Chapter 12
Cam finally let me go. I hit the ground and just stood there in front of him, smoothing my dress down – not that it mattered now. My actual half-naked crotch had been in his face.
‘I didn’t think I’d catch you out with that one, not after all these years,’ he said.
‘What the hell are you doing here, Cam?’ I shot back.
His hair was tousled, his cheeks were flushed pink, and a thin layer of sweat was busy glistening on his forehead like fucking glitter.
This man was a very dangerous thirst trap; he offered the kind of cool hydration that led to extremely poor life decisions followed by years of deep, deep regret.
Well, I was not thirsty. I was not going to drink from his cocktail of charm and too-good looks. I would rather dehydrate.
We were both out of breath as we stood there.
Wrestling with Cam had always been a challenge, and after six years of not sparring with him, it was like being thrown back into the deep end.
His eyes flicked up and down my body, soaking me in from head to toe.
I thrust my chin into the air indignantly, bracing myself for whatever smug comment I was sure was about to come my way.
‘I know it’s been six years, and a lot changes, but I never thought I’d see you in a dress,’ he said.
‘You haven’t answered my question.’ I crossed my arms over my chest; I felt so vulnerable in this outfit. Without my usual armour – my tough, no-nonsense attire – I was naked. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I could ask you the exact same question.’ He folded his arms too, mirroring my stance, and the two of us stood there locked in a silent stand-off.
I knew all too well that neither of us was going to break.
We were both just as stubborn and could quite happily stand here for twenty-four hours until one of us passed out from the pain of holding in a pee.
‘What do you want with Victor?’ I asked.
‘What do you want with Victor?’ he countered.
‘What makes you think I’m here for Victor?’
He rolled his eyes at me and another smile curved his lips. ‘Lizzy Brown, InQuest Investigators, South Africa’s most sought-after private investigator, “working discreetly, efficiently and with the utmost confidentiality”.’
‘Why are you quoting my website?’
He shrugged and then looked around the room. ‘Did his wife hire you? Or is there another jealous mistress hiding somewhere?’
‘Discreetly and confidentially.’ I tightened my folded arms. ‘Who hired you?’
Cam stepped back, breaking our deadlock, which surprised me. ‘Maybe I’m just here to enjoy a tropical vacation. Been overworked lately, needed a break, and this place is, well, it’s rather idyllic, don’t you think?’
‘It does boast some very abundant birdlife,’ I said, free to move now that he’d lost that round. I walked over to my camera and picked it up. ‘Been getting some great pics today.’ I slowly looped the camera strap around my neck.
‘I had no idea you were such an ornithophile.’
‘Ooh, that’s a rather big word for you,’ I said, and glared at him. ‘I’ve also become quite a keen herpetologist. You should see the photos of the tree frogs I got yesterday.’
‘I’d love to look at them sometime.’ He wiped his damp forehead with his arm, then ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back from his face.
‘Your hair could do with a trim,’ I pointed out, as some of the longer strands flopped back down.
‘Told you, I’m on vacation.’
I narrowed my eyes at him, as if it might bring the lies and secrets that I knew he was hiding into sharp, crystal-clear focus.
‘Your hair looks great, by the way,’ he said.
I reached up and touched it. The wrestling had ripped it from its bun, and I didn’t need a mirror to know what it looked like – wild curls everywhere.
I ran my fingers through it, trying to locate the elastic, but it was nowhere to be found.
I glanced around the floor . . . empty. But when I looked back up again, there it was.
Dangling from Cam’s finger like a trophy.
‘Looking for this?’ he asked, not even trying to hide the fat smirk on his face.
I shot him a very disapproving look before walking back up to him.
We were face to face now. It was a face I’d dreamt about over the years, but not in that way.
I’d mainly fantasised about punching him in that perfect nose of his.
It had always made me happy to think of the bruise that would have radiated outwards. I must have smiled at the thought.
‘What’s amusing you so much?’ he asked.
I tilted my head and looked at his nose from a different angle. ‘If you must know, I was thinking about breaking your nose.’
He burst out laughing, a sound I hadn’t heard in years.
‘Why’s that so funny?’ I asked angrily.
‘It’s just good to see that while you look different,’ he ran his eyes up and down my body again, and I noticed him swallow as he did so, ‘really different’ – his voice was slightly breathy now, and I didn’t like it – ‘the fundamentals are still the same.’
‘What, that I still hate you?’
‘That’s not what it looked like last time I saw you.’
‘Bastard.’ I lurched forward and grabbed the elastic. But the second my fingers wrapped around it, Cam tightened his grip. I yanked as hard as I could, the poor elastic stretching to breaking capacity – just like I was being stretched right now.
‘Looks like whoever lets go first will give the other a bit of a sting,’ Cam said.
‘And as much as I would love that, Cam, I’m not letting go.’
He smiled at me again, and then made a big show of settling himself into a more comfortable, relaxed position.
He moved his weight onto his other leg, ran his free hand through his hair again and cocked his hip, as if he was settling in for a night of Netflix on the couch with an ice-cold beer.
The sheer audacity of this man. ‘Well, neither am I, so we’d better settle in for a long stand-off. ’
We glared at each other. Neither of us was going to loosen our grip on the hairband, that much was certain.
‘So what have you been up to these six years?’ he asked casually. As if nothing was going on and we weren’t attempting to kill each other over hair accessories.
‘Are you trying to make small talk?’
‘Well, since it looks like we’re going to be here for a while, we might as well get reacquainted.’ He leaned in for a second and studied my hand. ‘No ring? Haven’t met that special someone yet?’
‘He’s at home. Sidney,’ I said quickly, and something passed over his face. It was quick, almost imperceptible, but I’d seen it.
‘Congratulations. I hope he can handle you.’
I scrunched my face up into what I hoped looked like total disdain. ‘Oh, he handles me just fine, thanks.’
‘Good to know.’
I felt this absurd urge to ask him if he was single. But no!
‘So now what?’ I said instead.
‘I suppose we just stand here until someone decides to let go of the band.’
‘That’s not what I was referring to.’
‘Then I’m sure I have no idea what you’re referring to,’ he said.
‘Were you always this slow, or is that a recent development?’
He laughed again. ‘I forgot how fun this was.’
‘Well, you’d better enjoy it, because it’s never going to happen again.’
We maintained eye contact, neither of us blinking.
I would be damned if I was going to be the first one to break, even though my eyes were beginning to sting and my vision was starting to blur.
Luckily, he was the one who finally dropped his gaze.
I mentally breathed a sigh of relief, which quickly changed to something else as I felt his eyes roam my body once more, my face, chest, down to my waist and hips and then back up, where they finally settled on my neck.
‘Forgotten what I look like?’ I quipped, trying to hide the fact that my neck suddenly felt like it was on fire.
He stepped forward. ‘Never.’
‘Asshole!’ I yanked even harder, but still the elastic didn’t budge. ‘What are you really doing here?’ I asked.
‘I told you—’
I cut him off. ‘Yeah, yeah, enjoying a holiday.’
‘And you?’
‘I told you too—’
‘Yeah, yeah, birdwatching. Got it,’ he said. ‘Seems like we’re both going to have to figure out a way of doing whatever it is that we came here to do without getting in each other’s way. You know, me relaxing by the pool and you snapping pics of our fine feathered friends.’
‘You forgot the tree frogs,’ I added.
‘Of course, how could I forget those,’ he said, another smug smile playing on his lips.
‘And how are we going to do that?’ I asked.
‘We could start by avoiding cupboards, I suppose.’
I glanced at the closet behind him, relieved to finally be out of it. Yet somehow I’d managed to trade one kind of strange confinement for another.
‘I won’t get in your way if you don’t get in mine,’ I said firmly.
‘Deal. I would shake your hand, but . . .’ He looked at the elastic, smugness oozing from him now.
‘Who says I’d shake it anyway?’ I shot back.
He laughed again, even though as far as I was concerned there was nothing even vaguely amusing about this situation. ‘And what are we going to do about this elastic band?’ He gestured to it with a nod of his head.
I was about to say something biting and snarky when a sudden noise made us both turn.
‘Just forgot the sunscreen!’ we heard a familiar female voice call, followed by footsteps outside.
‘Seems like someone is going to make that decision for us,’ Cam said.
He stood there eyeing me, waiting, watching for me to pull away first. I glanced at the door. The footsteps were getting closer now. I looked back at him, and he’d raised an eyebrow at me in question.
I raised mine right back, planting my feet firmly on the floor and giving him my best death stare. Challenge on, and I was not going to be the one to lose. If he thought I was going to let go of this elastic band first, he was so wrong.
‘Seems like one of us is going to need to tap out very soon,’ he said calmly.
I looked at the door again as the steps came closer.
Shit! I was trying not to show my growing panic, but any second now that door was going to open.
I was stubborn and didn’t want to give in, but I wasn’t so stubborn that I was prepared to totally blow my cover and screw up this job.
And certainly not over Cam. Nothing in my life would ever be screwed up because of him again. Not happening.
His eyes flicked towards the door, and I seized the opportunity. I swung my elbow, digging the pointiest bit into the top of his arm. He winced and let go of the band. And that was my cue.
I ran. I grabbed my stuff and headed straight for the back door. When I reached it, I threw a quick look over my shoulder. Cam hadn’t moved; he was standing dead still, rubbing his arm and looking in my direction, as if . . .
‘Asshole!’ I hissed as he smiled at me. He was actually enjoying this. But his smile quickly disappeared when the main door began to open. And that was my cue to smile, because as I exited, Cam was making a beeline for the closet again.
Victory was mine . . . for now, anyway.
She was fucking furious, flustered and magnificent. Gripping an elastic band like it held the fate of the entire universe. Maybe it did. She looked ready to kill me, and weirdly, I’d missed that. The fire, the sarcasm. God, I was in trouble.
As she bolted out the back door, all long, muscular legs and wild hair, I stood there smiling like a complete idiot.
Because she was back. And somehow, so was the spark between us.
Well, I’d felt it anyway, and if I was a betting man, I would say that she’d felt it too.
What do they say about love and hate . . . a fine line.
I barely made it back into the closet before the door to the villa opened, and I was still grinning as I crouched down. This round was hers – for now, anyway.