Genuine Lies

full of dangerous delights. The room was no longer quiet, but echoing with whispered demands and broken moans. Outside, the weakening sun was swallowed up and rain fell in sheets. As gloom rushed into the room, he took her with a blind, ravenous hunger he feared would never be quenched.
    And even when they lay quiet, wrapped close and listening to the rain, he could taste those little licks of hunger.
    “I need to call Brandon,” Julia murmured.
    “Mmmm.” Paul shifted, fitting his body to hers and cupping her breasts. “Go ahead.”
    “No, I can’t … I mean I can’t call him while we’re …”
    He chuckled, nuzzling her ear. “Jules, the telephone service is an auditory one, not a visual one.”
    It didn’t matter if she felt like a fool, she shook her head and eased away. “No, really, I can’t.” She looked at her robe, where it lay over the back of a chair three feet away. Noting her expression, Paul grinned.
    “Want me to close my eyes?”
    “Of course not.” But it wasn’t easy for her to walk to the robe, slip into it, knowing he was watching her. “You’re sweet, Julia.”
    She belted the robe, staring at her own hands. “If that’s your way of saying I’m unsophisticated—”
    “Sweet,” he repeated. “And I’ve ego enough to be pleased you’re not used to being in this position with a man.” The need to ask her why that was true pulled at him, but he resisted, then glanced toward the rain driving at the windows. “I’d thought to show you a bit of London, but this doesn’t seem to be the day for it. Why don’t I go in the other room and ring up some lunch?”
    “All right. Would you check for messages?”
    She waited until he’d pulled on his slacks before she placed the call. Ten minutes later she walked into the parlor to see Paul standing by the window, lost in his own thoughts. She took what was for her a large step and went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his back.
    “It’s seventy-eight and sunny in L.A. The Lakers lost to the Pistons and Brandon went to the zoo. Where are you?”
    He laid his hands on hers. “I was standing here wondering why I always feel like a foreigner in the place where I was born. We had a flat in Eaton Square once, and I’m told my nanny often took me for walks in Hyde Park. I don’t feel it. Do you know I’ve never even set a book here? Whenever I come here, I expect to feel that click of recognition.”
    “It doesn’t matter so much really. I don’t even know where I was born.”
    “And it doesn’t concern you?”
    “No. Well, sometimes, because of Brandon.” Wanting the contact, she nuzzled her cheek against his back. His flesh had cooled, and hers warmed it again. “But in the day-to-dayway of things, I rarely think of it. I loved my parents, and they loved me. They wanted me.” The way he brought her fingertips to his lips made her smile. “I suppose that’s the biggest part of being an adopted child—knowing you were wanted that badly, that completely. It can be the most sturdy of bonds.”
    “I guess that’s the way it is for Eve and me. I never really knew what it was to be wanted until I was ten, and she walked into my life.” He turned, needing to see her face. “I wonder if you can understand, I never really knew what it was to want, until you.”
    His words caused something inside her to shift, to open, to yearn. More than his touch, more than his desire, those simple words broke down all the walls. “I …” She moved away. Seeing clearly into her own heart didn’t make her less afraid. “I thought—I’d hoped,” she corrected herself, “after I’d realized we might be together, like this, that I’d be able to handle it—well, the way I imagine men handle affairs.”
    Suddenly nervous, he thrust his hands into his pockets. “Which is?”
    “You know, casually, enjoying the physical end of it without crowding in emotions or expectations.”
    “I see.” He watched her move. The nerves weren’t all his, he realized. Julia always moved when she was tense. “Is that the way you think I’m handling this?”
    “I don’t know. I can speak only for myself.” She forced herself to stop, to turn and face him. It was easier with the width of the room between them. “I wanted to be able to take this relationship at face value, to enjoy it for what it was. Good sex between two adults who were attracted to each other.” She made a concerted effort to take in one