Angel Uncovered (25 page)

Ethan sweetly called out encouragement, telling her
how great she was doing, and Angel did her best not to
smirk because she'd found it so easy. She body surfed a
couple more waves then completely shocked Ethan by
standing up and surfing the wave. She was being all cocky
and was set to give him the finger halfway through when
she lost her balance and tumbled inelegantly off the
board. He quickly swam after her and grabbed her round
her waist.

'You really are a great teacher!' she said, all mock
innocence.

'And you're such a liar, making out you hadn't surfed
before!' Ethan exclaimed, lifting her up and then hurling
her into the sea. Angel screamed in protest, while secretly
admiring his strength. She went under and emerged
spluttering from the salt water, but still laughing.

'Okay, you think you're so good, then we're going
to go up a level. I want to see some serious surfing,' Ethan
ordered her, and for the next hour he worked with her
to improve her technique. Grudgingly Angel had to
admit he was a great teacher and a fantastic surfer. She
really enjoyed herself. It had been ages since she had
done anything as fun as this. But finally she had to plead
with him to stop, genuinely worn out by her exertions.
Even with a wet suit on she was starting to feel cold.

'Shall I unzip you?' Ethan asked as they stood on the
shore. Angel nodded, thinking it all felt a little too
intimate now. She'd preferred being in the water with
him. Being alone on the beach felt more dangerous.

'I'm freezing,' she exclaimed, and Ethan handed her a
towel which she gratefully wrapped round her to dry off
before she quickly pulled on her jeans and white cotton
sweater over her bikini. Just because Ethan had
practically seen her naked didn't mean she didn't feel
self-conscious wearing a bikini in front of him. 'God, I
must look a wreck!' she exclaimed, running her fingers
through her wet salty hair and flopping down on to the
picnic blanket.

'No, you look beautiful – all healthy and fresh. You
look good with make up, but better without it,' he said,
gazing at her.

'Oh,
perlease!'
Angel shot back. 'That is just the worst
line. And I bet you say it to all the girls.'

Ethan shook his head. 'I know you want to see me as
some kind of player, but where you're concerned I'm
not.'

Feeling both unsettled and flattered by his attention,
Angel just shrugged and changed the subject. 'I'm
starving, can we get something to eat?'

'I've brought a picnic for us,' he told her.

'Don't tell me you made it?' Angel teased him.

'Okay, my housekeeper did, but doesn't the thought
count?' Ethan replied. 'I suppose your husband is a really
good cook?'

For a few seconds Angel was jolted back to reality at the
thought of Cal.
No
, she told herself,
I'm not going to thinkabout him.
'He's a great cook,' she said brightly, then
changed the subject. 'So can we eat this amazing picnic
that your housekeeper has made?'

Ethan smiled at her. 'Yes, help yourself.' And he
opened the hamper to reveal a delicious feast of
antipasta, filled baguettes and fruit salad.

Angel had every intention of picking at the food in a
ladylike, I hardly eat a thing fashion, but found she was
so hungry after an afternoon spent surfing that she
stuffed her face.

'How refreshing to meet a girl who actually eats something!'
Ethan said, watching Angel biting heartily into a
mozzarella, tomato and pesto baguette. 'Most of the girls
I know would have taken one look at that picnic and run
off screaming, terrified they would get fat just by looking
at a piece of bread.'

When Angel had finished her mouthful she replied,
'Yeah, well, I'm not most girls and I've just spent the last
hour in the water. I deserve some carbs!'

*

After the picnic Ethan suggested a walk along the beach.
It was getting cooler now and Angel felt cold again. Ethan
noticed her shivering and handed her his leather biker's
jacket.

'No, I'm fine,' she protested.

'Have it,' he insisted, putting it over her shoulders.

She was grateful but couldn't blank out the memory of
Cal giving her his jacket to wear several years ago. At the
time she had thought it such a romantic gesture. Now,
wanting to banish any such thoughts, she quickly ran to
the waterline. There was going to be a beautiful sunset.
The sky was turning vivid shades of orange and pink, the
sun a huge flaming disc sinking towards the ocean.

'Come on,' she shouted back to Ethan, jogging by the
sea. 'Or has all that surfing worn you out?'

By way of answer he ran quickly towards her. 'Take a
hell of a lot more than that to tire me out, baby,' he said
when he caught up, 'I've got the most amazing stamina.'

'Oh yeah baby, I bet you have,' she replied sarcastically,
falling back into a walk. They strolled along the beach,
watching the sun set. She'd really enjoyed being with him
– the conversation had flowed so easily and she had found
herself warming to him even more. The flirtatious banter
between them was fun too, but more than that she was
intrigued by him when every now and then he said something
that revealed hidden depths to his character. But he
was right, Angel did want to see him as just a playboy. That
way she wouldn't have to risk taking him seriously.

'Well,' Ethan said, looking at his watch, 'I'm going to
have to drive you back now.'

'Another date?' Angel asked.

'So you agree,
this
was a date?' he replied, smiling.

'Of course not!' she replied hotly. 'We're just friends.'

'Umm, if you say so,' Ethan answered. 'But in answer
to your question, I am seeing another woman tonight . .
.' He paused and Angel put an
I told you so
look on her
face. 'My grandmother,' he continued.

Angel laughed. 'Yeah, right, is that what you call all
those lovely ladies who can't get enough of you!'

'No, seriously, I'm taking my grandmother to a show
tonight.'

Angel shook her head, not believing a word of it.

'Come with us then and you can see for yourself,' he
continued.

Angel hesitated. She was sure he didn't really want her
to come, and that he had a hot date, but maybe she'd call
his bluff. 'Okay then.'

But Ethan looked pleased by her acceptance. 'Fine. I'll
drop you off at the hotel and then get the limo to pick you
up later. The show starts at eight so there'll be time to
have a drink first and meet my grandmother.'

'Oh, yeah,' Angel replied cheekily, 'I can't wait to meet
Granny!'

Three hours later she was forced to eat her words when
she was introduced to Loretta, a well-preserved, well-dressed
woman in her late-seventies. She was completely
charming and a real character. She had been a successful
actress and still had the occasional film role. Angel
discovered that Ethan regularly took her out since her
husband had died a couple of years ago.

And there I was, wanting to write him off as a shallow player,
Angel thought, impressed by Ethan's kindness to his
grandmother. Not only was he gorgeous-looking, he was
actually coming across as a really nice guy. Damn! She
didn't need this complication, she wanted everything to
be black and white, wanted Ethan to be a good-looking
flirt and nothing more, didn't she?

Loretta clearly adored her grandson but was also wise
to his ways and spent the meal after the show teasing him
about his love life. 'I keep wondering when he's going to
settle down, Angel. Don't you think he's old enough?
He's going to be thirty next year,' she said, putting Angel
on the spot.

'Are you sure he's the settling down type?' she replied,
trying to keep things light.

'Oh, yes, no doubt about that, he'd love to have kids,'
Loretta continued. And then to Angel's horror said,
'What a pity you're married, you'd be perfect for Ethan.
He wouldn't be able to run rings round you like he does
all his other women. And I can tell that he really likes
you.'

Angel couldn't look at Ethan, aware that she was
blushing furiously. It was one thing to be told by Ethan's
friends that he had a thing about her, quite another to be
told that by his grandmother.
Fortunately Ethan rescued her. 'I quite like her,
Loretta, but her surfing would need to improve and
she'd have to learn the rules of baseball. She didn't even
know what a home run was!'

Now Angel raised her eyes to look at him. He was
smiling and gazing right at her. She tried to hide the confusion
she felt by sipping her champagne. She realised
that if she didn't take care, she was in danger from those
knowing blue eyes of his, but she couldn't deny the
attraction . . .

At the end of the evening, against her better
judgement, she agreed to have dinner with him again the
following night.
It's just a bit of fun,
she told herself as she
lay down in bed. But a small voice inside her asked,
Whatif there's more to it than that? What if I really like him?

She spent the next day shooting the rest of the pictures
for her calendar. This time the location was a studio and
in contrast to the natural look of the beach shots, now she
needed to be in full siren mode – red lipstick, smoky eyes,
and wearing an array of sexy black and pink lingerie and
stockings. But as she posed away so confidently, inside
her head was in a whirl as she tried to work out what she
should do about seeing Ethan tonight. A dinner date
seemed like a step beyond friendship and did she really
want to take it? She knew he liked her and it would be
easy to take things further but was that really a good
idea?

It was all so confusing. She wished Gemma was with
her, she could have done with her clear-headed advice. If
Cal hadn't been unfaithful, never in a million years
would she be in the position of going out for dinner with
Ethan. She would have felt as if she was betraying her
husband, even if absolutely nothing happened.

By the time she returned to her hotel she was seriously
having second thoughts about seeing Ethan again. Cal
had phoned her. He sounded so happy to talk to her, so
pleased that her shoot had gone well, she couldn't help
feeling guilty that she was going out for dinner with
another man. She had wanted to torment Cal, tell him
that she was seeing someone who wanted her, but
suddenly she found that she couldn't. Quite why that was
she didn't know, it would have been one small way of
punishing him for what he'd done, and God knows he
deserved it . . .

Angel checked her appearance in the mirror. She was
wearing a short gold sequined dress with thin straps
which she teamed with her favourite Louboutins and a
cropped black leather jacket. The dress didn't flaunt too
much cleavage but there was no disguising Angel's
stunning figure – curvaceous but slim. Because she didn't
want Ethan to think she was trying too hard, she'd kept
her make up to the minimum – just tinted moisturiser,
mascara and lip gloss – and she wore her hair down. She
anxiously looked at her watch. Just ten minutes before he
was due to arrive, too late to cancel. She sighed and
looked through the pictures of Cal she had on her phone,
as if they would tell her what to do for the best. As she
gazed at him she wondered whether he'd had second
thoughts before his night with Alessia? Had he thought of
his wife at all? And imagining that he hadn't, she snapped
her phone shut.
Oh, Cal, why did you do it?
she thought for
the millionth time.

She paced up and down her suite, wishing she knew
what to do for the best. She felt completely at sea. At
precisely eight thirty Ethan called to let her know that he
had arrived. She grabbed her bag and quickly left the
room before she could change her mind.

Ethan was waiting for her in the hotel lobby. He was
wearing a beautifully cut midnight blue suit that accentuated
his blue eyes, and a white shirt. He looked
seriously sexy.

'Wow,' he said when he saw her, 'you look gorgeous.'
And as he kissed her he added, 'But you knew that,
right?'

Angel shrugged off his compliments. 'I'll do.' As they
were driven to the restaurant in Ethan's limo the two of
them once more fell easily into conversation, though
Angel kept having to remind him to stop being quite so
flirtatious. 'We're having dinner as friends,' she chided
him when he paid her yet another compliment. 'I'm
married, remember?'

'Oh, I know,' he replied. 'It's just not something I
like
to remember.'

When they walked into the restaurant Angel was aware
of women turning their heads to get a better view of
Ethan, and she couldn't blame them. He was easily the
most handsome man there. He was also perfect company
– witty, charming, entertaining, and those blue eyes were
always looking at her . . . If Angel had been single she
would have been more than tempted. Well, to be honest
she probably would have skipped dinner and taken him
straight back to her hotel . . . but as she chatted to him she
felt full of conflicting emotions. Unconsciously she
twisted her wedding ring round and round on her
finger. Half of her didn't want to be here at all, wanted to
be with Cal, but the other was drawn to Ethan . . .

'You don't have to keep touching your wedding ring!'
he exclaimed, catching her fiddling with it again. 'I
haven't forgotten and I haven't done anything I
shouldn't have, have I?' At this he leaned back in his chair
and stared boldly at her, his long legs brushing against
hers.

'Though I have to say, if you were my wife, I wouldn't
like the thought of you going out with someone like me.
Not one little bit. So how is your marriage really, Angel?'

'My marriage is great, thanks,' she replied, though she
knew her voice sounded brittle and false. 'And I don't see
what the big deal is about having dinner with you. We're
just friends.'