Page 42 of Do Opposites Attract?

By the end of the afternoon she finally had the hang of it. She wasn’t stylish, but she was actually standing upright, turning the sail and manoeuvring the board in vaguely the right direction.Her sense of accomplishment was huge and so, she thought ruefully, would be the bruises.

After arriving back at his house exhausted but content, she went up to get a hot shower. The perfect cure for a day in the cold sea. As the spray pummelled her body, she studied the bathroom for telltale signs of Mitch. His shower gel smelt of the fresh sea air and brought back memories of the first time she’d slept with him and inhaled that same smell from his skin. On the sink was a single toothbrush, reassuring her he was a man who lived by himself and didn’t often have female visitors. He must wet shave, as his shaver and foam were on the shelf by the sink. It was fascinating, these little glimpses into his life.

‘Feeling warmer?’ Mitch asked as she made her way back down the stairs.

‘Much better, now I’m not being plunged into ice cold water.’ She eyed the glowing flames from the fire he’d just made and sighed. ‘All I need now is to snuggle down in front of that fire.’

Mitch watched as she did just that, tucking her feet up under her and lying back against the soft cushions. She was certainly making herself at home and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. On the one hand it was his space, his sofa by the fire. On the other, she looked so beautiful and seemed to fit the place naturally.

Brianna caught him staring at her. ‘What’s wrong?’

Aware he’d been stuck in some sort of trance, Mitch mentally shook himself. He was too obsessed with his own independence. She was only staying the night. At least he guessed that was what she was planning and, considering the lateness of the hour, the long drive back to hers and the fact that she’d stayed over the last time, it wasn’t an unreasonable intention. Still. It left him feeling slightly on edge. A smidgen unnerved. Hisno stopping overrule tossed straight out of the window again, twice in a week.‘Nothing’s wrong,’ he muttered, moving to the door. ‘I’m going to have a shower. Grab yourself a drink.’

When he came back downstairs he found her exactly where he’d left her, only this time with a glass of wine in her hand.

‘Fish and chips okay for you?’ he asked, belatedly realising he hadn’t thought this day through at all. What guy has an elegant lady staying in his house and offers her fish and chips? A total loser, that’s who. ‘Then again, maybe you don’t eat food that comes wrapped in paper?’

She flinched. ‘Of course I do.’

‘Sorry.’ He put up his hand in a gesture of peace. ‘That came out without me thinking.’ Or more accurately, it came out because he was pissed off with his own lack of sophistication.

‘Mitch, I’m a normal human being, you know.’ Her sharp glare revealed both hurt and anger. ‘Just because my parents are wealthy it doesn’t make me any different from the next person.’

‘Perhaps, in some respects,’ he agreed. ‘But your experiences are very different to mine. That can have a profound effect on your outlook, on how you think and feel.’

‘Well, right now I’m feeling like you’re having a dig at me. I can’t help being rich.’

‘No.’ He couldn’t help where he’d come from, either. But it didn’t make the two of them right together. Sighing, he picked up his car keys and turned towards the door.

* * *

They ate their fish and chips off their laps. Mitch had come back in a better mood than he’d gone out in and, between the glow from the fire, the food in their stomachs and the alcohol, the atmosphere was cosy and relaxed. It still rankled with Brianna that he couldn’t seem to see her simply as a woman, rather than a rich woman, but she had to let that go. In time he would grow to see her differently. If he’d let them have that time.

‘Mitch, why did you join Medic SOS?’ Brianna asked as she put down her empty plate. ‘You said you worked in the army, and then A&E in a civilian hospital. So why change?’

He took a drink of his beer and settled back into the fireside chair. ‘I was bored. It might sound stupid but I missed the challenge of working in difficult conditions. Medic SOS gave me back that challenge, plus the knowledge I was helping real suffering, in areas that badly needed that help.’

Brianna nodded. She could see what he meant, but it still seemed like a tough career choice. ‘Joining the army is an unusual move for a graduate doctor, isn’t it? Why that rather than a traditional hospital?’

‘Why not?’

Exasperated, Brianna poured herself some more wine. ‘Come on, that’s no answer. I’m interested, that’s all. Why is asking you any questions about your private life like pulling teeth? You know it’s because you’re so evasive that I think you’re hiding exciting secrets. If you were more open I wouldn’t probe so much.’

‘Is that a promise?’

She eyed him through her lashes. ‘Yes, so spill the details, doctor.’

He put his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Okay, okay. I joined the army because it sounded exciting and because I didn’t have any family or a base that tied me to any particular place.’

Now she was getting somewhere. ‘So your parents had died by this time?’

‘I never knew my father, but yes, my mother had died.’

‘When?’

‘Several years before, when I was fourteen.’

‘Oh, Mitch, you poor thing. I am sorry.’

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