He blows out his cheeks. ‘Okay. Let’shypotheticallyaccept your claims are true.’ He frowns as his eyes focus. ‘Whose shower gel do you think you’re using there, pony girl?’
My eyes snap open and I stare at the bottle in my hand. ‘It belongs to my sister, Scarlett, who owns the cottage.’
His nostrils flare as he draws in a breath. ‘It’s actuallymygel. And it’s in Scarlett’s bathroom becauseherhusband, Tate, arranged formeto look after this place while they’re abroad.’
‘B-b-b-but…’ I seriously doubt Tate would have, because he knows this is Scarlett’s sacred space. My heart falters, then it leaps again as I grab my phone from the table. ‘I’ll talk to Scarlett. She’ll sort this out.’
She picks up on the first ring. ‘Betty, how’s the shower? Does the thermostat work?’
‘All good.’
‘That’s the news I was waiting for.’ I imagine her punching the air, laughing. ‘It’s a double, don’t forget to make the most of that. Switching my phone off now, see you on the other side.’
‘Scarlett, wait! There’s a guy…’ Too late. I’m talking to myself.
What the hell do I do now? I’m not used to ordering people around, but my instinct tells me I need to be firm here.
I force my face into a smile.‘Well, Mr Occitane, it’s going to be the morning before Scarlett can confirm to you that I’ll be the one staying here. You’ll need to make alternative arrangements tomorrow, but I’m happy for you to stay until then.’
As a person who just got forced out of their home, I’m reluctant to evict him on the spot, and if he leaves first thing, it’s no big deal. With one sizzling hot guy who refuses to accept he’s in the wrong, I’m lucky it won’t be for longer.
I beam at him again. ‘So if that’s all okay with you, I’ll get back to my shower.’
He laughs. ‘It’s big enough for two, you know?’
I ignore that and wave the plastic bottle at him. ‘I’m done with the gel if you’d like to take it.’ I toss it towards the house and he springs and snatches it out of the air in exactly the show-off, athletic way I knew he would, then grins at me.
‘Message received, loud and clear. I’ll take mine inside.’
I’ve no idea why my cheeks are burning.Hiccups like this are what keep life interesting; in a few hours’ time I’ll wave him on his way and get back to my very peaceful summer.
And I’ve got at least ten minutes to regain my cool before I have to face him again.
2
Boathouse Cottage, St Aidan
Clean sheets and crumbling cliffs
Sunday
‘You don’t recognise me, do you?’
I was so busy avoiding getting thrown off the property earlier, I was less observant than I should have been. Now I look more closely as I cross the kitchen, there is something familiar about his stubbled jaw, but it’s mostly the way his eyes look like he’s laughing at some side-cracking private joke in a very superior way. And now he’s had a shower and has reappeared with towelled hair, in jeans and a polo shirt, apart from the smirk, he’s scrubbed up pretty well.
‘Give me a clue?’
He looks even more pleased with himself. ‘Scarlett and Tate’s wedding party…’
My stomach gives a horrible lurch of shock, then I collect myself and try to act like a normal person would. That was the day minimalism went out of the window and they got married in a country house hotel with a deer park, a lake and a hundred and fifty close friends.
The guy is staring through narrowed, hazel-brown eyes. ‘I was one of the three best men.’
I ignore the goosebumps on my arms, and swallow down the nausea in my throat. ‘And I was one of the seven bridespeople.’
The bride and groom had equal numbers on their sides, but where Scarlett’s team were a happy mix of unpretentious women, some of Tate’s crew were up themselves to the point of being obnoxious.And then there was Mason, my plus one, who I’ve trained myself never to think about and is the reason why I feel like I’m about to throw up.
The smile lilting around the corners of this guy’s mouth turns to triumph. ‘Youwere the bridesmaid everyone was looking at!’
