Cocktails in Chelsea Read Online Free PDF Page A

up, he shoved his hands in his pockets.
    'I- I'm sorry.' Oh shit, mortification 101. Why had she done that?
    'You can't just kiss someone without their permission. I could have a wife, a girlfriend, anything.'
    'Bloody hell, have you?' she gasped, abandoning the posh accent.
    'No as it happens, but that's not the point.' He said sharply, 'You think that because you're some rich Chelsea Princess you're entitled to do what you want?'
    'Of course not.' She flung back, all traces of upper crust girl completely gone. This was
so bad
. 'Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, honestly. And I'm not one of those rich girls, I'm just a normal girl from Bournemouth who’s up here for the weekend. I'm nothing special at all.'
    Why had she said that last bit? Talk about revealing.
    Nathan looked confused. ‘You what? You’re not even from London? You lied?’ he asked quietly. ‘Put on the accent, and talked the talk?’
    ‘I- I wasn’t lying, I just wanted to fit in.’ But that wasn’t the whole truth was it? She’d wanted to be someone else, a girl who men looked at and wanted. ‘Anyway,’ she said defensively, ‘what does it matter to you? Why do you care?’
    ‘It doesn’t matter.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘I’m only bothered because I don’t like dishonesty. Or people pretending to be something they’re not. And it’s a bit weird. You must be in your twenties at least; you’re not a little kid.’
    She flinched. When it came to some things, like men, she may as well be a child. ‘Well it must be nice to be so perfect,’ a blush swept up over her face, tears scorching her eyes, ‘you’ll have to let me in on your secret one day. Until then, I’m sorry again for kissing you. It was a big mistake, obviously.’
    His face softened, ‘Sofia, wait-,’
    Swinging around, she bolted, not even registering that he’d called her by name. She’d made a total arse of herself and embarrassment didn’t even begin to cover it.
    Pleading a headache with Tori and Christie, she insisted on leaving and they were too polite as hostesses not to accompany her back home, chatting about some summer ball while Sofia stared silently out of the cab window, unable to believe what a mess she’d made of things.
    Her face was still burning with humiliation as she curled up in bed half an hour later, but not as much as her mouth was burning from that unbearably sexy moment when Nathan’s tongue had met hers. She'd never been kissed like that before.
    Saturday
    Despite how the previous night had ended, Sofia had an amazing Saturday. After a late lie-in, Christie had departed the house, immaculately dressed for a prior commitment, leaving Tori and Sofia alone. Sofia, missing her daily swim in the sea, did twenty laps in the luxurious basement pool and went looking for Tori. She needed a distraction from last night’s disastrous run-in with Nathan.
    ‘Hi.’ Sofia peeked around the side of Tori’s bedroom door, expecting her to still be languishing in bed, but her friend was fully dressed in a tasteful white dress, frowning at the mirror while trying to clip her hair up.
    ‘Morning Sof, did you sleep well?’ she turned on the padded stool to look at her. ‘Has your headache gone?’
    ‘Headache? Oh,’ Sofia blushed at the lie, ‘um, yes thanks. I think I was just a bit knackered. I was wondering,’ she mooched over to the bed and sat down on the edge, ‘if you’d be up for a little adventure?’
    Tori’s eyes widened. ‘What did you have in mind?’
    ‘I kind of wanted to do the touristy thing; wander around Westminster, see Big Ben, take a ride on the London Eye, have lunch, maybe go to Borough Market.’ There was nothing for it, the last bit of available credit on her Visa card was going to get hammered. ‘What do you think? Are you up for it? I know it’s not your usual style, but-,’
    ‘I’m in,’ Tori interrupted, eyes lighting up.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes, absolutely. Let me just finish doing my hair.’
    ‘I think you