“Good. Yeah.”
“Nervous about tonight?” she guesses.
She means because of the big party, but yet again, I think of Cristiano. He wasn’t at the club last night. At least, I never saw him, and everyone I questioned (meaning, every employee on the floor) confirmed they hadn’t seen him, either. I doubt he’ll be here tonight.
I shrug. “Surprisingly, no.”
“Right, good on you, because you look absolutely gorgeous, and word is this DJ they’ve got tonight, Boréal, is quite hot, so one of us better bat our eyelashes. Obviously it needs to be you.”
“Why me?”
“Other than the fact that I’ve really done a fab job on this hair? Well, Annika’s hung up on Ethan, and Thalia has a massive crush on Valentina, andI’m…”
She lets her sentence dwindle as if she’s lost the nerve to continue.
I turn and catch her gaze. “You’re what?”
“I have a crush of my own,” she says shyly.
Simone, SHY?
My jaw drops. “On who? Someonehere?”
Her gaze cuts to where Annika is chatting with Thalia. My eyes widen. “Annika?”
She groans. “No.Not Annika.” Then she lowers her voice. “Felix.”
“Aww!” I cover my mouth with my hands because I can barely handle how sweet and innocent she looks about her confession, and she immediately protests.
“No. No. We’re not doing that. Don’t. It’s the tiniest thing. Barely there, I swear. So don’t say a word.”
“I won’t,” I promise quickly. Then I grin. “Does he know?”
Her cheeks redden. “I’m not sure. We kissed, once. Right at the start of summer. But it was complicated then. I was hung up on this guy back in London and Felix didn’t seem to want anything serious, so I wasn’t going to upend my life for him, ya know? Summer flings are rarely anything special. It’s silly to let emotions get involved.”
I have the unyielding urge to stand and hug her, so I do.
She stiffens. “What? Why are you doing this? Let go of me.”
“Youlikehim.”
“All right. That’s good. There, there.”
“Hug me back.”
“I’d rather not.”
“You hugged me earlier in the ocean.”
“Yes, well, a deceased sister warrants a hug, I think, but now I see I’ve given you the wrong idea about touching.”
I lean back and hold on to her arms. “Should I tell him?” I say, teasing her.
Her face is an immediate mask of panic. “Bugger off.Don’t you dare.”
“I’m kidding! Your secret is safe with me.”
I almost wish I could let her in on my secrets as well, but it’d change everything and I’m not ready to go back to being Isabel De Vere just yet.
