“And what about you, Harry? What did you get up to today?” Amber asked. Harry could tell she was pleased to direct the conversation away from John, not asking him anything else about the session or the massage.
Harry looked at her warmly. “No massages for me. I spent some time in the business centre, then had a beer out on deck.”
John nudged him. “Can you believe this guy chose to go and do some work? Chose emails over a massage?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. I had some unfinished work that I wasn’t able to wrap up before the trip. I was waiting on some information. It finally came in so I could finalise a presentation—”
“That you won’t need until you get back—” John interrupted.
“No. But the briefing is two days after I get back, so this way, I can have the rest of the team review the presentation now, and it’ll be all systems go on my return.” Harry was aware of his voice rising and reined in his annoyance. “It’ll mean less pressure when I do get back to work, given it wasn’t really a good time for me to take a holiday anyway.”
“Is the presentation for the new application your company is building?” Evan asked, thankfully preventing Harry from ripping into John.
“Yeah, it is.” Harry relaxed and focused on Evan. “I got the final market research info so we could finalise the business case and update the PowerPoint. Sales numbers and profit margins are looking positive, so I’m hoping we get full funding and can move into the next stage of the project.”
Evan grinned. “Fingers crossed.”
“I have no idea why you left such a high-profile company like Mercer and Brown to move to an unknown company anyway. Everything could fall through and then where would you be?” John said. “In my opinion, you’d have been better off not taking this job.”
“Good thing your opinion doesn’t matter then, isn’t it?” Harry snapped at John. He couldn’t keep the venom from his voice.I’m so over this.
Thankfully the waiters turned up at that moment, one bringing a breadbasket, the other delivering their wine.
Harry saw Amber raise her eyebrows towards Evan, obviously querying Harry’s little hissy fit. He felt like such a dick for bringing tension to the table. He picked up a piece of bread and focused on smearing it with butter. By the time he’d put his knife down, he’d settled his temper and looked to Amber. He gave her a small smile, hoping she recognised his apology.
He chanced a glance at John, who met his gaze with steely eyes.If looks could kill.John broke off the stare and proceeded to tear his sourdough in half, ripping the bread as if it had done something to personally affront him.
Finally, Harry looked at Evan, surprised to see a broad smile on his face. “So, Harry, I’d love to hear more about this app your company is developing. It sounds exciting.”
Harry knew Evan was genuinely interested in the product—he’d indicated so over coffee that morning—but if Harry didn’t know better, he’d think Evan was purposely encouraging the discussion because he knew it would piss John off. He picked up his glass and took a sip of the red wine.
“Of course, Evan. I’d be happy to.” He met Evan’s grin with an even bigger one of his own.
7
They all tooktheir positions on the stage-cum-set, the same seats they’d sat in the day before yesterday. Evan placed an arm around Amber, and she settled against him. He could feel her shaking slightly and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Before too long, the lighting was adjusted, and the show’s host, Brian, took to the stage, along with Louise, his co-host.
“Today’s competition is going to be something different. As you all know, this competition is about how well you all know each other, with the aim of identifying our most loved-up romantic couple. Today we’re going to find out how romantic you are by having you prepare a romantic meal for your beau.”
“We have to cook?” Dennis sounded horrified. His partner, Mei, laughed.
“I’m assuming you’re not used to cooking, Dennis?” Brian asked.
Mei spoke up. “Oh, he’s used to cooking. He’s just not very good at it.”
Brian chuckled. “Luckily your cooking ability won’t be the only thing you’ll be judged on today. We’ll be ranking you based on thequalityof the meal but alsowhatyou choose to wow your partner with.”
“They do say that food is the way to win someone’s heart,” Louise said.
Brian nodded. “I hope you know what food will impress Mei, Dennis.”
Dennis rolled his eyes, and Evan guessed there wouldn’t be much culinary competition there, but he enjoyed watching the antics between the two of them.
“To help you with this challenge, I’d like to introduce you to Chef Dusk Marshall.” A man in chef’s whites walked out and bowed to them all. “Chef Marshall works on the ship and has taken some time out of his busy schedule to ensure you don’t either poison your lover or burn the ship down.” After the appropriate pause for laughter, Brian continued. “And as part of the rules, you will all have the opportunity to ask Chef Marshall one question, but remember it’sonequestion only, so make sure it’s a good one.”
“It’s great to be here,” Chef Marshall said. “I’m looking forward to seeing which of you are going to put me out of a job.”
The audience tittered.
