Page 1 of Not That Complicated

CHAPTER ONE

It wasn’t exactly crowded inthe pub, even though it was lunchtime. It was a cold Tuesday in February, in the Cotswolds. We didn’t get many tourists at this time of year, and at least half the population of Chipping Fairford had dragged themselves off to the train station at six a.m. for the grim commute into London, while those of us smart enough to work from home were gleefully still in bed.

In other words, there was more than enough room at the bar. So why the guy who’d just blown in on a cold blast of rain-scented air felt it necessary to shove himself right up beside me, I had no idea. He was so close, I could feel his body heat, and smell his rather nice shampoo.

I eased to the side, putting some distance between us, and did my best to catch Lenny the bartender’s eye. When Lenny had finished pulling a pint of Guinness for the glum-looking man I thought was my postie, he glanced my way.

And his eyes skimmed right over me to land on the newcomer instead.

I scowled.

For god’s sake. It wasn’t like we were in a crowded nightclub where the hot guys get served first.

Then I turned to the guy beside me and thought, okay. Wow.Hebelongs in a nightclub.

The invitation-only kind, populated by actors, models, minor royals, and Beyonce.

The loose curls of his thick, red-gold hair lay in a sexy, tousled mop that sparkled with scattered raindrops. A fashionably beat-up leather jacket hung open to show a navy t-shirt that clung lovingly to his broad chest and lean torso, and his full lips were curved in a smile as I…

…as I gawked up at him like an idiot.

The smile slowly grew.

Mesmerised, I continued to gawk.

Who knows how long I’d have stayed there, frozen, if Lenny hadn’t broken the spell. “Usual for you, Adam?”

At the sound of his name, I recoiled.

You’d think Adam had suddenly lunged at me with bared fangs. I hadn’t meant to be dramatic; it was pure protective instinct as my brain finally caught up, put the name together with the face, and I realised exactly who I was gawking at.

It had taken long enough. Then again, the last time I saw Adam was a year ago and he’d looked very different, what with being wet and naked in my shower.

His bright hair, saturated with water, had been a sleek dark bronze. He’d been even more intimidatingly beautiful without clothes on.

And he hadn’t been smiling.

Kind of like now.

The smile had dropped clean off his face. “Ray was next,” he said to Lenny in a deep voice.

The voice I’d have recognised in an instant. The last time I’d heard it, he was saying,Yeah. Like that. Just like that. Deeper. Now suck it. Good.

He hadn’t been saying it to me.

He’d been saying it to my boyfriend.

I was the horrified idiot in the bathroom doorway, home unexpectedly early and struggling to process the fact that my boyfriend was on his knees for the checkout boy from the Co-op.

If you wanted to get technical about it, the last time I heard Adam speak was actually when he showed up on my doorstep the next day with anI’m so, so sorry, and anI didn’t know, he said he was single, and aCan I please—

I’d slammed the door in his face.

“Ray?” Lenny said. “Ray.”

“Huh?”

Lenny looked from me to Adam and back again with sky-high eyebrows. “What can I get you?” he asked.

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