Excerpt of Her Fantasy Husband by Nina Croft

“Sit,” he said. He really was good at giving orders, presumably from his time as a sergeant in the army. But she wasn’t one of his soldiers, and it made her want to do the opposite. She reminded herself that she needed something from him, so she perched obediently on the edge of the seat. He sat beside her but about a foot away, and she swiveled a little so she could watch his face.

“So talk,” he said.

She thought for a moment, but her mind was still on his chest, and she couldn’t seem to coordinate her thoughts. Instead she looked around the office. It was huge and impressive. “You seem like you’re doing well,” she said, if only to put off the main topic of conversation until she’d gotten her brain functioning again.

“Not too bad. For someone a little slow.”

She shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry. Luckily, I’m not the sensitive type.” He studied her for a moment. “Tell me,” he said. “Last night, did you set out to seduce me so we couldn’t get an annulment?”

She could feel the heat creep up over her face. “No… Not really.” She pressed a palm to her burning cheek. “Not at all, actually.”

“Which is it?”

She tugged on her ponytail. “It did occur to me while we were in the car after dinner. But then I decided that…” Crap, how did she put this?

“That…?”

“That I’d just make a complete idiot of myself if I tried. I haven’t got the faintest idea of how to seduce anyone, and I thought you’d end up laughing at me.”

“Why the hell would I laugh at you? Did you see me laughing?”

“No, but I don’t know you, so….”

“Wait a minute. Why don’t you have any idea how to seduce anyone?”

“Because I’ve never done it before.”

“Seduced anyone?”

She gave an exasperated sigh. “Slept with anyone.”

He went still, his brows drawing together. “Say that again.”

She pursed her lips. “I’ve never slept with anyone. And it’s no big deal.”

He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “You reckon? So let me get this straight. You’re a virgin?”

She rolled her eyes. “Er…no. Not anymore.”

“You didn’t feel like a virgin.” He looked at her accusingly.

She shrugged and squirmed on the seat. “It’s not like I’ve never, you know… I’ve got a vibrator.”

“Fuck.” He closed his eyes for a second. “I wish you hadn’t told me that.”

“So, to answer your original question, no, I did not seduce you on purpose.” She picked up her cup and sipped her coffee.

“Why?”

She didn’t think he was asking why she hadn’t seduced him. “Why what?”

“Why were you a virgin?”

“It just never happened. But mainly because a lot of people know I’m married. It wouldn’t have felt right.”

“Did I hurt you?”

She frowned. “Of course not.”

“Jesus. A fucking virgin.”

Time to get off the subject. “Anyway, I was thinking after you left this morning, that we’re both reasonable people. As such, we should sit down and discuss why you need to be free so quickly. Then maybe we can come up with a plan that suits us both.”