felt with other men.’ He felt her shrug, as if it was a mystery to her. ‘My body likes yours, Hal.’ The break in her voice cracked his resolve, reached into the nooks and crannies of him. She’d moved nearer on the sofa, and he couldn’t move away because he wanted to move towards her instead. Instinct took the driving seat when she touched his jaw; he turned his mouth and kissed the softness of her palm. What kind of a man could refuse an offer like that? One no-strings-attached night with a beautiful, pliant woman? Especially a woman whose arms had slid around his neck, her lips a breath from his. He didn’t stand a chance.

‘Honey, we talked about this,’ he murmured, trying even as her lips brushed tentatively against his.

‘You talked about it,’ she sighed, stroking his hair as she opened her mouth a little.

‘It’s a bad idea,’ he said, even as his tongue touched hers, barely there and slow.

He heard her low sigh, felt her body lean into his.

‘You said,’ she whispered, as he moved his arms around her and held her to him. She fit him all too well, her curves melding into his chest. ‘But this feels too good to be a bad idea.’ Her breathing quickened in his mouth as she sank her teeth into his top lip, licking along it. ‘Just kissing you is better than sex with anyone else.’

‘Honey,’ he breathed, not sure if he was going to say something to stop her or just needed to say her name.

‘Name the night, Hal, and I’m yours. Tomorrow. Tonight. Right now. Show me. Please?’ She spoke around his kisses, her lips soft and open for him, her tongue sliding over his between her words. Oh, he wanted so much to say yes, to press her backwards on the sofa and slide her out of her clothes. He could practically feel her naked beneath him, and she was right. He could make her body need his so badly that she’d shiver with it, that she’d have no choice but to come for him. She’d be transcend-fucking-ent, and it’d feel amazing, to be the man who gave her what no other man had ever given her. It was heady; intoxicating.

‘We can’t keep doing this, Honey,’ he managed, holding her face in his hands. ‘Because however much I want to say yes, and you have