be tempted to take my fill of you. You are a spectacularly beautiful specimen and you have some very fine qualities.’
Charlotte murmured something else but Grey’s brain had ceased functioning the moment she’d mentioned the words short-term liaison and tempted.
He tracked Charlotte’s every move as she set the coffee machine to working. Moments later a steaming cup of fragrant coffee-beaned joy sat on the gleaming granite-topped kitchen counter in front of him. Too hot for drinking, so he added sugar and stirred and Charlotte did the same to hers. The porcelain teaspoons had porcelain ladybirds on them.
‘So, Borneo next,’ she said eventually.
‘Maybe. There’s write-up work to do on the PNG project first. Reports. Papers. Probably some presentation work.’
‘Ah, yes. The Glory,’ she murmured. ‘A scientist’s pleasure.’
There were other types of pleasure.
‘About your thoughts on short-term liaisons,’ he muttered, and suffered her knowing gaze and her delicately raised eyebrow with dogged determination. ‘What are they?’
‘Would you like an in-depth analysis or just the summary?’ she enquired sweetly.
‘Just the summary.’
‘Okay. Assuming that both participants are free from all other romantic entanglements, I’m reasonably in favour of flings as a legitimate means of providing temporary companionship and sexual satisfaction.’
‘That’s a very bohemian outlook for a woman who eschews a carefree life.’
‘If you say so. Of course, even a temporary partner has to fit certain criteria. A different set of criteria from that expected of a life partner.’
‘Of course,’ murmured Grey. ‘Do you have a list?’
‘Of course.’ She didn’t elaborate, just smiled. Charlotte Greenstone knew how to make a man work for what he wanted.
‘Let me guess,’ he murmured as he set his coffee aside and leaned over the counter towards her, his mouth mere inches from her own. ‘You need to be attracted to him.’
‘Well, naturally.’
‘He needs to satisfy you sexually.’
‘Goes without saying.’ Her gaze had settled on his lips. ‘I’m thinking we’d be good to go in that respect.’
‘Does he need to be wealthier than you?’
‘No, but he does need to feel secure enough in his circumstances for my wealth not to intimidate him. I don’t need to dine at the most expensive restaurant in the city. I don’t need to be lavished with expensive gifts. What I do expect, when a temporary liaison invites me out to dinner or drinks or a show, is that he pays for it. When I do the inviting, payment will naturally fall to me.’
‘Sounds very fair-minded for a woman who insists on having her car door opened for her.’
‘I’m a woman of contrasts,’ she said. ‘Also a big fan of gentlemanly manners. A short-term liaison candidate would require those too, or at least be willing to learn some.’
‘Anything else?’ he asked silkily.
‘Yes. A temporary lover would have limited input when it comes to my long-term plans and how I choose to live my life. There’d be no trying to turn me to his way of thinking. No major compromises required. Asking for such would almost certainly signal the end of the liaison.’
‘Have you a position on time limits for such an association?’ he asked. He’d never met a woman quite so fond of rules and regulations when it came to personal interaction. The scientist in him was intrigued by the need for such protective barriers. The suitor in him regarded it as a challenge.
‘How long they’re going to be in the area usually dictates the length of the association,’ she murmured. ‘I don’t encourage long distance relationships, temporary or otherwise.’
‘Yet you still invented long-distance Gil.’
‘Well, I could hardly invent a fiancé who lived in Sydney. I’d have had to produce him. And lest you get the impression that I enter into temporary liaisons lightly and without careful forethought, I don’t.’
‘I’m getting that,’ he said dryly.
‘So what about you?’ she said. ‘What do you look for in a fling?’
‘Well, I need to be attracted to her,’ he said.
‘And?’
‘And what? That’s it.’
GREYSON TYLER didn’t strike Charlotte as a particularly cavalier individual. Not when it came to his research. Not when it came to his relationships. He was, however, male—which probably went some way towards explaining his limited thought processes when it came to bedding a woman and walking away.
‘Are you attracted to me, Greyson?’
His gaze locked with hers, boldly direct. ‘Yes.’
‘Do you respect me?’
‘Is this another one of your fling criteria?’ he murmured.
Charlotte narrowed her gaze.
A hint of a smile tilted Greyson’s extremely kissable lips.
‘For what it’s worth, I have a great deal of respect for the way you conducted yourself at my parents’ this afternoon. You did the job I asked of you. You withstood my mother’s disapproval with dignity and grace. You were gentle with Sarah. I’m grateful. And I’m impressed.’ He set his coffee on the counter, out of harm’s way. ‘So, do I qualify for a fling? Do I meet your criteria? Because from where I’m standing, I think I do.’
‘Modesty’s not really one of your strengths,’ she murmured.
‘No.’ Those dark brown eyes lightened a little. ‘But then, you didn’t specify the need for it.’
‘Gilbert was very modest,’ she said on a sigh.
‘Gilbert was a figment of your imagination,’ he reminded her. ‘I think you’ll find me far more satisfying in any number of ways.’
‘You really want to do this?’ she murmured.
‘Yes.’ Not an indecisive bone in this man’s superbly sculpted body. ‘Do you?’
Did she? Would a night spent in the arms of a man she barely knew chase her loneliness away, even if only for a little while? A man who made her feel warm and protected. One who, for a moment there, back on that deck overlooking the water, made her feel valued and loved. ‘Yes.’
His
