Page 32 of Enemies Under One Roof

‘Here? Now?’ Her voice rose, failing to hide her surprise and a hitch of excitement.

‘Why not?’ He shrugged nonchalantly, except his eyes were intent and watchful.

She opened her mouth to decline, knowing it was the last thing she needed, but she wanted to. Just one dance. A fitting way to honour their decision, she tried to kid herself.

‘Okay,’ she said quickly before she could change her mind.

He smiled, her heart flipped and he pulled out his phone, flicking through the screen until something slow and sultry played.

He held out a hand. ‘Ready?’

She placed hers in his and he pulled her, in one easy move, against his chest. She puffed in surprise and grabbed his shoulder, heat curling through her veins at their connection.

Keeping her gaze level with his chin and the stubble covering it, she dared not to look any higher in case he caught a glimpse of what she was feeling. And it wasn’t friendship.

‘Relax,’ he whispered against her hair, before they began moving around the room in an easy waltz. She’d learnt to ballroom dance for a movie role, but it hadn’t felt like this, like she was floating and perfectly in sync with her partner.

His hand anchored at the base of her spine, her hem swirling around her ankles, she forgot everything except making the most of this stolen moment, longing for the song to never end. When it did, their steps slowed and she put her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and taking a deep lingering breath of Ethan, knowing she’d never forget this.

But it was only friendship. All he’d promised. All she could offer. And even that she didn’t deserve.

She shuddered, and his sharp inhale in response echoed through her and she knew it was now or never. Gathering the last vestiges of control she pushed at his chest. His hold tightened momentarily, then loosened as she stepped back, and his hands fell to his side.

‘Thank you, Ethan. That was…’ Magical. Unforgettable. ‘A fitting way to celebrate,’ she said to a spot on the wall over his shoulder, before clenching her fists to meet his gaze. A flash of hunger burnt in the blue depths, but was quickly extinguished as he crossed his arms.

‘You’re welcome,’ he intoned, and she hurried out of the ballroom, her stilettos loud on the parquetry floor…not daring to stay any longer with him and the temptation only he evoked.

Chapter Ten

LATER THAT NIGHT, Ethan stared out of his bedroom window, yet his mind was still in the ballroom. What had he been thinking, suggesting they dance? Having her pressed against him like they were made to measure and perfectly in tune? He groaned and tunnelled a hand through his hair. Surely his memory was playing tricks on him, but he knew it wasn’t.

He’d wanted to do something to honour the moment and their decision, especially after the last week since their kiss in the kitchen when he’d slammed the brakes on, knowing he couldn’t cross that line with her ever again. Luckily then she couldn’t read his mind, see how tempted he’d been to become more than friends. How many times in the last week had he waged a war with himself over the very same thing?

His shoulders slumped, exhausted from the constant battle because it had become harder, not easier, to rein himself in. To hold her figuratively at arms’ length.

What if he didn’t need to? The thought jackknifed through him.

What if they became short-term friends with benefits, eradicating this itch for her once and for all, because surely she felt the connection between them as well? An understandable connection, considering the amount of time they’d been spending together, getting to know each other in a highly emotive atmosphere.

His computer beeped and he headed to it, grateful for the distraction. He pushed a button and Luc, then Cam appeared on its screen for their monthly video call.

The tug of affection for his two best friends put an automatic smile on his lips.

Luc wore a black suit jacket, paired with a black shirt and tie, no doubt another in a long line of designer ones he favoured. His startling green eyes and thick dark hair had gained him many admirers over the years. The stunning Thames view behind him confirmed the obvious, that not surprisingly, he was still in his office at 9:00 p.m.

Cam, his mussed blond hair looking like he’d just run a distracted hand through it, was overdue for a cut. But then again, he always had been, except during the school term. His T-shirt, Ethan would wager, was more than a decade old, and it featured an obscure mathematics joke that few would get. Black-rimmed glasses magnified intelligent and watchful eyes.

All three men couldn’t have been more different, with more disparate upbringings, yet it hadn’t prevented them from forging an unbreakable bond during their boarding school years and every holiday spent together at WillowGlen. They understood each other in ways no-one else could, and not only because each one had had a target on their back at school.

Ethan, thanks to his famous parentage, including his mother’s numerous well-publicised affairs and the photos of him crying on the doorstep the day they’d died. And as a result of selling stories to the tabloids about him, those three seniors at school had been expelled, only adding to Ethan’s reputation and making him an outcast.

Cam had been living in the shadow of an older brother whose exploits were legendary, despite finishing school five years before Cam had started. His brother, an Adonis look-alike, who’d not only been school captain, but also of the rugby, cricket, and swimming teams.

The comparisons to Cam, who couldn’t be termed a natural athlete, although he was a brilliant fencer and chess player, had been never-ending. Still, he’d refused, point blank, to be captain of either club. In their final year exams, he’d bombed dramatically in one of his favourite subjects, and Ethan believed he’d thrown the test; otherwise he would have been the Dux.

Not that it would have made any difference to Cam’s parents; they’d never visited their son and had blocked every avenue for him to head to his ancestral home for the holidays.

On the other hand, Luc’s single mother had made an appearance at school, one month before she died. A visit that had been the stuff of fantasy for a majority of the students and abject horror for her son. Soon after, Ethan had come across Luc, taking on the school bullies who’d loved making it more graphic in every telling. A red haze had appeared before Ethan’s eyes, and before he’d known it, he’d thrown his first ever punch. To his great surprise, so had Cam, who’d been taking the same shortcut as well.