him to feel more for her than he did, but at the same time his friendship meant a lot to her; and she knew she would be lost if he vanished from her life altogether.
She cringed at the memories that flooded her brain … Holding his hand and feeling it limp and unresponsive between her fingers … The gentle kisses that had never been more than a chaste peck on the lips … Her hands trailing over his body towards those unresponsive parts that she wanted the most, and him grabbing her by the wrists and pushing her away. She had known in her heart of hearts that he was not interested and yet she had pushed the situation. Why? What had happened to self-respect?
Still his rejection had opened her eyes and forced her to look further afield, for which she was begrudgingly grateful. Lucy would never have considered entertaining an offer on her land in the past, but now somehow it seemed like a fantastic idea to explore. The fact of the matter was that the gentleman had been very generous with his offering. As well as which there had been something captivating about his voice on the telephone that had driven her to want to meet him in person. His accent had been thick and yet she had been unable to discern from where he originated, though his English had been perfectly understandable. He had called twice before she had given in and agreed to meeting with him, both times his voice deep and exciting and his words smoothly persuasive. She pictured him as muscular and well dressed, and was fully aware that discussion of her land was not the key reason she had finally agreed to meet with him. Her father would have been furious had he known she was meeting a strange man to discuss the sale of some of her paddocks. Somehow though, the thought just made her giggle. To hell with everyone else, sometimes you have to do things for you for a change of pace and to add a little excitement to life!
In no time at all she found herself following signs into the town centre. Soon she was pulling into the entrance of a large multi-story car park, which attached onto the back of the local shopping centre. She drove slowly through the barrier and fumbled with the ticket that popped from the machine, stuffing it into the glove box. She removed the sunglasses she had donned at the beginning of her journey and tossed them in on top of the ticket, they were obscuring her vision in the dark of the car park. She found a spot on the lowest level and pulled in with a tense sigh. She was nervous, far more nervous than she would have liked to admit.
Stepping out of the car she smoothed down the grey suit dress she had chosen, and checked her hair and makeup in a compact mirror that she had fished from the depths of her handbag. Nodding to herself with a quiet sound of satisfaction she dropped the mirror back where it had come from and strutted over to the lift. Stepping inside with a final look back at her car she smiled weakly, trying to build her confidence levels. The butterflies in her stomach were enormous as the lift jerked into action, and she couldn’t help but do a last minute bit of prissy preening. She was absolutely determined to make a good impression, and for that her hair had to be perfect and her makeup subtle and yet flattering. She wondered if she should have worn more lipstick as the lift ground to a halt and she stepped out onto the ground floor of the shopping centre. Oh well, too late, she’d just have to hope she looked respectable enough without it.
Fishing her mobile phone out of her handbag she double-checked their intended place of meeting before heading off to her destination at a leisurely amble. It wouldn’t do to look to keen! There was no rush either way as she was characteristically early, and had not yet been in contact to say she had arrived. As she walked she peered into shop windows and wrote herself a mental shopping list of all the things she would treat herself to if their
She cringed at the memories that flooded her brain … Holding his hand and feeling it limp and unresponsive between her fingers … The gentle kisses that had never been more than a chaste peck on the lips … Her hands trailing over his body towards those unresponsive parts that she wanted the most, and him grabbing her by the wrists and pushing her away. She had known in her heart of hearts that he was not interested and yet she had pushed the situation. Why? What had happened to self-respect?
Still his rejection had opened her eyes and forced her to look further afield, for which she was begrudgingly grateful. Lucy would never have considered entertaining an offer on her land in the past, but now somehow it seemed like a fantastic idea to explore. The fact of the matter was that the gentleman had been very generous with his offering. As well as which there had been something captivating about his voice on the telephone that had driven her to want to meet him in person. His accent had been thick and yet she had been unable to discern from where he originated, though his English had been perfectly understandable. He had called twice before she had given in and agreed to meeting with him, both times his voice deep and exciting and his words smoothly persuasive. She pictured him as muscular and well dressed, and was fully aware that discussion of her land was not the key reason she had finally agreed to meet with him. Her father would have been furious had he known she was meeting a strange man to discuss the sale of some of her paddocks. Somehow though, the thought just made her giggle. To hell with everyone else, sometimes you have to do things for you for a change of pace and to add a little excitement to life!
In no time at all she found herself following signs into the town centre. Soon she was pulling into the entrance of a large multi-story car park, which attached onto the back of the local shopping centre. She drove slowly through the barrier and fumbled with the ticket that popped from the machine, stuffing it into the glove box. She removed the sunglasses she had donned at the beginning of her journey and tossed them in on top of the ticket, they were obscuring her vision in the dark of the car park. She found a spot on the lowest level and pulled in with a tense sigh. She was nervous, far more nervous than she would have liked to admit.
Stepping out of the car she smoothed down the grey suit dress she had chosen, and checked her hair and makeup in a compact mirror that she had fished from the depths of her handbag. Nodding to herself with a quiet sound of satisfaction she dropped the mirror back where it had come from and strutted over to the lift. Stepping inside with a final look back at her car she smiled weakly, trying to build her confidence levels. The butterflies in her stomach were enormous as the lift jerked into action, and she couldn’t help but do a last minute bit of prissy preening. She was absolutely determined to make a good impression, and for that her hair had to be perfect and her makeup subtle and yet flattering. She wondered if she should have worn more lipstick as the lift ground to a halt and she stepped out onto the ground floor of the shopping centre. Oh well, too late, she’d just have to hope she looked respectable enough without it.
Fishing her mobile phone out of her handbag she double-checked their intended place of meeting before heading off to her destination at a leisurely amble. It wouldn’t do to look to keen! There was no rush either way as she was characteristically early, and had not yet been in contact to say she had arrived. As she walked she peered into shop windows and wrote herself a mental shopping list of all the things she would treat herself to if their
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