‘No, not God. The mafia or the mob.’
‘Ready?’ Leo fixed me with a competitive stare. I wasn’t sure if I’d distracted him enough with my blathering to get the upper hand, but I gave him a solid nod and we started putting cards down one after the other, gathering pace.Monkey, lion, panda, snake, dog, dog…
‘Snap!’ we both shouted, Leo’s hand on top of mine, as the lady sitting opposite jumped.
‘Too slow,’ I said, sliding the cards towards me.
‘I let you have that one,’ he said, with a devilish grin.
We played again and he ‘let me’ win again, and again, and again.
‘Winner, Kat Brennan!’ He chuckled as I snatched up the last few cards with glee. He was far too slow. ‘Very impressive play. I can see you have a passion for the game. I’m more of aslow and steady wins the racetype.’
‘No room for that attitude in Snap,’ I said, solemnly. ‘Another game?’
‘Go on then,’ he said, with a cheeky smile. ‘You’re still as much fun as you always were, you know.’
‘Am I?’
‘I was dreading the pair of us being stranded on our own for the night and now I wish we could stay for a week.’
As if I was going to fall for such an obvious distraction technique as the cards started flipping.Lion, penguin, tiger, flamingo…
‘And about that goodnight kiss,’ Leo continued, as I watched the cards. ‘I’m not sure who kissed who in the end, but we should probably keep it under wraps as far as telling the others.’
Cat, giraffe, giraffe…
‘Snap!’ I shouted, far too enthusiastically.
‘Is that OK?’ Leo asked, keeping his hand on mine until I met his gaze.
‘I’m nothing if not professional,’ I said, moving my hand and the cards out from under his. ‘What goes on tour, stays on tour, right?’
‘I didn’t mean it like that. It’s not some dirty little secret, we can still…’
Bing bong.‘Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly start boarding flight 4765 to Funchal. If you are travelling business class with us today, please make your way to the front of the queue.’
Leo jumped up and grabbed our bags. ‘That’s us.’
‘We’re flying business?’
‘Absolutely,’ he said, with a frown. ‘This is a business trip, isn’t it?’
That told me, then. In case I got any funny ideas. The Amplify expenses bill was going to be HUGE whether Brooke paid it all or not. I’d barely ordered a milkshake outside of the official allowance, but Leo clearly couldn’tcare less about indulging in excessiveincidentals. His confidence was a lesson in taking up space. We boarded the plane and settled into our enormous seats with a glass of champagne each.
‘Pleasure doing business with you,’ I said, then pressed the button to raise the privacy glass between us. Leo knocked and I sniggered into my drink, then lowered it slightly. ‘Yes?’
‘Hi. I was wondering if…’
‘Not today, thanks,’ I said, zipping it back up.
He knocked again and I slid it all the way down, revealing his cheeky grin an inch at a time.
‘It’s been fun,’ he said, staring into my eyes and making me giggle with nervous energy. ‘Here’s to the rest of ourbusinesstrip, eh?’
I put my feet up and clinked his outstretched glass. This was the life. ‘You said it, mister. Back to the bunk-bed battleground we go.’
Eighteen
