He shook his head. “Ireland. She worked with a horse trainer over there who I think she was seeing. I don’t think it worked out too well but I don’t know any more than that. It’s been kept quiet by my mum.”
“She’s Marie’s niece, isn’t she?”
He nodded. “One of five siblings. We only do big families, but don’t tell Claire that. She’ll probably maim you.”
He was probably right. Claire spent most of her pregnancies complaining.
“Will they all be at Vic’s wedding?”
“More than likely. If they ever tell us when and where it is.” Seph sighed. “I worry she’ll see the light at some point and ditch his ass. Then he’ll go into a fucking long sulk and never speak to anyone again, other than to blame me for coffee being spilt on the photocopier.”
“To be fair, Seph, it is you who usually spills the coffee on the photocopier.” I’d heard a lot about the ongoing issues with it. Usually from Victoria who took a lot of amusement in Maxwell’s wrath.
“Not the point.”
“Don’t you think he’s good enough for her?” We started to walk back towards our hotel.
Seph was quiet and I remembered Vanessa telling me about how he’d had a crush on Vic when she and Max first started dating.
“No. Max is a great guy.”
“You would’ve liked to be with her yourself?”
He shrugged, looking more like an overgrown boy rather than the nearly thirty-year-old that he was.
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
Another shrug. “I think everyone knows anyway.”
* * *
We headed into the bar that overlooked the lagoon, giving me a glimpse of the property I hoped to own. Ava and Payton were already there with their boyfriends, Eli and Owen, but other than that, the bar was empty.
Except for one familiar looking back.
It was broad and the T-shirt on it was arguably too tight across wide shoulders which tapered down to a narrow waist. I knew from my internet stalking that underneath it was a series of intricate tattoos. I’d never gotten to see the pattern in person.
That had been one seriously embarrassing epic fail.
But clearly not enough to help erase it from my memory.
“I think I left something… somewhere.” I murmured the words and prayed for divine intervention, from anyone.
Seph turned to me and eyed me. Then he grinned. “Didn’t you leave Simone’s restaurant with him when he made that media announcement there?”
Shit. As much as I adored Seph, I knew that look. It was the one he wore when he was about to be a complete pain in the arse.
“I went to check he was okay.”
“So you have a connection. That’s good.”
He made ‘good’ sound like it had ten syllables. “I think I’ll head to my room. Maybe change and get a nice relaxing sauna…”
The dark head of hair turned round. A perfectly sculptured face looked at me. Deep brown eyes the colour of dark chocolate, cheekbones that should be illegal on a man and a mouth Rodin would’ve been proud of.
It was a face I didn’t particularly want to see again.
Those lips curved up in a smile that was more amusement than friendship, and then he turned away.
