by Alice Raine
Holding up a pale grey T-shirt I lined it up with my shoulders and saw in the mirror that it practically came to my knees. Sighing, I pulled it over my head and accepted the fact that I was going to look like I was wearing a flipping tent until I’d washed my own clothes. As I pushed my head through the soft cotton I was immediately surrounded by the heady, spicy scent of him, and the sudden smell caused me to sigh and push the material to my nose for another, deeper, inhale. Drawing in a long breath I smiled as I briefly drowned in his fragrance; he might be a nameless, miserable sex god, but wow, did he smell good. Predictably, my mind immediately wandered back to our liaison on his desk … he kissed rather well too, not to mention the other skills he had with that tongue of his …
Argh! I must stop thinking about him like that. I shoved my hands irritably through the arm holes of the T-shirt and set about digging through my handbag for my face cream, before letting out a squeal of delight as I saw a pair of yoga leggings in there. I’d shoved them in just in case I got sweaty when cleaning and wanted to change for the drive home, but I was so thankful for them now. Judging from the size of the gargantuan T-shirt, the tracksuit bottoms he’d left out would be useless. They’d probably come up to my armpits.
Luckily, I also carried two spare pairs of knickers in my bag in case of feminine emergencies, so I pulled on a fresh pair and donned my leggings. No spare bra, unfortunately, but I wasn’t averse to wearing my bra for a few days in a row and at least it was still dry. Selecting a navy blue fleece jumper, I pulled it on, giggled at how long the sleeves were, and rolled them each up several times so my hands poked out the bottom.
The last items I selected were a thick pair of warm, woollen walking socks. Pulling them on I smiled at how big they were – they would be perfect as impromptu slippers – but once again as I tried to roll them into some usable size I was reminded of other areas of his anatomy that had also been rather large. And hot. And hard …
Grunting in irritation at my inability to focus on anything other than the man lurking somewhere in this house, I jumped up and walked towards the dressing table to put my watch back on. A glance in the mirror showed that I looked like a complete ragamuffin, so thinking on my feet, I grabbed my snow-dampened clothes and headed to the kitchen intent on washing them. I wasn’t brave enough to ask the owner if I could use his washing machine – I hadn’t even seen one since I’d arrived – but once I was in the kitchen I found some hand soap under the sink and washed out my knickers, jeans, and jumper before wringing them out and putting them on the radiator in my room. This time I was careful to unfold and spread them properly so hopefully they’d be dry by tomorrow. That way at least I could look normal again, even if my roiling emotions felt about as far from normal as possible.
Pushing my damp hair back from my face, I stood in the centre of my bedroom and gave myself a brief pep talk before taking a deep breath for bravery and leaving my room to go to his office. I’d much rather be doing this looking a bit better than I currently did, but I suppose circumstances wouldn’t allow me to wait until my own clothes were wearable again.
On arriving, I once again found the door half open, and through the gap I could see him at his desk, his frown in place and his eyes latched on to the screens. This time I didn’t dare just enter, instead knocking tentatively and waiting on the threshold, almost too scared to go any closer in case I became sucked in by the strange magnetism between us again.
He obviously heard me because he jumped slightly when I knocked, but then barely even bothered to lift his head from whatever hugely important task he was doing.
‘I’m really busy, what do you need?’ he snapped, causing me to flinch from the discernible lack of warmth in his voice. My heart sank. He might be a stranger, but I obviously felt something towards him. From his cold reaction, however, what we had shared earlier had obviously meant nothing to him other than a quick fuck. I’d probably just been a small distraction from his busy day. What a depressing thought.
Doggedly trying to ignore the pounding of my heart and rapidly wilting confidence, I decided at least to persevere with my mission. ‘I … uh … I was hoping you’d tell me your name.’
At my enquiry, he glanced up and met my eye, and for the tiniest of seconds it seemed like his gaze softened as he observed me. His eyes trailed over my appearance, eyebrows flickering as if he were deep in thought as he took in my peculiar clothing and wet hair, but he didn’t laugh or smile as I’d expected. Instead, he licked his lips and simply continued to stare at me. ‘Sean,’ he said quietly. Sean. Finally he had a name.
His jaw briefly slackened, as if he were about to say more, but after blinking several times in silence, his shoulders stiffened and he turned back to his computer with a shuttered expression. It was obvious I’d been dismissed, but stupidly I felt frozen to the spot, my feet rigidly refusing to move, and after several seconds he glanced across again, his dark eyes intense.
‘Anything else?’ he asked icily. This time there was definitely no softening of his expression, just the cold pangs of dismissal, and I literally wanted to melt into the floor and disappear into the folds of his stupidly big clothes.
‘No. Nothing, forget it.’ I turned away, feeling like a used toy, dirty and unwanted and furious with myself when I felt the sting of tears building behind my eyes. Wanting to put as much distance between us as possible I strode away and decided to go back to yesterday’s plan of avoiding him until the weather lifted and I could leave.
It wasn’t cowardice, just common sense. Besides, the house was certainly big enough, and he seemed to cocoon himself in his office all day anyway, so it shouldn’t be hard to keep out of his way. I might go stir crazy in the process, but it was better than the alternative of spending one more minute in his company.
Absently wandering the house, I found myself in the lounge and padded across the plush carpet to the huge windows at the rear. As I watched the snowflakes continue to fall in thick swathes I felt a few of my hidden tears finally leak from my eyes and a stab of melancholy hit me squarely in the chest. It was partly from loneliness and depression – after all, it was nearly Christmas and I was still stuck here – but mostly my tears were those of shame. How could I have let myself be used like that? By a man as foul tempered as he was? This really did prove the old saying that looks aren’t everything, because Sean certainly had the handsome gene by the bucket load, but from what I’d seen, there was absolutely nothing nice inside him to back it up at all.
As the snowflakes grew thicker still, I felt my stomach drop with them until I felt well and truly sorry for myself. Leaning my back against the wall I slid down until I was hunched in a tiny ball, with my arms wrapped around my knees protectively. Swiping at my cheeks I tried to clear the tears that were now falling, glad that Sean couldn’t see me and know that he’d made me cry. He’d probably get a kick out of knowing he’d upset me. Pulling in a deep breath I let it out in a long, calming flow as I stared at the white garden. This may turn out to be a long, tough few days and the worst Christmas of my life, I thought with a heavy sigh.
Once I’d allowed myself a few minutes to vent my misery, I engaged my usual positive mind-set and distracted myself from my predicament by spending the next hour cooking a beef curry. I might be stuck in the hills and feeling distinctly sorry for myself, but I may as well eat nice food.
As much as I wanted to pretend he wasn’t around, I couldn’t help myself in the end and I cooked enough dinner for Sean as well. Considering his callous behaviour before and since our desk encounter, I opted to leave it on the stove top for him to find rather than call him down for it. Unlike him though, I didn’t bother to leave a note to draw his attention. If he didn’t see it, then tough luck.
Hearing his feet descending the steps at about half past seven I quickly grabbed my portion and tiptoed my way through the lounge so that our paths wouldn’t cross, and then, once he was safely in the kitchen and I could hear the sound of his knife and fork moving across a plate, I
snuck up to my room to eat in peace.
As I got to my bedroom door I frowned and paused, seeing something hanging from the door handle. As I got closer I saw that it was a small travel hairdryer, and my eyebrows rose in surprise. Opening the door I put my dinner down on the dresser and went back to retrieve the hairdryer, seeing a small note attached. ‘This is my sister’s. It’s too cold to wander around with wet hair.’ A faint smile curled my lips as I took the hairdryer inside and closed the door thoughtfully. So he might have acted detached earlier, but he had noticed my wet hair and clothes, and those observations had clearly troubled him enough to dig this out and order me to wear his clothes. Hmm. Perhaps there was a caring side hidden away underneath his cold front after all.
SEVEN
Allie
As ridiculous as it was, I continued with my avoidance tactics for the next two days, either holed up in my room or cooking dinners and being on guard the entire time, then sneaking through the lounge to avoid Sean when dinner time approached. Mind you, he made my job pretty easy for me by staying in his office practically all the time, anyway.
I had spotted him in the home gym yesterday when I’d been making my way downstairs. He’d been facing away from me and pounding out a run on the treadmill at a fearsome pace, a sight that had immediately caused my steps to falter as I paused in the corridor and secretly observed him through the glass door. I was a bit of a health nut and usually dragged myself out for a run at least four times a week, so as I watched him on the treadmill I got a pang of envy, immediately missing my weekly tarmac time.
My craving was soon forgotten, however, as I refocused on the sights and sounds instead. Royal Blood’s ‘Out of the Black’ blared from the speakers, and Sean was shirtless, sweaty, and just as gorgeous from the back as the front. Muscular shoulders slimmed down to his narrow waist and then … wow. What an arse. The shorts he was wearing didn’t disguise just how firm and tight it was, and I watched in fascination as it bounced just a little with each frantic stride. Gosh, he was really going for it. I would class myself as a pretty good runner, but if I was on a treadmill going that pace I’d be flat on my face and flying off into the opposite wall before I’d even managed to take three steps.
Luckily, his focus was firmly on the BBC News on the television in front of him, so he didn’t notice me watching him, mouth hanging open and eyes glued to his bottom. After indulging myself in a few more seconds of slack-jawed appreciation I had hurried back to my room in a bit of a lusty daze.
So apart from that small glimpse of him, my evasive ways were working a treat and I hadn’t had to speak to Sean once in nearly forty-eight hours. Admittedly, I was going a little stir crazy sitting in my room alone, but thankfully I’d managed to get through to my mum earlier so I could properly let her know where I was. It had been so lovely to hear her voice that I’d nearly cried. She wasn’t at all happy about the prospect of me missing Christmas dinner – it was a big family tradition in our house, but seeing as it was still snowing on and off and there was no sign of a thaw anytime soon, I just didn’t see how I’d manage to escape. Christmas was just two days away, and as much as I disliked the idea, I was starting to miserably adjust to the fact that I would probably spend it here.
Taking some of my pent up energy out on cookery I had managed to prepare meals on both nights so far without Sean disturbing me. Thank goodness he had a well-stocked freezer otherwise we’d both starve to death in the snowy wilderness. Unfortunately, as I was finishing off the final preparations for tonight’s dinner I heard him coming downstairs earlier than usual, and in my desperate rush to avoid him I didn’t have time to grab myself a portion as I had previously. Retreating from the kitchen I dodged through the lounge empty handed and sneaked upstairs trying desperately to suppress my rumbling stomach. Damn it, I was really hungry, and unless I fancied facing up to Mr Moody, I wouldn’t be able to eat until he had gone to bed.
The option of seeing Sean after his icy brush off was too unpleasant to consider, so instead I wandered to my room feeling thoroughly miserable. I had my laptop with me, and would have loved to check my emails and Facebook, but I didn’t know the password for Sean’s WiFi access and there was no way I was going to ask him, so instead I killed more time reading.
Glancing at the clock I saw it was nearly midnight, and as the house had been silent for some time now, I put my book down and slid from the bed before opening my door and creeping downstairs, praying that my empty stomach wouldn’t growl too loudly and give me away. Clad only in my makeshift nightdress – one of Sean’s huge T-shirts – the cool night air made my exposed skin pop with goose pimples, but I continued regardless, well and truly set on the task of easing my hunger.
I didn’t want to risk disturbing Sean by turning on any lights so I instead felt my way along the unfamiliar walls, stubbing my toe more than once and cursing under my breath at this whole stupid situation. Finally, I found the corridor that led to the kitchen and held my hands out, expecting to feel the door at any moment. Instead, they settled on a solid slab of something firm and … warm.
Warm? Why was the door warm? The ‘door’ then moved swiftly, making me gasp loudly as, in a split second, strong arms had closed around my waist and pushed me against the cool of the tiled kitchen wall. Letting out a startled yelp of surprise, my confused, disorientated brain recognised Sean’s smoky, spicy scent as it engulfed me just moments before the kitchen lights flickered on and I saw him looming over me and caging me in with his arms.
Blinking in the harsh brightness I desperately tried to steady my erratic breathing, panting, before finally lifting my gaze to his face. His hair was tousled like he’d just woken up, but his narrowed eyes were alert and assessing me as he moved well within my personal space and gripped my waist, his shoulders hunched so he could maintain eye contact as he shifted his hips ever closer.
Close. He was very … close.
Swallowing loudly, I realised that if I just tipped my head forwards a tiny fraction I would be able to rub the tips of our noses together, but thankfully sanity prevailed and instead I chose to gain a small amount of space by resting my head back on the wall behind me and simply watching him as our heated, quickened breaths mixed in the tiny distance between us.
Over the course of the two days of avoiding him I’d almost managed to kid myself that Sean wasn’t as attractive as I’d first thought, but now it all came flooding back, especially seeing as the only thing he was wearing were those ridiculously sexy pyjama bottoms again. The heat coming from his exposed chest was incredible, seeming to reach me in waves and warm my previously chilled body within seconds.
This man really was something else: tall, toned, and handsome as sin, and once again my traitorous body reacted to his by heating with a furious blush as my anger with him seemed to simply melt away in his presence.
He leaned in close to my ear, and assuming he was going to kiss my neck I found myself wantonly angling it to give him better access. ‘Why are you sneaking around my house at night, Allie?’ he demanded, his velvety, quiet tone sending a shiver up my spine.
Surprised that he was speaking and not kissing me as I’d expected, I sputtered out an embarrassed breath at my stupid assumption. I had nearly capitulated to him instantaneously. I both hated and secretly loved how weak he made me feel. Blinking hard, I swallowed and licked my lips, refusing to show him how badly he affected me, even if I was positively thrumming inside from his close proximity. Lifting my chin defiantly I tensed my shoulders and narrowed my eyes.
‘I was hungry,’ I shot back obstinately, deliberately trying to ignore the way his thumbs were rubbing circles on my waist and making my legs go rubbery. Bloody man.
‘You’ve been avoiding me,’ he stated, and I lowered my head, feeling slightly guilty at my childish behaviour, before pulling myself up with a frown. I was not the one who should be feeling guilty. If he had any manners at all I wouldn’t have felt the need to hide away from him. Besides, he hadn’t exactly been socia
bly hanging around the house either, had he?
‘I’m obviously an inconvenience to you so it seemed the easiest solution,’ I muttered thickly, still averting my eyes and realising to my horror that my right hand had moved of its own accord and now rested on his lean hip. What the heck was I doing? Pulling my hand back sharply, I clenched my fists against the wall behind me and stared at his bare feet in annoyance.
I should leave. Scamper back to my room and hide away again like the pathetic, hormonal wimp I was, but to do that I’d need to push past him, and given how strongly his presence affected me already, touching him certainly wasn’t going to help matters.
‘An inconvenience?’ He made an almost amused grunting noise. ‘That’s not quite how I’d describe you …’ Sean murmured, but he left the rest of his cryptic sentence unfinished. The sexual tension between us was incredible, seeming to wash over me and causing my skin to ping like a constant series of red hot needles tickling me. Surely I couldn’t be the only one feeling this chemistry?
Still avoiding his eyes I stared down until the temptation to check out his pyjama bottoms became too much for me. They clung to the muscles in his thighs almost indecently, not to mention hugging the bulge that was beginning to form at his groin. Oh God. OK, so that clearly indicated that I wasn’t the only one feeling this connection. Closing my eyes I tried to ignore his growing erection and stay calm, but for some inexplicable reason that ability seemed to completely escape me whenever Sean was around. Not that his arousal was helping me stay composed, because it was now starting to nudge hopefully against my belly.
I could barely focus as I stood frozen to the spot breathing shallowly and completely unsure as to what would happen. Or what I wanted to happen. After the cold way he had treated me after our last liaison I should be shoving him away, but as much as my brain yelled at me to do just that, my body was demanding I do the exact opposite and throw myself into his arms.
