‘Because of Red Flag Ryan.’
‘Well yes, he kind of put me off.’
‘But you’ve dated other people since Ryan and you didn’t want sex from them either. Why is Luke different?’
‘Because I trust him.’ She was surprised that answer came so easily and actually how important that was to her. She’d only known him a few days. It would normally take weeks to build enough trust to want to go to bed with someone and, as it turned out, she’d never got there with the last few men she’d dated. But with Luke she just knew she could trust him completely.
‘Oh honey. I think next time you see him just laugh it off if he brings it up. Tell him you did amateur dramatics and you can be really convincing when you need to be. But honestly, if he was kissing you passionately and then apologised for taking it too far, it sounds like he was enjoying himself a bit too much too and was then embarrassed in case you laughed it off so he got in there first.’
Flick bit her lip. ‘Do you think?’
‘I think you can tell when a kiss is real. I know youhave a long history of dating disasters and some of them have been complete arseholes so you don’t have a lot of good men to compare this to but there’s a big difference between a fake kiss and a real one.’
‘Have you had many fake kisses?’ Flick asked.
‘Have I had many kisses where I didn’t care for the man and they didn’t care for me? Lots. There’s a huge difference when someone does really care for you or want to be with you. You can feel it.’
‘Well, that’s what I thought. There was clearly a mutual attraction when we kissed, but when he tried to dismiss it I thought maybe it was all one-sided and I was just seeing what I wanted to see.’
‘Maybe you should have a chat with him.’
‘Urgh, maybe not. He’s already got a load of women throwing their unwanted advances at him, he doesn’t need another.’
Flick couldn’t think of anything worse than Luke hiding himself in a cupboard every time he saw her.
‘Well, will there be more fake kisses?’ Tabitha asked.
Flick hadn’t thought about that. ‘I suppose there might be.’
‘Then I’ll guess you’ll find out then.’
Flick sighed, not wanting to think about the embarrassment of another fake kiss and trying to keep her heart and body firmly detached from it. ‘I don’t think it matters whether it’s fake or real anyway, he’s moving to Scotland in just a few weeks. That’s not exactly a great start to a relationship.’
‘It’s Scotland, not the other side of the world. Andpeople have had very successful long-distance relationships much further away than that. He sounds like he’s someone special so if the kisses turn out to be real or turn into something more, don’t shy away from it just because he’s moving. Enjoy it, embrace it, see if you have something worth pursuing. And if nothing else you can have fun putting the ghost of Ryan to bed once and for all. You deserve to have some fun with someone lovely.’
Flick thought about what it would be like to have a fling with someone as wonderful as Luke, someone she could trust. If he made love half as passionately as he kissed, it would be utterly magnificent. She shook her head. Why was she thinking like that? He’d practically pushed her away after the kiss. Unless he’d done that because he knew he was moving and didn’t want to get involved with her when he was leaving in a few weeks.
Why was she second-guessing everything? She didn’t need any complications right now, she had a studio to save. She decided to change the subject.
‘How are you anyway?’
‘Oh, we’ve stupidly decided to breed the pigs and Harmony is due to pop any day now. The cat we rescued two weeks ago, Nigel, turned out to be Nigella and she’s just given birth to seven little kittens. The stick insects are reproducing faster than I change my underwear – every time I blink, there’s another baby in the tank. Cora is very excited about all the babies and potential babies, let me tell you. The twins just want to grab everything so I’m having to keep them and the cats andthe twiglets apart. Honestly, I think I might have to open a zoo soon. The twins’ toilet training is not going well, they love their poo. They keep sneaking off and pooing everywhere that isn’t the toilet and think the whole thing is hilarious.’
Flick smiled. ‘You secretly love your life.’
‘I think I’d rather be fighting to save an art studio and having hot kisses with sexy men right now.’
‘Hey,’ came the indignant voice of Dave, Tabitha’s lovely husband, in the background.
‘Oh, you know I love you really. I’ll have to live vicariously through you, Flick. Keep me posted.’
They said their goodbyes and Tabitha hung up. Flick would rather be dealing with baby stick insects, or twiglets as Tabitha called them, than grumpy artists and facing Luke Donnelly after that kiss.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Luke had just started carving a small flamingo when the front door opened. He looked up hoping to see Flick but his heart dropped when Natalia walked in. Luke debated whether he still had time to run out of the studio and hide but decided that was probably too rude. Besides, as Flick suggested, maybe it was time he dug deep and found some of that courage that Aragorn was so famous for.
He hadn’t had too many conversations with Natalia and had successfully managed to avoid her for the last few months. But every conversation he’d had, no matter how brief he’d managed to keep it, always revolved around sex. The first time they’d met in a pub, she introduced herself, told him to buy her a drink which he had, not because he was attracted to her but because he always had a hard time saying no. Then without any preamble or small talk, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, showed him a photo of an eight-thousand-pound ruby necklace and told him if he bought that for her, she would have sex with him wearing it. He’d made his excuses and got out of there as fast as he could.
