‘Thank you,’ I muttered, avoiding his eye.
‘How is your arm?’ He nodded at the white dressing on the arm I had clenched to my side, holding the towel in place.
‘OK,’ I said stiffly. ‘Just a bit awkward, now and then.’
‘I can see that?’ He nodded gravely, his lips twitching. ‘Let’s see, what are you after?’
I blushed scarlet. He was enjoying this.
‘Knickers and bra,’ I said red-faced, trying to keep my cool. This was Daniel. We were old friends, I could handle this.
He slid off the bed, right beside me. We were thigh to thigh. He bent down, righting the bag and opening it up properly. If I’d done that in the first place I wouldn’t be in this predicament. From the bag he withdrew my bra and went back for a second rummage to produce a matching satin thong.
‘Nice,’ he said, handing them to me.
‘Thank you,’ I said firmly, feeling my cheeks fire up as I snatched them from him and dived back in the bathroom. From the other side of the door, I heard a suppressed snort.
‘I’m glad you think it’s funny,’ I yelled, peering round the door glaring at him. ‘Why don’t you bugger off so that I can get ready in peace?’
‘Sorry, Olivia,’ he said, his eyes twinkling. ‘I was just teasing you. We’re mates, remember. You go ahead. Pretend I’m not here. I’ll just read my paper until you’re ready. And then... I...’ His face went serious as if he were about to say something.
He could forget it. Mates eh? Huh! I slammed the door. Pretend he’s not there — in a room that size when he’s just been fondling my underwear. I’d almost dissolved into a puddle oflust as those warm fingers had brushed my bare shoulders when he leant down to get to my bag. He hadn’t as much as twitched. Obviously totally unmoved.
Couldn’t he see my pulse about to jump out of my neck? I could have died when he smoothed out my satin bra, stroking the tiny blue bow, before he handed it to me.
I pulled a face at my reflection as I unscrewed the top of my foundation and winced as my elbow bashed the towel rail. Dropping the lid, I then bashed my head on the sink while bending down to pick it up. This bathroom really was too small. Bugger. I’d left my dress in the room. It just wasn’t my day.
Something flipped. Bloody Daniel. Hogging the room and reading his paper. Completely oblivious to me. Good old Olivia, she doesn’t mind. Why didn’t he just go away instead of sitting there in comfort while I had to get ready in a room the size of a bloody broom cupboard?
Catching sight of myself in the mirror — hair cascading in artfully dishevelled curls and in my best underwear, an inner imp urged me on. Mates, eh? Not anymore!
Sucking in my tummy, I strolled out of the bathroom as if I didn’t have a care in the world. I smiled sweetly at Daniel as I crossed to the wardrobe wearing nothing but scraps of pale blue satin and lace. Turning sideways onto him, I picked up my dress, held it up for a second and out of the corner of my eye took a quick look.
Gotcha! Daniel’s face was a picture. He did a discreet but unmistakable double take.
Nonchalantly, I slid the pale blue dress off its hanger and stepped into it. In the mirror I could see Daniel watching as I shimmied into the fitted sheath. I think something in my body had short circuited, my hormones were simmering.
‘Daniel, as you’re still hanging around, would you mind doing my zip? It’s a bit tricky with my arm at the moment.’ I turned my back to him, inviting him to do me up.
He gave a strangled, ‘Yes’ and came over. His fingers brushed my back as he drew the sides of the dress together to draw up the fastener before slipping under my hair to push it out of the way. As his palm grazed my neck, my insides shimmered with tiny electrical charges, a thousand volts fizzing down my spine. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
But that little imp had taken hold. No sooner had he let go of my hair, I stepped away to slip my feet into very high-heeled shoes and turned, cocking my head up at him. ‘How do I look?’ I asked, giving him a knowing smile.
Seeing him swallow nervously was worth every bit of frustration sizzling through my veins. That would teach him. Unfortunately I’d learnt a lesson too. You got burnt playing with fire.
We both jumped when the phone rang. Thank God for divine intervention because I didn’t have a clue what to say next.
It was Emily telling me the car had arrived.
Chapter Twelve
For over a week the gilt-edged card had sat on the mantelpiece in the flat. Card. Singular, with the words, ‘Admits One’, typed in the right-hand corner. Gilt-edged card where ‘Admits One’ means exactly that.
The man mountain at the entrance to the red carpet was immovable; I would have done well to learn from his impassive resistance.
If not once, but three million times, I’d asked Emily to double check with the organisers that we didn’t need an additional ticket.
‘No, no,’ she’d blithely assured me as if I was some neurotic windbag. Anxious not to turn into Fiona, I’d foolishly believed her. Now standing here, with only a fifty-fifty chance of going to the ball, corralled in the waiting area with a couple of lesser-known actresses fromHollyoaks, I wished with all my heart that I could summon up some of that single-minded self-preservation which Kate and Fiona wore like a second skin.
