James locked the boathouse door, picked his towel up and put it over his shoulder and, as he walked up the steps from the beach to the garden, swiped his phone to check his emails.
A colleague had just sent through the numbers for a business model they’d been discussing. He turned his phone round to squint at a spreadsheet.
He only saw Cassie as she rounded the tree where the garden hit its L-shape. Though he didn’t so much see her as bump right into her.
‘Oops,’ she squeaked, and tripped.Shit. She was a lot smaller than he was and he’d been paying no attention whatsoever and had barrelled straight into her. James shot his non-phone-holding arm out, encountered a lot of softness, and then found her arm and set her straight on her feet. God, that scent again. And some of her beautiful hair was in his face.
He took a step away from her to avoid a repeat of the kitchen madness.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘You okay?’
‘No,I’msorry.’ She looked up at him and smiled. Her gorgeous smile was so wide and generous that it went right to somewhere inside him. ‘It was me. I was going at a semi-run. I suddenly realised that I’d been with the animals for far too long and I ought to go and say hi to Laura and then I need to get changed.’
He was still holding onto her arm. He let go, quickly, and took a step away from her. Her gaze snagged on his bare chest for a moment before she looked back up at his face. James had to fight not to smirk. Seriously. What was he? A teenager?
What had they been talking about?
Who’d bumped into whom.
‘Nope, my fault. Reading my emails on my phone. Anyway. You going back this way?’ He gestured towards the house. She’d been with the animals all that time? ‘So you missed the animals a lot?’
‘I really did, so, yes, I’ve been with them for ages.’ Mind reader. ‘I brought a carrot and broccoli snack for the alpacas and then I just sat and watched them all. And it’s possible that I had a little snooze. That journey’s a long one.’
‘It is.’ James nodded. ‘I hope you found the animals well,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t expecting a crash course in animal husbandry when I came here but I’ve genuinely enjoyed looking after them. Apart from Donna being ill, of course.’
‘Yes, very well.’ There was that wide smile again. ‘They seem brilliantly looked after. And I saw that you’ve bought them some fancy snacks. They’re going to miss you.’
‘Yeah, I realised that the way to an alpaca’s heart was via its stomach so I turned to Google and, yes, I did invest in some serious quantities of strawberries and green beans with handfuls of raisins thrown in.’
Cassie laughed and they walked on for a few seconds in what felt like very companionable silence.
‘I’ll see you later then.’ She stopped for a second at the corner of the house.
Now she was facing him, he could see her properly. Her face was very expressive, with that gorgeous smile and beautiful dark-brown eyes. Her face was also green.
‘Cassie.’
‘Yes?’
‘I’m thinking that this is like when someone has spinach in their teeth, you know, when you’re doing them a favour telling them.’
‘Oh, God. Did I go to sleep in alpaca poo?’ She twisted round to look over her shoulder and James caught a glimpse of smooth, light-brown skin at her waist as her top lifted slightly.
He really should grow up. That shouldnothave had any kind of effect on him.
‘No. Your cheek. I’m thinking alpaca spit.’
She put her hand on her cheek and screwed her face up. ‘Oh yes. They had a little fight over the food and there was some spitting.’
‘Yep, I’ve been there. It’s quite hard not to get caught in the line of fire.’
‘I love how you’re such an alpaca expert now.’ Cassie grinned at him. ‘Thank you for pointing this out. Not a good party accessory. I’ll do some serious scrubbing in the shower.’
It was probably because he’d caught that glimpse of her bare waist that a momentary image of how Cassie might look under a shower flashed across his mind. Seriously.
* * *
Dina and Cassie arrived at the marquee together, twenty minutes before the party was due to start. James was doing some last-minute chair and table arranging with the caterers when they came in.
