“I did.”
She took a step back. “No. Not everything. From the time you found me sitting on a bar stool talking to a toothless man in a wife beater until I woke up naked, something more had to have happened.”
He smiled as if he found something she’d said amusing. The smile chilled the warm little tug of lust. “I’ll tell you, if you tell me what you and your friends were celebrating.”
“What makes you think we were celebrating anything?”
He pointed to the champagne. “I’m guessing that bottle cost someone a hundred and thirty dollars. Nobody drinks Dom Perignon for the hell of it. Plus, I just met your friends, so don’t give me that crap about a prayer circle.”
“How do you know how much the champagne cost?”
“I’m a reporter. I have an incredible capacity for minutiae. Your friend with the curly hair said today was about you. So, don’t make me work too hard for the answer, Clare.”
She folded her arms beneath her breasts. Why did she care if he knew about the HIV test? He already knew she’d planned to take one. “I went to the doctor today and…remember Monday when I talked to you about getting tested?”
“For HIV?”
“Yes.” She couldn’t quite look him in the eyes and lowered her gaze to the sunglasses hooked to the neck of his T-shirt. “Well, I found out that I was negative today.”
“Ah. That’s good news.”
“Yes.”
He placed his fingers beneath her chin and brought her gaze up to his. “Nothing.”
“What?”
“We didn’t do anything. Not anything fun, anyway. You cried until you passed out, and I raided your minibar.”
“That’s it? How did I end up naked?”
“I thought I told you.”
He’d told her a lot of things. “Tell me again.”
He shrugged. “You stood up, stripped out of your clothes, then crawled back in bed. It was quite a show.”
“Is there more?”
He smiled a little. “Yeah. I lied about the guy in the bar at the Double Tree. The one with the baseball cap and wife beater.”
“About drinking Jägermeister?” she asked hopefully.
“Oh no. You were definitely knocking back the Jägermeister, but he wasn’t missing any teeth and he didn’t have a nose ring.”
Which wasn’t much of a relief. “Is that it?”
“Yeah.”
She didn’t know if she believed him. Even though he’d brought her the earring and spared her the embarrassing explanation in front of her friends, she didn’t think he’d lie to spare her feelings. God knew, he never had in the past. Her hand tightened around the diamond in her palm. “Well, thank you for bringing the earring to me.”
He grinned. “I have an ulterior motive.”
Of course he did.
“You look worried.” He raised his hands in the air as if surrendering. “I promise it won’t hurt a bit.”
She turned away and placed the earring in the cloisonné dish on the coffee table. “The last time you said that, you talked me into playing doctor.” She straightened and pointed to her chest. “I ended up buck naked.”
“Yeah,” he said as he laughed. “I remember, but it wasn’t like you didn’t want to play.”
Saying no had always been her problem. Not any longer. “No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“I don’t have to know.”
“How about if I promise that you won’t end up naked this time?” His gaze slid to her mouth, down her throat, and to her finger, resting on her dress, between her breasts. “Unless you insist.”
She picked up the three empty glasses and champagne bottle. “Forget it,” she said through a sigh as she walked from the room.
“All I need are a few ideas about what I should get my father for the party Saturday.”
She looked back at him. “Is that all?” There had to be more.
“Yeah. Since I had to drop off the earring, I thought you could point me in the right direction. Give me some ideas. Although Dad and I are trying to get to know each other again, you know him better than I do.”
Okay, so now she felt bad. She was being judgmental, and that wasn’t fair. He’d been a smooth-talking flimflammer as a child, but that was a long time ago. She certainly didn’t want to be judged by things she’d said and done as a girl. “I got him an antique wooden duck,” she answered, and entered the kitchen, the heels of her sandals tapping across the hardwood floors. “Maybe you could get him a book on wood carving.”
“A book would be good.” Sebastian followed. “What do you think of a new fishing pole?”
“I wasn’t aware that he fished these days.” Clare set the glasses and bottle on the granite island in the middle of the kitchen.
“He and I pulled a few trout out of the reservoir this afternoon.” He leaned back against the counter and folded his arms across his chest. “His gear is fairly dated, so I thought I’d get him a newer setup.”
“With him, you have to pay attention to brands.”
“That’s why I thought you could help me out. I wrote down what we’ll need.”
She stopped and slowly turned toward him. “We’ll?”
He shrugged. “Sure. You’ll go along. Right?”
Something wasn’t quite right. He wasn’t looking her in the eyes and…She sucked in a breath and the real reason for his unannounced visit became crystal clear. “There’s no ‘we’ll,’ is there? You came here to talk me into getting your father a fishing pole. By myself.”
He looked at her then and gave her his most charming smile. “Honey, I don’t know where the sporting goods stores are in this town. And really, there’s no point in both of us going.”
“Don’t honey me.” She was such a fool. She’d given him the benefit of the doubt, felt bad for misjudging him, and here he was, standing in her kitchen attempting a bait and switch. She folded her arms across her chest. “No.”
“Why not?” He dropped his hands to his sides. “Women love to shop.”
“For shoes. Not fishing poles. Duh!” She groaned inwardly and closed her eyes. Had she just said Duh? Like she was ten again?
Clearly amused, Sebastian laughed. “Duh? What’s next? Are you going to call me a numb nut?”
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “Good-bye, Sebastian,” she said as she moved to the kitchen doorway. She stopped and pointed to the front of her house. “You are on your own.”
He pushed away from the counter and moved toward her. Slow and easy, as if he wasn’t in a big hurry to comply to her demand. “Your friends are right, you know.”
Good God! Had he overheard the heft conversation?
As he walked past her, he paused and said next to her ear, “You might not have been the cutest little girl in patent leather shoes, but you’ve grown into a beautiful woman. Especially when you’re all worked up.”
He smelled good, and if she turned her face just a little she could bury her nose in his neck. The desire to do so alarmed her, and she kept as still as possible. “Forget it. I’m not doing your shopping for you.”
“Please?”
“Not a chance.”
“What if I get lost?”
“Get a map.”
“Don’t need one. The Land Cruiser has a navigation system.” He chuckled and pulled back. “You were more fun as a kid.”
“I was more gullible. I’m not a little girl now and you can’t trick me, Sebastian.”
“Clare, you wanted me to trick you.” He smiled and moved to the front door. “You still do,” he said, and was gone before she could argue or utter a good-bye or good riddance.
She walked back into the kitchen, reached for the champagne glasses, and set them next to the sink. Ridiculous. She hadn’t wanted to be tricked. She’d just wanted him to like her. She turned on the faucet and added a few drops of lemon fresh Joy. She’d just wanted him to like her. She supposed that was the story of her life. Sad and a little pathetic, but true.