“You know what I mean. The light to your dark, the carefree to your obsessive planning, the fun to your serious, the wild to your tamed.” She looked pointedly at Olivia’s bracelet. “The color to your monochrome.”
“Your comment is duly noted.” Olivia checked the time on her phone. “But now I’m going to have to dash because I’ve got a meeting with the team.”
“I still have five minutes left of the thirty you allotted me,” Meera complained as Olivia pushed back her chair and stood up.
“Add it to our next lunch meeting.” She bent to give her friend a hug. “And I promise to be on timeandpay for it.”
“Do you also promise to tell me what out-of-this-world sex is like? Because I think I’ve forgotten.”
Olivia laughed. “You chose to get married and have kids.”
“I know, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And at least I’ve got a warm, sexy body in my bed, even if we’re both too knackered to do anything about it right now.”
“And I’ve got a whole king-size bed to myself,” Olivia countered. “No one to steal the duvet, to snore and wake me up.”
No one to wrap his arms around you. To have wonderful, sweaty sex with and fall into a satisfied sleep with.
Damn, why did her thoughts always swing back to Connor? It had been over a month. Wasn’t the point of a holiday fling that the feelings disappeared once the holiday was over?
It was nearly ten o’clock when Olivia finally let herself into her flat that evening. Long days were the norm in her world, but she hadn’t gotten into the rhythm of them again since returning from Nantucket.
With a sigh, she flopped onto the sofa, dug out her phone, opened the food-delivery app. Another night, another takeout. Connor would be horrified.
Annoyed with herself for thinking of him again, she selected her usual and was about to head for a shower when her phone buzzed with a video call. She rested the phone against the scented candle on the coffee table and pressed Accept.
“Hi, Ashley.”
Her sister’s face filled the screen. “Hi, baby sis. And wow, look at you, sitting in your swanky flat with the lights of London twinkling behind you.”
She turned to look out of the floor-to-ceiling windows. When had she last noticed the view she’d paid nearly two million pounds for? “How come you’re calling so late? Aren’t you usually tucked up in bed with a good book by now?”
“Ha, that was the old me, before I went to Nantucket. I bring you news.”
“Jessica?”
“How did you guess?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Well, it was either that or you’re phoning to tell me you’ve got a hot date following your dubious idea to try that dating app.”
“Well, there is progress on that front—I have a date—but this news is more important. Jessica’s gone into labor. I’m at their house now, and Nick’s just driven her to hospital. She was fine, calm as you like.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Think I’ve got it covered. Mia’s already asleep, and Matt and Harry are big enough to sort themselves out. I’m just sitting here twiddling my thumbs, waiting for news.”
Olivia took a deep breath. Jessica would be fine. This was her fourth, and she’d had no trouble with the others. “She’s forty-two,” she blurted out.
On the screen, Ashley smiled. “I know, but she’s fit, healthy, her blood pressure is normal. She’ll be fine.”
“Yes, of course she will.” She tried another calming breath. “Okay, to distract us both, tell me about this date you’ve got lined up.”
“He’s called Tom. Fifty years old, an accountant. We’ve been messaging and he seems nice.”
“Nice? Is that all?”
“Hey, don’t knock it. You used to be happy datingnice, if I recall.”
No, she wasn’t going to take that bait. “How do you know this Tom is who he says he is?”
