The moment was broken by the waiter turning up with their entrée but, all through the rest of the meal, Ivy was conscious of Louis’ every movement. It was as if her body’s radar had a new setting, aware of him in a way it hadn’t been before. His hands as he operated his cutlery. The movement of his lips as he took a sip of wine. The way his crisp ice-blue business shirt framed his broad shoulders and muscular chest. The tan of his skin that hinted at the amount of time he spent outdoors. The long, straight blade of his nose, the aristocratic contour of his cheekbones, the dark slash of his eyebrows above his sharply intelligent eyes.
As far as the male package went, he had everything—looks, wealth, stability, sex appeal. Why hadn’t she noticed that brooding sex appeal before? Or maybe she had but had dismissed it, thinking he would never be interested in her.
But he was interested in her. His kiss had proved that without a doubt. The chemistry between them was unmistakable, obvious even to someone with as little experience as her.
Ivy picked up her napkin and dabbed at each corner of her mouth. ‘Just out of interest—have you ever made love to a virgin before?’
Louis blinked as if her question had startled him out of a private reverie. ‘No.’ He put down his knife and fork in the ‘finished’ position on his dinner plate.
Ivy picked up her wine glass, a strange tickly sensation trickling down the back of her legs. ‘Does the thought of doing so make you nervous?’
His eyes came back to hers and another jolting sensation pulsed through her body. ‘No. I can see now how much your virginity is troubling you.’
She studied him for a moment. ‘So, you’re really serious about helping me?’
‘One thing you should know about me, ma chérie. Once I commit to a goal, I always see it through. Always.’
Ivy suppressed a delicious shudder. Lucky me.
CHAPTER THREE
‘SO HOW DID your dinner with Louis Charpentier go?’ Zoey, her other flatmate, asked the next morning. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but Millie told me about “the plan”. Did he agree to it?’
So much for keeping her plan a secret. One thing was certain, Millie would never cut it as an undercover agent. ‘Yes and no. I think he’s stalling but I’m going to change his mind. I have to. I’ve only got a month to get this done.’ Ivy reached for a coffee pod and popped it in the machine. ‘We’re going out on Friday night.’ Saying those words out loud made her body tingle all over in anticipation. Louis hadn’t touched her again after he’d dropped her home the night before, and it surprised her how much she’d wanted him to.
‘Ooh! Where’s he taking you?’ Zoey leaned on the counter near the coffee machine, her own steaming cup cradled in her hands.
‘I don’t know. He didn’t say.’ Ivy spoke over the noise of the coffee machine. ‘Do you think I’m crazy to ask him to help me?’
‘Not really,’ Zoey said. ‘You’re friends, so you already trust him. That’s huge when it comes to physical intimacy.’
‘He’s not actually agreed to sleep with me, or at least not on the first date. He just wants to spend time with me first with sex being a possibility rather than a given. He thinks it will help me to gain more confidence around men.’
‘Listen, honey, if a man wants to spend time with you he wants to sleep with you.’ Zoey’s tone was dry.
Ivy was still in two minds about what Louis wanted. On the one hand, she was certain he wanted to make love to her, but on the other hand, she suspected he was feeling too conflicted to act on his desire. Her job was to change his mind one way or the other. ‘Millie thinks I might fall in love with him and get my heart broken.’
Zoey studied her for a moment. ‘Do you think that’s a possibility?’
‘I don’t think so. I’m not attracted to love-them-and-leave-them playboys.’ She chewed at her lower lip and stirred her coffee. ‘I’ve known Louis for close to a decade and never once felt anything for him other than friendship.’
Apart from the moment she’d walked into his office. And at dinner. Not to mention the kiss. And every time he dropped a French endearment her way.
‘Why should that change if we did have a one-night stand?’ Why should that change after one kiss? But, niggling doubts aside, she couldn’t back out now. She wanted to see this through no matter what. It was imperative she get herself sorted out and no one could help her better than Louis.
Zoey plonked her cup down and pushed herself away from the bench. ‘It’s a risk, I guess. Good sex can have a potent effect on your emotions. Not that I’ve had any lately, but nor do I want any. I’m completely over men.’
Ivy knew her friend was still getting over the betrayal of her long-term boyfriend who had cheated on her while she’d been away with her father on business. Zoey was still in a man-hating phase even though it had been over a year since she’d found out about the affair. ‘How did your dinner with your dad go?’
Zoey sighed and picked up a piece of toast. ‘He drank too much and I had to bundle him into a taxi. Same old.’ She bit into the toast as if she wanted to hurt it, her stunning violet eyes shadowed with decades-old pain.
‘Oh, dear.’
Ivy knew all about embarrassing parents. Her mother had struggled, self-medicating with alcohol and casual affairs with multiple partners, after Ivy’s dad had left when she was a teenager. Her mother had only ever had one lover until then—Ivy’s father—so it had been weird seeing her mother with a host of men she’d met in a pub or wine bar. Ivy had never known who she would meet on her way to the bathroom or what sounds she would hear coming from her mother’s bedroom. None of the men had stayed around longer than a night or two before someone else would appear.
‘I’m worried it’s going to affect the business,’ Zoey went on. ‘I’ve had to cover for him so many times lately.’ She speared a hand through her thick, glossy black hair, her expression troubled. ‘It’s like he’s self-sabotaging what he’s worked so hard for all his life. I can’t stand by and watch him destroy the company. It’s my company too—or it would be if he’d change his mind and make me a partner.’
‘Oh, Zoey, I wish I could say something that would help. It must be so awful for you.’
Zoey stretched her mouth into an on-off smile. ‘Don’t mind me, I’m just venting. The thing that gets me is the blatant sexism. If I was the son he’d wanted, he would’ve handed the partnership to me years ago on a golden platter. But, no, I’m just a frivolous, empty-headed girl like his three ex-wives. What would I know about advertising?’
‘You know heaps,’ Ivy reassured her. ‘That dog food commercial you worked on last month was absolutely brilliant. And, if your mum was still alive, I know she would be proud of you.’