Page 69

I shook my head, returning my eyes to the screen to finish typing up the notes regarding the sheep I’d examined earlier that morning. “There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m acting perfectly normally.” I continued to type, finishing up the notes. When she didn’t answer, I turned to look at her again and found her staring at me through narrowed eyes.

Like I said. Terrifying.

“Something’s happened between you and the Christmas competition woman, hasn’t it?”

Okay, even more terrifying now that psychic abilities seemed to have been thrown into the mix.

“What makes you say that?” I turned back to the screen, because looking into her eyes was a bit overwhelming when she was staring at me as if she could read my mind.

“You’ve stopped complaining about her. Not only did you rescue her from that fire—”

“I didn’t rescue her. I rescued her cat.”

“Same diff. Not only did you rescue her cat for her,” she said pointedly. “But then you helped fix the fire damage, took her to visit her sick sister in hospital, and Charlotte and I saw you with her at the lights switch-on the other night. So, with my Sherlock Holmes hat on, I deduce that something is going on with you two.” She sat back in her seat, arms folded, with a self-​satisfied look on her face.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose between thumb and forefinger. “Fine. We’re seeing each other. Okay?”

“Er, no. That’s not okay. I need details,” she said, smacking her palms onto her knees as she said the word details.

I shot her a look. “There is no way I am divulging the details of my sex life to you, Ranjeeta.”

“Aha!” She pointed a finger at me. “So you’ve had sex with her?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” I muttered, wishing I had said that Nisa and I were just friends.

“That’s excellent,” Ranjeeta said—​to herself at this stage, it seemed. “It’s about time you started getting some.”

I dropped my pen onto the desk. “Ranjeeta! This is not the way you should speak to your boss.”

She shrugged, and I resigned myself to the fact that while she would always work her arse off for me, Ranjeeta would never see me as an authority figure. She didn’t see anyone that way. “Seriously. I’m pleased that you’re getting out there again, you know. You deserve it. Boss.”

That last word had a very sarcastic tone to it, but I couldn’t help the smile playing on my face in response. “Thanks.”

“Does this mean you’re going to let her win the competition?” Ranjeeta asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Hell no,” I said, very aware that the rivalry with Nisa was still giving me life. However, our antics now carried a flirtatious edge that often felt like foreplay. And perhaps that particular effect had been there from the beginning, albeit in a more subconscious manner.

The feeling of not being able to believe my luck where Nisa was concerned mixed with the disconcerting needle of dread that had made an appearance ever since we’d first started sleeping together. I’d been round to her place after work every day since, with the primary objective of getting the repairs in her living room finished, but the secondary objective of screwing each other’s brains out every night. To be honest, if we hadn’t been at it like rabbits, I’m pretty sure I would have finished the bloody work by now.

“See, there it is again,” she said in a suspicious tone. “That look that has been throwing me off the scent. Half the time you’re walking around with a dreamy look on your face, and the other half you look like you’ve just gotten a big, unexpected bill from the taxman.”

I hadn’t realized that I was being that obvious with my feelings. It was certainly not like me. I’d learned a long time ago to keep them locked down—​showing emotion was not something my father had tolerated. But clearly there was something about Nisa that had made a hole in my carefully constructed defenses.

Fatigued by all the thoughts swirling around my head, and aided by the fact that Nisa had created a chink in my armor, I ignored my natural instinct to clam up. “I’m happy with Nisa. Happier than I’ve been in a long time.” I paused, thinking about what I wanted to say. “Happier than I’ve ever been, to be honest. And that . . . scares me.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Being happy scares you? Why?”

I shrugged. Telling Nisa my deepest, darkest insecurities was one thing. Telling everyone else was another matter entirely. “Just not used to it.”

“Hmm.” She cocked her head, appraising me through those narrowed eyes again. “Want my advice?”

“Not really.”

“Tough. My advice is—​get used to it.” She stood, scraping her chair backward.

My turn to raise my eyebrows. “That’s it? The sum total of your advice is ‘get used to it’?”

“Yep,” she said over her shoulder as she grasped the door handle.