TWO

      Disconnected memories and snippets of conversation jumped in and out of her brain as Lu struggled to open her eyes. Eventually she just kept them closed and let herself drift. She remembered a friendly argument with Mak about her new, super-short hair. She didn’t think it suited her, and she thought her newly plucked eyebrows were shaped in too thin a line. Mak had snorted that she had the fashion sense of a goat and that she looked fabulous. Rolling backwards in her memories, she saw Mak arriving at her house with skinny jeans, too expensive shoes and a sparkly top, because the boys had been gone two weeks already and he was tired of her moping so he was taking her clubbing.

      When was that...? Today? Yesterday?

      No, last night she’d been at that club, watching Mak’s broad back slink off to the dance floor for one more dance while she waited for him at the bar.

      Then...nothing.

      Lu forced her eyes open, blinked and rubbed her eyes. When she opened them again they focused on a handsome face lying on the pillow next to her. Her eyes drifted over his long frame, over his muscled arm down to the tanned, broad hand that rested lightly on the top of her much whiter thigh. A masculine hand with a light touch... It felt so right, she thought as her eyelids drooped closed again.

      OK, this dream was too awesome to lose by waking up.

      Lu had no idea how much time passed before she woke again, but in contrast to the last time this time she didn’t feel as if she had cotton candy clouds stuffed in her head. There wouldn’t be a man lying next to her.

      Lu opened one eye and—holy mackerel!—there still was a man. In bed.

      With her?

      And not just any man. A tall, dark and sexy one, who ticked all her make-me-hum boxes. Broad shoulders—tick. Muscular arms and chest—tick, tick. Long, powerful legs and slim hips. A face that was utterly masculine, a strong jaw and a battered nose that kept him from being over-the-top gorgeous.

      Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick...

      When he opened his eyes would they be an intense blue or green? They were neither. Just amber...the rich, deep hue of expensive sherry...edged with stubby dark lashes. They blinked once, twice, and then he yawned and she could see excellent teeth and...tonsils.

      Tonsils? Seriously?

      ‘Oh, crap!’ he said as he rolled off the bed to his feet. He held out his hands as Lu scooted up the bed and wrapped her arms around her knees. ‘Don’t freak!’

      Strangely, she wasn’t close to panicking, but he looked as if he was about to.

      ‘How do you feel?’ he demanded. ‘Are you OK?’

      Was she? Lu considered his question. She was in a strange, albeit expensive hotel room, with a man who dinged her personal hotness bell, and she had no idea who he was or how she’d got there.

      There was only one logical explanation for waking up in a strange man’s bed. What was it that she’d tossed down her throat—and how much?—that she couldn’t remember having sex with such an attractive man? It had to be the equivalent of an alcoholic bravery pill, because she never did casual hook-ups.

      Lord, she prayed that he used a condom.

      Right—there was only one way to get through this, she thought. Keep calm. Play it cool. Act your socks off. After raising two boys she was a master at putting on a ‘happy face’ to get through any awkward or emotional situation.

      She put on a fake smile and met his brilliant eyes. ‘So, that was fun. Thanks. I’ll just get dressed and get out of your hair.’

      Lu forced the words out and held her breath when he placed his hands on hips covered in black low-slung boxers. He topped six feet by a couple of inches and, because the navy T-shirt and boxers left little to the imagination, he radiated physical power. Why did he seem so familiar?

      Heavy brows lifted before dropping into a frown. ‘Fun?’

      Oh, good Lord! Hadn’t he enjoyed it? Was she that out of practice? Lu felt heat creep up her neck and into her cheeks. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not very experienced at...’ she waved her hand at the crumpled sheets ‘...this. Look, let me just get out of here and we can both pretend it didn’t happen.’

      Laughter flashed in his eyes and the corners of his mouth twitched. Lu felt the heat on her cheeks intensify. ‘What do you think happened last night?’

      Lu stared at her bare knees. ‘I’m presuming that we had bad sex.’

      ‘You don’t remember?’

      ‘Hence the word presuming,’ Lu snapped. ‘Did we sleep together?’

      ‘Uh, not in the biblical sense.’ He crossed his arms across his chest and those spectacular biceps bulged. His mouth flirted with a smile. ‘And, for the record, men don’t ever have bad sex. There’s OK sex, blow-your-head-off hot sex and everything in between. But bad sex? Not so much.’

      ‘Thanks for the update,’ Lu muttered. ‘So, nothing happened?’

      ‘No, nothing happened...sex-wise.’

      Damn, was that disappointment she felt? OK, even if she couldn’t remember it, re-losing her virginity—and after so long she was pretty sure that she could be reclassified—to such a wonderful-looking man could only have been a fabulous thing.

      A headache she hadn’t been aware of started pulsing behind her eyes as confusion swirled around her head. ‘So, if I didn’t sleep with you then why am I half undressed and in your bed? Bra less? Did I say I would and then pass out? Should I start feeling scared?’ But she didn’t. Not yet. Weird, yes. Confused, definitely. Scared? Not so much.

      ‘I promise that you are safe.’ He must have sensed her confusion.

      Lu looked into his sincere eyes and nodded. She wasn’t sure why but her gut was saying that she could trust him—that despite his size he wouldn’t lay a finger on her.

      He sat down in the chair to one side of the bed and rested his forearms on his knees. After a short silence he spoke again. ‘I’m Will Scott, by the way.’

      Will Scott! She’d thought he looked familiar. What on earth was she doing in the hotel room of the new—crackling hot—coach of Durban’s super-starry rugby team?

      ‘Ah...’

      ‘Do you want coffee? I need coffee. Actually, I need a drink. But coffee will have to do.’ Will stood up and walked over to the phone next to the bed, placed the order with Room Service.

      Lu pulled up the neck of the T-shirt that had fallen halfway down her shoulder. His shirt, obviously. Which meant...what? Had he undressed her? And if they hadn’t slept together why was she out of her clothes?

      ‘Where are my clothes?’ she asked, unable to forget that she wasn’t wearing a bra.

      ‘Bathroom. Disgusting,’ Will replied. ‘You vomited all over yourself.’

      Lu winced. OK, gross. Gross to the factor of four hundred. This story just kept getting better...not!

      ‘Why did I vomit? I never drink enough to vomit. I don’t understand.’

      Lu dropped her legs and swung them off the side of the bed. For a moment she thought she saw Will’s eyes on them, but when she looked at him again he was staring at the beige carpet beneath his bare feet.

      ‘What happened to me?’ Lu questioned as she stood up and his shirt fell to just above her knees. Of course it still revealed most of her shoulder, but better that than her naked breasts...though she suspected he’d already seen those since he’d undressed her.

      ‘I saw you in the club and you looked sober. The next time I saw