Page 35 of Do Opposites Attract?

‘Mitch, how are you?’

There was a pause. ‘Brianna?’

Why did the sound of his deep voice cause her to tremble? If she’d thought a few days away from him would cure her of her infatuation, she was wrong. If anything, it was getting worse. ‘Yes, it’s me.’ Not a cool, measured reply. More a breathy squeak.

‘You convinced Margaret then?’

‘Sure looks that way.’ She hesitated, picking up a pen, then putting it down again. ‘So I guess you and I will be seeing each other again from time to time.’ Immediately she cringed.

‘I guess we will,’ he drawled with a casualness she’d tried, but totally failed, to convey.

‘How is everybody?’ she asked, wanting to keep him on the line.

‘Well, Tessa’s not talking to me. Apparently spoilt rich girls aren’t my type.’

Brianna let out a chuckle. ‘I got that impression from her, too.’ There was a pause during which she wanted to ask him if Tessa was right, but she swallowed the words. Too keen. There were lots of other things she was bursting to ask. How was he, really? Had there been any more mudslides? When exactly was he coming home? When he swam in the lake, or lay down in bed, did he think of her? The questions died on her lips. Always so confident around men, now she felt tongue-tied and awkward. ‘Well then, I’ll see you around.’ Slowly she put down the phone.

‘I hear you’ve met our Mitch.’ Sally pushed back her chair and went to collect her coat.

‘Yes, I was out there with them all last week.’

‘My sources tell me he showed you more than just the camp.’

Brianna looked up sharply, but was pleased to find Sally was grinning. ‘What can I say? He’s a sexy man.’

Sally laughed out loud. ‘You won’t have any of us arguing with that. Well, good luck to you, love. Many have tried to crack him, but none have succeeded so far.’

‘Oh, it’s not serious,’ Brianna replied quickly, anxious to get this part straight. ‘We had a bit of fun, that’s all.’

* * *

Back at the camp, Mitch turned the phone off thoughtfully. He had to admit to a fair degree of surprise that Brianna had actually gone and joined the charity. His money had been on her going back home and not giving the place a second thought. But no, the enthusiasm she’d shown at the camp, the desire to help, seemed to be genuine. Whilst that was great for the charity, it was going to be bloody awkward for him. Not least because, when he bumped into her in the office, he knew damn well he was going to find it very hard to keep his hands off her. Even now, just imagining her, he could feel the heat pulsing through his body. But continuing to sleep with a woman who was now a work colleague, as well as the patron’s daughter, wasn’t going to work. Relationships ended, at least his always did, and with the end came bitterness and bad feeling. He couldn’t afford to taint his career with that, not when working for the charity meant so much to him. Not when it was all he had.

‘Can I come in?’

Mitch turned from his desk to find Sam, the man in charge of the whole refugee camp and an old friend.

‘Sam,’ Mitch greeted him with a warm handshake. ‘I wondered when I was going to see you.’

‘Well, you could have come and found me, you know,’ he replied, walking into the tent. ‘Dan did. He also introduced me to your newest recruit.’

Mitch frowned. ‘Pardon?’

‘That gorgeous, classy bird with the shiny brown hair and flashing green eyes.’ Sam grinned and wriggled his eyebrows expressively in appreciation.

‘Umm, let me think, it’s still hard to pin down.’

Sam laughed and slapped Mitch on the back. ‘You old devil. How do you do it? Every time I look round you’ve added another woman to your harem. What with Jane—’

‘Who’s married,’ Mitch interjected.

‘And Tessa, who’s not,’ Sam replied with a sly smile. ‘I thought you had enough on your plate. Now you add Brianna.’

‘I haven’t added anyone. Brianna is the daughter of our patron, and came to see what we were up to. If you’ve spoken to her, I’m sure you’ll know all that already.’

‘Well, if you had any sense you’d be grabbing that one with both hands. It’s not often someone like you will get to meet such a classy lady. And smart too, from what I could gather.’

Mitch knew Sam meant no slight, but the truth of his words stung. ‘She’s not my type, Sam,’ he told the older man. ‘High maintenance and way out of my league. Now what was it you wanted to talk about, or did you just come here to wind me up?’

---