“Oh, I beg to differ. You know I still have the hots for your brother—”
“Please, no.” Helen clamped her hands over her ears, like she did every time Emma mentioned Tom inthatway.Ewww!
“—but Sebastian is a very good-looking man,” Emma continued. “Not my type, too tall and muscly, but he’d give Brad Pitt a run for his money any day of the week.”
Helen sipped her tea, and like she did several hundred times an hour, thought of Sebastian naked in her bed.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
Helen blinked. “Like what?”
“Like you … No, you’re not! Oh, my god, youare! You’re bonking Sebastian!”
Helen rolled her eyes. “Who, under the age of seventy, actually says bonking anymore?”
“Whatever you call it, you’re doingit,” Emma said, grinning eagerly. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I knew you’d get together for real.”
“Well, no. We’re just … bonking. It’s a just-sex arrangement.”
A hopeless romantic, sweet Emma looked forlorn.
Helen reached out to her. “It’s okay, we’re both having a lot of fun.”And he worships my body. The things that man does to me!“We get on great. We’re friends as well as lovers.”
“But?”
I want to get to know him inside and out.
The thought popped out, taking Helen by surprise even though it was true. Sebastian didn’t often talk about himself but she had to respect his privacy, particularly as he was likely still grieving his father’s death—a subject he’d explicitly told her never to bring up, which only made her want to know all about it. To know all about Sebastian.
And who the hell did theJawsringtone belong to? If it rang when Helen was in the room, Sebastian would simply turn his phone off and carry on like nothing had happened, the look on his face instinctively telling her she shouldn’t ask about it, like a real girlfriend would do.
“But, nothing, Em.” Helen picked up her mug. It had been her idea to start a just-sex relationship so what else could she expect other than … just sex? “He’s hot and while it lasts, I’m going to enjoy the ride.”
Literally.
Back home later that evening, after locking up her hens, Helen took her time strolling around her garden, but not even the warm, gentle fragrances surrounding her could shake off the mild warning she’d seen in Emma’s eyes.
Enjoying the ridewasthe best thing—theonlything—to do, wasn’t it?
When twilight drew into night, she started to head back inside only to stop when she heard a car pull up on her driveway. It was too early for Sebastian to be home from his trip to London, but when all of a sudden, he appeared at the side of her house wearing a tux—jacket in hand, collar undone—her silly pulse raced.
“Hey,” he called out, grinning at her as his gaze skimmed her bare legs. “I like your new look.”
“Thanks.” Helen glanced down at the hoodie she’d thrown over her blue vest and white knickers, paired with her ancient green wellies. “It’s all the rage here in Somerset. How was London?”
“Good.” He stepped into the kitchen after her, helped himself to a drink of water and nodded toward her laptop on the table. “You still working?”
“No, I’ve just finished. I was about to get ready for bed.” She sat on the worktop and nudged him with her knee. “Want to join me?”
Sebastian’s lips curved as he planted his hands either side of her and settled between her thighs. “You have an insatiable appetite, Miss Hobbs.”
She unbuttoned his shirt. “Are you complaining, Mr. Clarke?”
He cupped her bum in response and pressed her against the hard ridge in his trousers.
“No, I didn’t think you were.”
Sometime later, sleepy and sated, Helen laid her head on Sebastian’s chest listening to his heart beating.
