Inescapable

“Fruit?”

“Yes, some people like grapes in their brie-and-salad baguette.”

He grimaced.

She threw him an amused look. “We need to educate your taste buds.”

“When it comes to food, I have simple tastes.” When it comes to women, I seem to be attracted to you, and you are so much more complex than I’d ever have guessed.

Where did that thought come from?

“People can change.”

There was a teasing expression on her face and she wore a half smile. What was she thinking? He’d love to know.

“So, this guy Carlo,” she continued, “he is recently divorced and he’s always going on about meeting these sexy women online. We thought he was joking or that he was using dating agencies, but when we asked him about it, it turned out he was using chat rooms. For him it’s too soon to get involved with another woman properly, but he likes to keep his chat-up skills polished just in case—or so he says.” She smiled at that point.

Seth wondered if she had a soft spot for Carlo.

“For me it was different reason, very little time, and I was just looking for a bit of fun.” She shrugged. “Honestly, it was just a giggle to begin with. In fact, the first time Andrea and I logged in together and pretended we were twins.” She laughed, remembering. “We said we were looking for one guy, to share…we got dozens of men wanting to chat with us.”

“I can imagine.”

“We literally ran away, laughing. It was way over the top. Then I went in on my own one time, and I happened to get chatting with Adrian.”

He stared at her, reflecting how lucky Adrian must have felt conversing with her, then meeting her. He also reflected on all the losers and weirdoes she might have met and might still meet, doing that, and it worried him.

“Did you know there’s a stack of food in the freezer?” They had sat in a comfortable silence for a minute or so. Didn’t she want to talk about it anymore?

“No, I hadn’t checked.”

“I’m hungry,” she explained, “You two are keeping my appetite up. I did a bit of exploring earlier. How does fish and chips sound for tonight?”

“Now you’re talking.”

“I thought you’d approve.”

A secret smile lit her expression, and it was right then that Seth finally admitted to himself that it didn’t matter that she was here because of Adrian. That was then, this was now. She wanted him as well. She’d wanted him when she’d come onto him outside Adrian’s office, and it hadn’t gone away. For all her prickly attitude towards him and the flippant remarks about enjoying the moment, he could read the signals. God knows he’d had enough time in close quarters with people. He learnt to read how they really felt, no matter what words came out of their mouth. Desire was there in her expression, in the things she didn’t say and the way she acted, everything about her told her what he needed to know.

I shouldn’t care, he told himself. But he couldn’t help it.

She rose to her feet and walked to the curtains, peeking out between them. She was looking longingly at the patio and the landscaped garden beyond. It was a look he’d seen many times before, the familiar look of a caged creature, begging to be free. Why did it bother him that she looked so caged? He’d protected witnesses so many times before, and almost every time he’d seen people start to look this way when their confinement became a burden and they wanted to be free, but this time he was thinking about in a different way. He felt her pain, her longing, and it was because they were involved.

It had been an incredibly intense time, the three of them living a fantasy many owned but never fulfilled. Four great days, days he’d never forget, but he shouldn’t have done it, because he couldn’t help himself, not when it came to Lily. It had to end, soon.

“It looks so beautiful out there this morning. Not as sunny as it was, but the sky is roaring. It’s such a beautiful spot. I’d love to explore. Another time, of course.”

The fact she liked his childhood home made him smile, he couldn’t help it. Then she turned around and the look of yearning on her face made him feel so bloody bad.

Shit. I could do without this.

The sense of responsibility he felt towards her, a woman he’d got involved with—the only woman he’d got involved with under these circumstances—was different, definitely. He felt he owed her more, which is why he shouldn’t have got involved in the first place. If he started making concessions to security for her, as he was tempted to do, weak points would be opened up. Even so, he nodded. “I could turn the alarms off, if you want to go outside for a few quick breaths of air.”

Fool, if a local is walking in the fields beyond the gardens and saw that someone is staying here, when it should be closed up and empty, they’ll investigate, or report it to the police, which would open up a line for Lavonne.

Her eyes lit up. “You’d do that?”

Surely they couldn’t be that unlucky, to be spotted inside a minute? “Just for one minute, and only if you stay on the patio, close to the house.”