‘No.’
Her eyebrows rose. ‘Not even once? Like when you were a teenager or...?’
‘Nope.’
‘But surely you must have felt a flicker of something for someone along the line?’ She looked at him quizzically. ‘You’ve had heaps of lovers. Have you just been using them all for sex?’
‘Ahem, you’re the one who wants to use me for sex, so don’t go jumping up on your high horse just yet,’ Louis said, holding her gaze.
She shifted her nose from side to side like a cute little bunny. ‘It’s not the same thing at all. I have an established relationship with you. You’re like an older brother to me.’ Her forehead creased in a tiny frown and she added, ‘Well, maybe not so much a brother figure—because that would be kind of creepy and weird, having sex with you—but a good mate. Someone I can always rely on.’
A good mate would have stopped this conversation before it had got started. Drawn a thick black line through it. Frogmarched her out of his office and told her to go and get some therapy. Talking about this scheme of hers was like allowing a dangerous mind-altering vapour to infiltrate the air-conditioning. It was fuelling his forbidden fantasies, making it harder and harder to find a reason to say no. ‘Have you told anyone about this plan of yours?’
‘No. I wanted to ask you first.’
Louis leaned forward again and straightened the same papers next to his computer. ‘I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.’ He glanced back at her with a stern frown. ‘Are you sure you know what you’re doing?’
Ivy picked up her bag from his desk and smiled so brightly she could have been advertising toothpaste. ‘But that’s the whole point—I don’t know what I’m doing, but you’re going to teach me.’
The scary thing was...Louis was seriously, dangerously, tempted to do exactly that.
CHAPTER TWO
IVY PUT THE last touches to her make-up in the bedroom at her flat before her dinner date with Louis. Dinner date. Such strange words to be using when it came to her relationship with Louis. Normally they had a quick catch-up over coffee or lunch. Dinner sounded a lot more...intimate. But she wasn’t actually dating him. She was going to convince him to take her virginity, which would entail getting hot and sweaty with him.
A flutter of nerves erupted in her belly like a swarm of bumble bees. Getting naked with him. She smoothed a hand down her stomach. She hadn’t got naked with anyone. She’d come close a couple of times but had freaked out. But any reservations she had would have to be put aside. She had to do this. How else would she gain the experience she needed? She couldn’t face yet another dating disaster where a date wanted to take things to the next level and she bolted out the door like a Victorian prude.
The humiliating shame of her previous dates made her cringe on a daily basis. It had stopped her from venturing further into the dating world out of fear of further embarrassment. She’d had five dates and given up accepting any other invitations. Five dates! How pathetic was that? She didn’t know why she had become so sensually locked down but, ever since she’d hit puberty, the thought of sharing her body with someone had paralysed her with fear.
What if they didn’t like her body? What if she wasn’t the right shape or size? What if she didn’t do or say the right thing and they thought her a freak? What if she fell in love and got rejected like her mother had got rejected by her father?
Every time she went on a date those fears would flap through her brain like a swarm of frenzied bats. What if? What if? What if? It made it impossible to think of anything else but escaping as soon as she could. Not exactly the best way to find the life partner you’d been dreaming of finding since you’d been a little girl.
But her plan to get Louis to help her was a master stroke of genius. He was exactly the right person to help her overcome this hurdle of intimacy avoidance. Then she would be free to search for Mr Right.
One of her flatmates, Millie, peered round Ivy’s bedroom door. ‘Woo-hoo. You look gorgeous. Are you going on a date?’ She waggled her eyebrows meaningfully.
‘Don’t get too excited. It’s not really a date.’ Ivy put her lip-gloss back in her cosmetics bag. ‘I’m going out for dinner with Louis Charpentier.’
Millie came further into the bedroom, eyebrows raised. ‘Your brother’s friend? The four-times-and-counting hot bachelor of the year? For dinner? How is that not a date?’
Ivy adjusted her little black dress over her hips. ‘We’re just...catching up.’
Millie’s gaze ran over Ivy’s outfit and make-up. ‘Mmm, methinks you’ve gone to a lot of trouble for a simple catch-up with a friend. Are you sure nothing’s going on?’
Ivy flicked an imaginary piece of lint off her shoulder. ‘Of course, I’m sure. It’s not a big deal. Louis likes to check up on me now and again now that Ronan’s living in Sydney.’
Millie gave a light laugh. ‘Gosh, I would love someone as hot as Louis Charpentier to check up on me every now and again. What do you two talk about when you get together?’
‘Just...stuff. Movies, books, work—that sort of thing.’ A trickle of fear slithered its way down Ivy’s spine. What had she got herself in to? She was actually going to have sex. With her brother’s best friend. Eek. Ivy felt bad about not being totally truthful with her friend. Why should it matter if she told Millie about her plan? But surely the less people who knew, the better? It was a one-off thing with Louis. No point allowing her friends to think it was anything else.
Millie leaned down and peered into Ivy’s face. ‘Why are you blushing?’
‘I’m not blushing.’ Ivy might as well not have bothered with using blusher, the way her cheeks were feeling.
Millie straightened and folded her arms. ‘Come on. Fess up. What is going on with you and Louis?’
Ivy should know it was virtually impossible to keep a secret from Millie. Her friend was like a sniffer dog for secrets. The trouble was, she wasn’t so good at keeping them. Ivy met her friend’s gaze and released a sigh. ‘He’s helping me with something.’
Millie frowned. ‘What something? Has your mum been leaning on you for money again?’
‘No. It’s about me. About my...problem.’
Millie’s eyes widened to the size of light bulbs. Football-stadium light bulbs. ‘The V problem? Seriously—you’re asking him to do what, exactly?’
‘I’m going to have a one-night stand with him. Then my problem will be solved.’
‘And he’s agreed to that?’
‘Not in so many words, hence dinner tonight. But I’m not going to let him talk me out of it. He’s the only person who can help me. The only person I want to help me. I’d be too embarrassed or shy with anyone else.’