‘They’re named for different types of workouts, so I’m guessing all the tracks in each list have the same number of beats per minute.’
‘Yes, but that’s sensible. It means everything’s arranged the way I want it for whatever exercise I’m doing.’
‘I get that,’ she said, ‘but don’t you enjoy music?’
He frowned. ‘Of course I do.’
‘I can’t see what you listen to for pleasure. To me this looks as if you only play set music at set times.’ Regimented again. And this time she couldn’t just let it go. ‘That works for business but, Sean, you can’t live your personal life as if it’s a business.’
‘Right,’ he said tightly.
So much for reaching an understanding. She sighed. ‘I’m not having a go at you. I’m just saying you’re missing out on so much and maybe there’s another way of doing things.’
‘Let’s agree to disagree, shall we?’
Sean had closed off on her again, Claire thought with an inward sigh—and now she could guess exactly why his girlfriends didn’t last for much longer than three weeks. He’d drive them crazy by stonewalling them as soon as they tried to get close to him, and then either he’d gently suggest that they should be just friends, or they’d give up trying to be close to him.
She also knew that telling him that would be the quickest way of ending things between them; and from the few glimpses she’d had she was pretty sure that, behind his walls, the real Sean Farrell was someone really worth getting to know.
‘OK, I’ll back off,’ she said. ‘But you have absolutely nothing slushy and relaxing on here.’
He coughed. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m male.’
She’d noticed, all right.
‘I don’t do slushy,’ he continued. ‘But...’ He took the MP3 player gently from her and flicked rapidly through the tracks.
When the music began playing, she recognised ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’, but it was a rock version of the song.
‘The band played this at Ashleigh’s wedding,’ he said, ‘and I found myself looking straight at you—that’s why I asked you to dance.’
‘And there was I thinking it was because it was traditional,’ she deadpanned.
‘No. I just wanted to dance with you.’
His honesty disarmed her. Just when he’d driven her crazy and she was thinking of calling the whole thing off, he did something like this that made her melt inside.
He drew her into his arms, and Claire was surprised to discover that, even though the song was fast, they could actually dance slowly to it.
‘And then, when I was dancing with you,’ he continued, ‘I wanted to kiss you.’
She found herself moistening her lower lip with her tongue. ‘Do you want to kiss me now, Sean?’
‘Yes.’ He held her gaze. ‘And I want to do an awful lot more than just kiss you.’
Excitement thrummed through her, but she tried to play it cool. ‘Could you be more specific?’
‘I want to take that dress off,’ he said, ‘lovely as it is. And I want to kiss every inch of skin I uncover.’
‘That sounds like a good plan,’ she said. ‘So what do I do?’
He smiled. ‘I’m surprised you don’t already know that one. Isn’t it what you’re always saying? Be spontaneous. Follow your heart. Go with the flow.’
‘So that means,’ she said, ‘I get to take that prissy suit off you?’
‘Prissy?’ he queried. ‘My suit’s prissy?’
‘It’s beautifully cut, but it’s so neat and tidy. I’d like to see you dishevelled,’ she said, ‘like you were that morning in Capri.’
‘Would that be the morning you threw me out of your bed?’
‘Yes, and don’t make me feel guilty about it. That was mainly circumstances,’ she said.
‘Hmm.’
‘Besides, I can’t throw you out of your own bed,’ she pointed out.
‘Now that’s impeccable logic.’ He frowned. ‘Though, actually, if you said no at any point I hope you realised I’d stop.’
She stroked his face. ‘Sean, of course I know that. You’re...’
‘Dull?’
She shook her head. ‘I was going to say honourable.’
He brushed the pad of his thumb across her lower lip, making her skin tingle. ‘You normally call me regimented.’
‘You can be. You were tonight, and I nearly left you to it and went home.’ She smiled. ‘But there’s a huge difference between regimented and dull.’