depicting him in a different bare-torsoed pose for each month of the year had no place whatsoever in this debate.
‘I need to check on a few things downstairs,’ she said, leaning in to grab her clipboard from the table and backing away at speed. ‘If you need anything, call the number for Guest Services. It’s attached to the phone.’
She heard his relaxed laugh as she headed for the door.
‘I’ll do that,’ he called after her.
****
‘I’ve just been hit on by Matt Stanton,’ Layla said, scratching her head. ‘At least I think I have.’
Now she was out of the gorgeous luxury of the Kerry Suite and back down here in the reality check that was the sparse staff quarters of the hotel, she began to question her own perception. Why the hell would Matt Stanton hit on her? He could have anyone he chose.
Her friend Lucy’s eyebrows met in a frown and she quit making coffee to give Layla her full attention.
‘You’ve what?’
Layla glanced quickly around her and lowered her voice to an uncertain whisper.
‘I think I’ve just been hit on by Matt Stanton,’ she repeated.
Lucy squealed mad laughter.
‘You kill me! Course you have! And I’m marrying George Clooney this weekend. He’s popping over to pick me up in his private jet.’
There was a brief stab of indignant offense because she was clearly so undesirable that the idea of Matt Stanton giving her a second glance was a joke.
‘He’s staying in the Kerry Suite on the top floor,’ Layla said. ‘It’s all been hushed up because he’s having trouble with the press and he needed a last-minute bolthole to get away from all the fuss.’
Layla waited patiently until the laughter petered out and an expression of incredulity replaced it.
‘The Matt Stanton? The tennis playboy with the abs to die for? He’s staying here? Omigod I’m such a fan.’ She stared into space, her mind obviously working overtime. ‘I wonder if I can get a transfer from waiting tables into room service for the week. You know, in case he orders some food in, or champagne. Some of those celebs are like that you know, don’t like slumming it in the public restaurant with the rest of us.’
Oh for Pete’s sake.
‘He said he doesn’t usually drink champagne,’ Layla said. ‘He had mineral water and I had orange juice.’
‘You had a drink with him?’
Did she have to sound so amazed by that fact?
‘Yes. And he was going on about personal requests.’
Lucy rolled her eyes enviously at the ceiling.
‘I am soooo jealous! So when are you going to follow it up? You know…’ she winked at Layla ‘…make your next move?’
She spoke as if it was perfectly natural to throw yourself at a celebrity if he happened to wander into your path.
‘I’m not. Of course I’m not. It’s more than my job’s worth.’
Although actually her job wasn’t worth an awful lot right now, was it? She was busting a gut all hours and stuck in dismal rental accommodation for the foreseeable future. Disappointment suddenly seemed to be mixing with something else in her churning stomach. Something that felt an awful lot like regret.
‘It’s not more than mine’s worth,’ Lucy said, grinning.
‘So you wouldn’t have any scruples about having a fling with Matt Stanton then, even though he has the worst reputation ever for womanising. It would never lead to anything. He’s on the front of the tabloids with a different girl every week. Wouldn’t that bother you?’
Lucy shrugged and stirred a spoonful of sugar into her coffee mug.
‘Why would it? It would just be a quickie and it would actually be one to remember for once. Why make it such a big deal? Imagine having a fling with Matt Stanton.’ She sighed wistfully. ‘He’s absolutely gorgeous. And anyway everyone has ill-conceived flings in their past. One-night-stands that you wish you’d never done. Holiday romances that you shag on the beach and then never see again.’
‘I don’t,’ Layla said.
‘Yeah well, you’re not like the rest of us are you?’ She pointed at Layla with her teaspoon. ‘You’re…you know…sensible.’
She apparently tried to put a positive spin on that statement by adding a consoling smile, but it had no effect whatsoever.
When you got right down to it that was just another way of calling her boring. And she’d heard that once too often today.
‘Anyway,’ Lucy picked up her coffee mug and headed off towards the kitchens. ‘He was probably only messing about anyway. I mean, come on, he could have anyone he wanted, right?’
Tact was certainly not Lucy’s strong point. For some reason that parting comment grated hideously, the clear implication being that she had to be mistaken. Sensible, boring and now deluded that he could even have been interested in her at all. An inner defiance surfaced that might have been there all along, but more likely came from that final straw of a dismissive comment on the back of the crappy day from hell she’d had so far.
Five minutes later and she was stalking back down the top floor passageway at top speed, heart thundering loud enough in her ears to drown out the tired old voice in her head that had kept her on the straight and narrow all these years.
He opened the door of the suite on her first knock and she burst into the room, riding the wave of defiant impulsiveness and crappy-day-from-hellness. The feeling it gave her turned out to be surprisingly liberating. Suddenly, unfettered by her endless drive for respect and normality, anything felt possible. She caught the briefest glimpse of his eyes widening in surprise as before she could change her mind, she stood on her tiptoes, curled one arm around his neck and planted a kiss squarely on his mouth.
Too stunned to do anything but stand there, he froze until she pulled away, breathing hard. The look in her wide eyes was a mixture of shock and exhilaration.
It wasn’t often that women surprised him. He’d been faintly amused by her determination to give him the brush-off. It all added to the fun, right? He certainly hadn’t expected Miss Straight-Down-The-Line to do a u-turn all by herself, and had in fact been idling away the half hour since she’d left the suite considering his own next move. Yet apparently his charm had a presence of its own, continuing to work even when he wasn’t present. And now that she had made that u-turn, it would be rude not to respond, right?
Initially caught off-guard, he quickly reclaimed control of the situation. He looked down into the china blue eyes and took in her short,
