Free The Plus-One Agreement by Charlotte Phillips Page B

exasperation.
    ‘What else was I meant to do? Take a stroll round the grounds? Sit and watch the bathroom door? It’s just a couple of e-mails while I waited for you to be finished.’
    ‘Well, there’s no need to snap,’ she said, crossing the room to the bureau and squeezing a handful of her hair with the corner of a towel. ‘You could have gone first if you’d wanted to.’
    Oh, for Pete’s sake! He hadn’t counted on the inconvenient need to be constantly polite that their space-sharing had caused. Without the shared goal of sleeping together it boiled down to a you-go-first-no-you-I-insist awkwardness about using the facilities.
    With a monumental effort he curbed his irritation.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m just not really used to sharing my personal space, that’s all. I’m used to doing what I like whenever I want to.’
    She glanced at him and smiled.
    ‘That’s OK.’
    She began combing her long hair out, looking at her reflection in the mirror.
    ‘You have a different girlfriend every week,’ she said. ‘I’d have thought bedroom etiquette was your speciality.’
    He watched as she sprayed perfume on her neck and pulse points. The intense scent of it made his senses reel.
    ‘That’s different.’
    ‘I don’t see how.’
    He shrugged.
    ‘There’s no give and take needed. They stay over and the next morning they leave. There’s no personal belongings cluttering up every surface.’ He glanced at the bed, currently festooned with her clothes. ‘There’s no pussyfooting around each other over who’s hogging the bathroom. It’s done and dusted, with minimal disruption.’
    And minimal emotional input. Which was exactly how he liked it.
    ‘You make it sound so romantic,’ she said sarcastically, dipping her finger in a pot of pink make-up and dabbing it gently over her mouth.
    His eyes seemed to be glued to the tiny movements and to the delicious pink sheen it gave her luscious lower lip. She didn’t notice, focusing on what she was doing in the mirror.
    ‘It isn’t meant to be romantic,’ he said. ‘It is what it is.’
    A temporary and very enjoyable diversion, with no lasting repercussions.
    ‘So it’s fine for them to stay over until you get what you want, and then they’re ejected from the premises at breakfast time? Is that it?’
    ‘You make it sound callous,’ he said, snapping his laptop shut and gathering up his work papers. ‘When actually it’s fun.’ She threw him a sceptical glance and he couldn’t resist adding, ‘Hot, steamy, no-holds-barred fun,’ just to see if he could make her blush again.
    ‘You have no scruples,’ she complained.
    He saw the flush of pink creep softly along her cheekbones, highlighting them prettily. Sparring with her was actually turning out to be enjoyable.
    ‘I don’t need scruples,’ he said. ‘We’re all adults. I never make any promises that I don’t keep. I’m honest with them about not wanting anything serious and they appreciate that.’
    ‘No, they don’t,’ she said. ‘They might say they’re fine with it, but in reality they’re hoping it will turn into more. It’s not the same for women. Sleeping with someone isn’t some throwaway thing. It’s a big deal—an emotional investment. And, anyway, if you always put those limits in place when you meet someone you’re cutting out the chance of ever having a proper relationship. You could meet the perfect person for you and she’d just slip through your fingers unnoticed.’ She fluttered her fingers in the air to press her point. ‘You’d never even know. You’ll be perpetually single.’
    ‘And that,’ he said, grabbing his bag and making for the bathroom, ‘is exactly the point.’
    He smiled at the roll of her eyes as he closed the door.
    * * *
    Emma didn’t usually go in for a second coat of mascara. Or a second squirt of perfume just to make sure it lasted the distance. But then she didn’t usually go in for room-sharing. She wished someone