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* * *

Was she boring?

The most beautiful man lay next to her, and he’d fallen asleep mid-word. And asleep he remained for the best part of an hour, then he suddenly stirred.

‘You’re the first woman I’ve slept with in a long time,’ he said, making a light joke, possibly a bit embarrassed, because he really wasn’t one for relaxing.

‘I doubt that.’

‘Believe me.’ He sat up. And then clarified. ‘Not sex wise, of course.’

She frowned.

‘Sorry, I was just…’ Merda, that had come out wrong. ‘I don’t usually fall asleep like that.’ Still she frowned. ‘With another.’

‘Do they get shown the door?’ She was honestly curious. Fascinated, a little unsettled at the topic, but desperate to know him some more. ‘Do you just get up and leave?’

‘No,’ he said and still dared to be honest. ‘I lie there wishing they would.’

‘So you just want sex?’

‘You make it sound offensive.’

‘I don’t mean to,’ Stella admitted.

‘It was supposed to be a throwaway comment.’

But for Stella there was no such thing as a throwaway comment where Gabe was concerned. He fascinated her so.

‘If you ever want me to be quiet, please just say.’

‘Okay.’

‘And if you’d prefer I simply get up and leave, please let me know.’

‘Stella, I was merely saying that I don’t generally relax in another’s company so much that I doze off. And before you say that you bore me…’

She swallowed.

‘You don’t bore me.’ He sounded a touch surprised by the fact.

‘I relax you.’ She gave a low mirthless laugh. ‘I don’t know which one’s worse.’

He laughed at her lack of confidence, at her gloomy self-assessment, and then he turned and looked at her.

‘I am trying to be polite.’

‘Oh!’

‘And not scare you.’

‘You don’t scare me, Gabe.’

‘You ran like the wind when we met. I felt like some gamekeeper with a shotgun, and then last night we shared a kiss and you practically ran off again.’ He shrugged. ‘So I’m treading gently.’

She lay there, looking at things from his perspective.

‘I didn’t run because I was scared.’