Enemies with Benefits

скачать книгу бесплатно


Izzy picked up her bags and shook her head. ‘Rubbish. We’ll come with you to set the traps. I’m so glad you’ve chosen the humane ones—I’d hate to see anything get hurt. We can be The Three Mouseketeers, releasing the mice into their true habitat outdoors. You must call me if you catch any. I’d love to see them. Then we’ll tag along and see what an amazing bar you’ve created, Isaac. I’ve heard so much about it.’ She turned to Poppy. ‘Come on, please? I don’t get the chance to do this very often. I feel like living dangerously. Okay?’

‘Oh, okay. Just a quick drink, but I’m on water.’ Poppy sighed.

And for just a second he was back in that bed watching as she fell asleep. How many times had he shared his bed? Too many to count. And no woman sleeping had made his heart squeeze as she had last night, as if he’d wanted to protect her, to stop her feeling as rotten as she clearly felt. To stop her needing to outright ask for a sexual experience. The accidental glimpse of a woman’s nipples hadn’t ever before made him feel so aroused.

No woman had looked so damned hot with a hangover either.

His groin tightened as he watched her. Goddamn—he needed a bit of distance, not to give her a guided tour of his bar.

Catching Isaac’s eye, she frowned and shook her head minutely, but just enough for him to understand. He got the message loud and clear. Don’t mention it, don’t think about it and definitely don’t ever consider spending another night in my bed.

Which was one hundred per cent fine by him.

Blue lived up to the hype. Even through foggy hangover vision Poppy could see why Isaac had won the Best New Bar Award this year. Decorated in vivid midnight blue with a wall of cascading turquoise water in the centre of what used to be a bank it was startling, edgy and yet a very comfortable place to be with soft, plump easy chairs she sank into.

Or would have been comfortable if she hadn’t been in direct eye line of Isaac all afternoon, on tenterhooks wondering what the heck he was going to say and how she was going to answer. He’d always had slick one-liners, been far too cocky for his own good and she was so out of her league here—tongue-tied with embarrassment.

As it was mid-afternoon the place was quiet with just a couple of other customers sitting up at the long mahogany bar reading the extensive cocktail menu. Izzy tapped her martini glass against Poppy’s sparkling water. ‘Cheers. I’m very impressed—no wonder he’s doing so well if all his bars are like this. He’s a bit of a mystery, though, isn’t he? Flitting in and out of the country … He’s sort of been vaguely around the edge of our group on and off for years, then he’s suddenly rich and successful and renting a room at yours.’

Poppy nodded. ‘Believe me, the renting’s only temporary. He wouldn’t have been my first choice of flatmate. But when Alex offered him your old room I couldn’t exactly say no. I guess Alex thought he was doing us both a favour.’

Izzy winced. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you in a mess.’

‘Ah, look, I’m a landlady, I have to expect these things to happen. Funny, though, we were so settled for all those years, just you, me and Tori in our lovely flat.’

‘Your lovely flat.’

‘Yes, well, I always thought of it as ours really—you helped me find it and decorate it. I just bankrolled it. But then in the space of two months everything’s changed so much I can barely keep up. Tori moved out to be with Mark, and you moved out to live with Harry. Alex moved in, Tori moved back into the box room, Isaac took your old room. And just to spice things up a bit, we had Matt for a month. I’m getting a bit dizzy. It’s like the place has a revolving door at the moment.’ If only Isaac could see fit to revolve out permanently instead of staying over for a few nights here and there … usually unannounced. Still, paying full rent in advance meant his contribution to the mortgage was a big relief to her money worries. In the short term. ‘Besides, with his job he’s hardly around.’ Until recently. Now it felt as if he was around rather too much for her liking.

‘And he hasn’t got a girlfriend? Or at least no woman to stay with until his flat’s ready.’

‘Oh, trust me, he’s had plenty of women.’ Poppy sipped her water and thought briefly about exchanging it for something stronger so she could find some of the bravado she must have had last night. Kissing someone—not even asking, just kissing—took guts. She hadn’t known she had any. Not those kind of guts, anyway. Asking for what she wanted, taking what she wanted. Typical it had ended in disaster.

Izzy clarified, ‘No long-term woman.’

‘According to Alex, Isaac’s dating record is a month. Thirty days. That’s not enough to give anything a chance. I’ve heard of the kind of things he used to get up to with Alex and it’s not pretty. The man’s just a flirt. No self-respecting woman would want long term with him, anyway, not that he’d ever offer. I think watching his mother have failed marriage after failed marriage has put him off any kind of commitment.’ So said the ex–junior psychiatrist in her.

She watched him so comfortable there behind the bar with his colleagues, laughing and joking. The smart shirt accentuated the pecs of steel she’d seen this morning. Her mind drifted back to the tight boxers and her heart rate escalated. She swallowed another gulp of water to douse an unexpected heat rushing through her. God. Hot and bothered just by looking at a man. This never happened. Never. Was she eighteen again?

Ugh. She shuddered. She damned well hoped not.

‘There’s a funny vibe between you two. There’s always been a funny vibe, but it’s getting more vibrant.’

Bless Izzy and her wishful happyed-up thinking. ‘There’s no vibe.’

Her friend touched her arm. ‘Just be careful.’

This was the girl Poppy had known for ever. Only once had she ever kept a secret from her; every other single thing about their lives they had shared. Openly. Everything. And yet she didn’t want to tell Izzy about last night, about kissing Isaac and the weird sensations he was instilling in her. Didn’t want to confess about the hole she felt she had in her personal life and the inadequacies in her professional one. All of which could be fixed by one kind, considerate and caring man and a little sexperience. Isaac did not fit that bill.

But inside her head the only image was of naked shoulders peeking out of her sheets. Too-blue eyes teasing, hot breath on her neck, and tight black boxers. Always the black boxers.

Everything tingled. Every damned thing. ‘Me and Isaac? I don’t think so. Seriously.’

Izzy nodded. ‘You’re probably right—too close to home. Too weird after all these years. He’s definitely good to look at though.’

‘Says the married-woman-to-be.’

‘Hey, I’m getting married, not joining a convent.’ Izzy drained her glass. ‘I said be careful, I didn’t say don’t act on the vibe. You could always just have a little …’ her eyes widened ‘… fun.’

Sexual fun? She’d have to look that up in the dictionary.

A crash and the sound of breaking glass had them turning to look back to the bar. Isaac was holding a towel over one of the barmen’s hands. He turned to look at her directly, raised his eyebrows summoning her over. The day was rapidly spiralling into disaster. This was not how she’d planned to spend her holiday.

She stood, wishing that she’d chosen flower arranging instead of medicine as her vocation, then she wouldn’t need to be near him. Smelling him. Thinking about the black boxers. Ahem. Medical emergency?

She dragged on her game face. ‘Looks like I’m needed. Duty calls.’

Izzy stood, too, and grabbed her bags. ‘Do you want me to stay and help?’

‘No. I’ll be fine. You go. Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Harry?’

‘Yes, but … I don’t want to leave you.’

‘Seriously, I’m a doctor, I can manage. You go, this could take a little time. See you later.’

‘Hey, thanks for coming over.’ Isaac looked at the grimacing man and then back to Poppy. ‘My friend Poppy, here, is a doctor, very handy to have around. Jamie’s my business partner and he’s just had a contretemps with a glass. Got a nasty cut—do you think it’ll need stitches? I’ve got a first-aid kit.’

Ignoring the thud-thud of her heart as she got closer to the one person she should have been far away from, she pulled back the towel and peered at the gash. ‘It’s pretty deep. Yes. Yes, it needs sutures and I don’t have anything with me. Your first-aid kit probably won’t do. You’ll have to go to A and E or a GP surgery, I’m afraid.’

Isaac walked the barman to the seating area out front. ‘Okay, Jamie, sit down, mate. I’ll call a cab and come with you.’

‘And close up the bar? Don’t be daft.’

Poppy shook her head, grasping the ‘get out of jail free’ card. ‘I can go with you if you like? This is my kind of territory. I might be able to fast-track you through.’

Jamie looked at them both in turn. ‘Er … seriously? I stopped needing a nanny in primary school. It’s a cut hand, is all. Just get me a taxi and I’ll sort the rest. It’ll leave you short for tonight though, Isaac. Sorry, mate.’

‘Not your problem. Just get it fixed. I’ll be fine.’

‘With the Christmas cocktail lesson starting in thirty minutes? You reckon? How about you call Maisie in?’

Isaac frowned. ‘She’s gone to Oxford with her boyfriend.’

‘Carl?’

The frown deepened. ‘At some uni event. No worries, I’ll be fine. I can manage.’

Jamie turned to Poppy, holding his hand close to his chest. Blood seeped through the towel, vivid red contrasting with his blanching complexion. He needed to be gone and quick. ‘I know this is a long shot, but I don’t suppose you have any bar experience, do you?’

Spend more time with the man she’d shared a bed with? And who her body appeared to want a repeat performance with. This time, with full body contact?

No way. ‘Me? No. Not really.’

Jamie’s shoulders slumped. ‘Just for a couple of hours until I get back, or Isaac can get reinforcements?’

She looked at them both staring at her. Jamie hopeful. Isaac not so much. But heck, she had nothing to do for the next few hours … days … and no one to do it with. She might as well stay and be of use to someone as sit at home with four-legged furry friends and a bent Christmas tree. ‘I … well, I could collect glasses and take orders, I suppose.’

Isaac looked less than thrilled but relieved. ‘Are you sure? Thanks. Most excellent. That would be a great help. I can teach the class, no problem, it’s just the serving I need a hand with.’ He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek that sent shock waves of lust shivering through her. This was such a bad idea. ‘You’re a star.’

‘I know.’

As they watched Jamie leave in the taxi, Isaac stepped closer, eyes twinkling. ‘You never know, Popsicle, you might learn a few things. Cocktails are my speciality. Especially virgi—’

‘No. Don’t say it. Don’t even go there.’ She stabbed a finger into that hard wall of muscle he had for a chest, resisting the sudden urge to fist his shirt and pull him closer and press her lips to his again—just to remind her what he tasted like. ‘I’m doing this because you looked after me last night. Because you’re letting me have the private room for my party. And because you bought a mousetrap. After this we’ll be even. But be warned …’ She fought the urge to either slap or kiss his now teasing, grinning face. ‘One mention of virgins, almost or otherwise, and I’m gone.’

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_977755c0-a971-58fc-89fa-f5771b0cc4d6)

‘ONE RED-HOT RUDOLPH, two Christmas Kisses and a Candy Cane Caipirinha, please.’ Poppy shook her head as she gave the order to Isaac. Two hours of cocktail chaos and she was still getting used to the names of these things, and to carrying and fetching.

‘Righto, you’re getting the hang of this.’ He nodded and reached for a bottle of rum. ‘I wasn’t sure you’d be any use at all.’

‘Well, gee, thanks. This may surprise you, but I’m a woman of many talents. Mind you, it is very different from what I’m used to. I’m usually the one giving the orders, so being on the other side of them is a big smack to the ego. Keeping me real.’ She did quote marks with her fingers for the real. Because nothing kept you more real than assisting at a birth and seeing new life come into being. ‘But it’s a great crowd. I’m stacking up my good karma points and having fun. Surprisingly.’

Apart from having Isaac’s eyes following her around the whole time.

He might well have been just watching to make sure she was doing her job okay, but it felt strange. Intense. She felt scrutinised under his gaze and, every which way she thought about it, she came up wanting. Every sorry experience with him had shown her as an inadequate ingénue, even now after all these years. Had she really blurted out her stupid worries under the influence of way too many wines?

Still, at least the early rush was starting to die down and she could catch her breath. Shame, then, that it only ever seemed to stall when she was around Isaac. ‘Clever names. Who came up with them?’

He gave the cocktail-shaker thing a good shake, then poured a bright pink drink into a highball glass, leaned over the bar and popped it on Poppy’s tray along with a smaller, salt-rimmed lime-coloured drink. His shirt shifted over his body as he moved, straining across muscles that could not possibly have been honed just by making drinks in a bar. She knew he boxed with Matt and Alex when he was in town, other than that, she realised, she knew very little about his life. Apart from the colour of his boxer shorts. The width of his thighs. And the length … She nearly dropped the tray.

Lost for words, she dragged her eyes away and steadied herself. This was not like her and it was getting out of control.

He didn’t seem to notice. ‘The whole team had a brainstorming session and came up with the cocktail names. In a couple of weeks we’ll be running daily specials on the twelve cocktails of Christmas, so we needed twelve half-decent-sounding ones.’

‘That must have been fun. How refreshing to have a job where you can do fun stuff.’

‘You don’t have a laugh at work?’

‘Oh, yes, sometimes, of course. The clients are usually all gorgeous. But this is so … carefree. Making up names for drinks, choosing which music to play, picking out wall colours and decor.’

His eyebrows rose. ‘Running an internationally successful business is carefree? Wow, I’d love to see what you mean by intense? Hectic? Challenging?’

‘You know what I mean. It’s not life and death—and that’s just great.’ She pigged her eyes at him and enjoyed watching him laugh. ‘I love how you’ve given the clients a couple of recipes to take away and try at home, too. They seem really pleased with that.’

‘It always pays to give them an extra something. It’s good business.’ He pointed at the glasses. ‘This is a Christmas Kiss for table two and a Merry Margarita for table six. When you’ve delivered them you can take a break. The night shift staff are arriving soon so we’ll be a little less busy.’

Thank goodness. Being a busy registrar at the hospital was hard enough on her feet, but, despite the fun, waitressing made her back and shoulders hurt, too. She’d have a lot more respect for waitresses in the future. She walked towards what she thought was table six. Had an uncharacteristic mind melt. Was it over in the right corner? Left?

Suddenly a hand clamped round her backside making her jump and nearly lose the glasses onto the floor. ‘Hey, little lady. Right in the perfect spot. You looking for someone, because I’m right here. Christmas kiss?’

}

What? She turned to find a short man with a nasty skin disease, which she’d definitely be looking up in a textbook later, and hair that needed a serious wash, violating her personal space. He reached out for the Merry Margarita and as she watched him she realised she’d been standing under a sprig of mistletoe. The groper grinned. ‘These for me? Keep ’em coming.’

‘Not unless you’re from table six and the last time I looked there were two women sitting there.’ She eased her bottom away from his hand. ‘Unless you’ve had a sudden sex change? Or would you like me to give you one? I’m a dab hand with a scalpel.’

He didn’t move, but his hand hovered perilously close. ‘I was just being friendly. It is the season to be merry.’

‘Jolly. It’s the season to be jolly. Now, walk away from my bottom.’ She found him her best sarcastic smile and looked down at his now empty hands. ‘Well done. Now, the bar’s to your left, the exit to your right. You choose. But any more groping and I’m choosing for you.’