‘We could start by avoiding cupboards, I suppose.’
I glanced at the closet behind him, relieved to finally be out of it. Yet somehow I’d managed to trade one kind of strange confinement for another.
‘I won’t get in your way if you don’t get in mine,’ I said firmly.
‘Deal. I would shake your hand, but . . .’ He looked at the elastic, smugness oozing from him now.
‘Who says I’d shake it anyway?’ I shot back.
He laughed again, even though as far as I was concerned there was nothing even vaguely amusing about this situation. ‘And whatare we going to do about this elastic band?’ He gestured to it with a nod of his head.
I was about to say something biting and snarky when a sudden noise made us both turn.
‘Just forgot the sunscreen!’ we heard a familiar female voice call, followed by footsteps outside.
‘Seems like someone is going to make that decision for us,’ Cam said.
He stood there eyeing me, waiting, watching for me to pull away first. I glanced at the door. The footsteps were getting closer now. I looked back at him, and he’d raised an eyebrow at me in question.
I raised mine right back, planting my feet firmly on the floor and giving him my best death stare. Challenge on, and I wasnotgoing to be the one to lose. If he thought I was going to let go of this elastic band first, he was so wrong.
‘Seems like one of us is going to need to tap out very soon,’ he said calmly.
I looked at the door again as the steps came closer.Shit!I was trying not to show my growing panic, but any second now that door was going to open. I was stubborn and didn’t want to give in, but I wasn’t so stubborn that I was prepared to totally blow my cover and screw up this job. And certainly not over Cam. Nothing in my life would ever be screwed up because of him again. Not happening.
His eyes flicked towards the door, and I seized the opportunity. I swung my elbow, digging the pointiest bit into the top of his arm. He winced and let go of the band. And that was my cue.
I ran. I grabbed my stuff and headed straight for the back door. When I reached it, I threw a quick look over my shoulder. Cam hadn’t moved; he was standing dead still, rubbing his arm and looking in my direction, as if . . .
‘Asshole!’ I hissed as he smiled at me. He was actually enjoying this. But his smile quickly disappeared when the main door began toopen. And that wasmycue to smile, because as I exited, Cam was making a beeline for the closet again.
Victory was mine . . . for now, anyway.
She was fucking furious, flustered and magnificent. Gripping an elastic band like it held the fate of the entire universe. Maybe it did. She looked ready to kill me, and weirdly, I’d missed that. The fire, the sarcasm. God, I was in trouble.
As she bolted out the back door, all long, muscular legs and wild hair, I stood there smiling like a complete idiot. Because she was back. And somehow, so was the spark between us. Well, I’d felt it anyway, and if I was a betting man, I would say that she’d felt it too. What do they say about love and hate . . . a fine line.
I barely made it back into the closet before the door to the villa opened, and I was still grinning as I crouched down. This round was hers – for now, anyway.
CHAPTER 13
‘Cam’s here,’ I said to Philly on the phone once I was back in my own villa.
‘CamCam?’ she questioned.
‘Yes, him!’
‘You sure? How do you know?’ she asked. I didn’t blame her; it was utterly unbelievable. If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, or felt it between my arms – I really should have let him pass out – I wouldn’t have believed it either.
I walked around closing all the curtains and locking the doors, in case Cam knew where I was. ‘Yes, I’m sure. I was stuck in a cupboard with him. In Victor’s room. He’s here investigating Victor too,’ I said, jamming something under the back door that led out to the private garden so it couldn’t be prised open.
‘What would the police want with Victor?’ Philly asked.
‘Well, I can tell you what theydon’twant with him. And that would be him fucking around with his assistant or Pilates instructor. There’s obviously much more going on here than a wayward husband spanking his slutty little kitten on the side.’
‘His what?’
‘Trust me, you don’t want to know.’
