and when I woke up, they had moved on.’
She stared at him. ‘Well, you didn’t exactly make that clear, did you!’
‘Because I didn’t want to get into it with you!’
‘No, you just wanted to get into my pants!’ she hissed furiously.
He blinked but didn’t deny it. ‘What happened to me now defines me. It’s all people see when they see me. I didn’t want that, just for once.’
‘Yeah? Well, it worked, because I didn’t know. I had no idea! Do you really think I would have slept with my boss’s ex-husband if I’d had the faintest clue?’
‘Well, what the hell am I supposed to think, when I find you standing here with my son?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, probably the same as I thought watching you walk towards me just now! It’s just a peachy situation for us both!’
His eyes narrowed, the two of them back to the scratchy antagonism of their first meeting. ‘. . . And I’m her husband, by the way, not her ex. We’re not divorced.’
She arched an eyebrow. ‘Yet.’
‘That won’t be happening. Hanna still loves me.’
‘She loves Max.’ She saw the words strike him and she could see, then, how hard it must have been for Hanna to tell him the truth. His expression changed, hardening, and she saw all their former passion and playfulness of that Midsommar night curdle and sour. ‘And besides, what was the other night with me, if you’re still so in love with Hanna?’
He glowered at her. ‘Opportunity? Lust? Relief? Take your pick.’ Her mouth opened in outrage, but he stopped her. ‘And don’t say it wasn’t the same for you too. You’re still in love with your fiancé, and you didn’t want any more from me than I wanted from you. We were consenting adults, both lonely and drunk on Midsommar’s night. That was it.’
His words might be true, but they were still like body blows, leaving her breathless. Her world had just turned inside out in the space of five minutes.
He frowned again, as though just her presence, the mere sight of her, upset him. ‘Why are you even here? I told my wife, he’s a ten-year-old boy. He doesn’t need a nanny.’
‘Maybe not, but he needs a chaperone. Someone to protect him.’
‘From what?’ he scoffed. ‘He’s got me.’
Bell looked back at him evenly. ‘It’s you he needs protecting from.’
It was her words that drew blood this time. He visibly paled, looking wounded by the suggestion. ‘I would never hurt him.’
‘Maybe not intentionally,’ she agreed. ‘But given you thought threatening a court case was the right way to go about getting to see him, I’d say your judgement’s off.’
‘It was you who said people should be with the people they love on Midsommar’s!’ he retorted furiously.
‘Oh! So this is my fault?’
‘You know what I mean! I’ve already lost out on too much with him.’
‘Bell?’ Linus’s voice carried over to them and they turned to find him walking hesitatingly back towards them, his hands filled with pebbles.
‘It’s fine, Linus, we’re just coming!’ she called back with false cheer, beginning to walk too. He couldn’t see them fighting like this.
Emil matched her stride. ‘This won’t work!’ he insisted through gritted teeth.
‘Well, it’s going to have to.’
They marched in silence, arms swinging angrily in time, and she could sense his anger and resentment growing beside her.
‘Well, don’t think that what happened between us is—’
She stopped walking with a scoffing laugh. ‘Oh, I don’t. As far as I’m concerned, it’s already forgotten.’ She stared at him with mutinous eyes. ‘It was a terrible mistake – let’s just leave it at that.’
Chapter Fifteen
‘There. That wasn’t so bad, was it?’ she asked, tucking the thick linen sheets back into the side of the bed, holding him firmly. The little red Corvette car was on his bedside table; he’d put it in his pocket whilst they went exploring, his fingers running over it nervously like a lucky charm as he and his father exchanged their first words.
Linus stared back at her, his hair splaying on the pillow. ‘Not as bad as last time.’
‘Exactly.’ She sat on the side of the bed and smiled down at him. ‘So what do you think about him now?’
He shrugged.
‘I think he seems nice enough,’ she said lightly, still aware of the small vibration in her bones at the way he’d talked to her earlier. But it wasn’t up to her to make this relationship work, only to allow it space to grow – safely. ‘He found that nice-shaped stone on