Page 28 of She Devil
CHAPTER SEVEN
April
OKAY,NOMOREpussy-footing around, I decide as I take my second shower of the day.
I need him to know I’m not going to keep putting up with this inconsistent, harrying behaviour. I know he’s doing it to put me off my game, to pay me back for the pain he thinks I put him through, but it’s time to get this ridiculous charade over with now. It’s time to get down to business.
In honour of this, I tame my hair into a neat chignon and put on the white trouser suit I arrived in to project a renewed statement of my position. I love this suit. It always gives me a lift of self-esteem and helps put a spring in my step, which is exactly what I need right now.
I stride downstairs and search the living area, the terrace and then the library, looking for Jamie, determined to confront him about the game he’s playing and to find a way to resolve this situation once and for all.
A strange tension begins to build behind my eyes when it becomes obvious he’s not in the house. Maybe he’s back at the tennis courts or in his gym?
After checking both of these, and the pool too, I trudge back to the house feeling my previous chutzpah slipping away. He seems to have abandoned me here.
The thought that he’s punishing me by leaving me alone with just my scrambled thoughts for company sends an arrow of fear through me.
Would he really do that?
Probably, I decide—in order to take control further out of my hands. He’s reminding me that I’m on his turf and that he gets to decide how this plays out.
As I walk back towards the house I notice a movement on the terrace and my heart leaps when I realise it’s Jamie. He appears to be laying out food and drinks for lunch.
So he hasn’t abandoned me here after all.
Relief rushes through me, as does a twisted sense of exhilaration at the sight of him. He’s changed too, into casual baggy khaki shorts and a white V-neck T-shirt. He looks good. Relaxed and at home.
I experience a rush of jealousy for the life he’s made for himself here. God, I’d love to have an island to hide away on when life gets too much. Where I could turn off my raging brain and justbe.
With him?
I stop dead in my tracks, aware of my fists bunching at my sides, my nails digging into my palms.
Where the hell had that thought come from? It’s ridiculous to think we could get back what we had all those years ago. Too much has happened to allow for it. And I can’t be with him, not properly, knowing what I do and deliberately keeping it from him. If he ever found out...
I shake the thought from my head. That’s not going to happen. I told myself ten years ago to bury the truth—for everyone’s sake.
‘Are you hungry?’ I hear Jamie shout. He’s spotted me standing there staring at him as he lays the table for lunch.
I swallow hard and raise my hand in acknowledgement, then start walking towards the terrace.
He flashes me a smile and I drag in an involuntary breath as the beauty of it hits me full-force. The memory of his mouth on me, teasing and torturing me into a frenzy of desire, fills my head and I feel my legs wobble as blood rushes to my head and my pussy simultaneously.
Being in a constant state of arousal for the last couple of days has really messed with my mind. And my balance, it seems.
‘It’s gazpacho,’ he says, waving towards the bowls of chilled soup and a big mound of soft rolls on the table as I step onto the terrace.
‘Great,’ I reply, keeping my expression blank and my mind on the challenge of not reacting to his allure in any way.
He’s all relaxed again now, as if the scene in the pool never happened. Well, fine, I can act as if it didn’t either.
I take a seat opposite him and pick up my spoon, annoyed to find my hand is shaking. I put the spoon down again and pick up a bread roll instead, tearing it apart to give my twitchy fingers something to do.
‘I owe you an apology,’ he says, startling me.
I look up to see him assessing me with that shrewd gaze of his.
‘Oh?’ I say blandly. I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of a response until I’ve heard what he has to say. This could just be another trick, a way to unnerve me further.
