‘Is that the end of your big reveal or are you going to tell me what you’re talking about?’
‘The day we left. The morning after the night you went missing and I was waiting for you in my cabin. I saw you leaving Brooke’s suite as I walked down for breakfast.’
He frowned. ‘And…?’
‘And what? You’re complaining that I dropped you with no explanation – well this is the explanation. I know you were knocking off Brooke while we were also… knocking… ourselves… off.’
Leo’s mouth dropped open. ‘I think this is what they call putting two and two together and coming up with three hundred and twelve. I have not been “knocking anyone off”, thank you very much! Certainly not Brooke, and definitely not you.’ He scoffed. ‘Where do you get this stufffrom? Believe it or not, I actually like you, Kat. Like, really. And stupidly, I thought you liked me too.’
He liked me. He actuallyreallyliked me.I knew I hadn’t been imagining it. I felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought, but I squashed them down. It was too late for all that now. I had to stick to my guns.
‘I did! Before I realised I was one of many. That I was queuing up for you like the old dears queued up for the Chinese banquet on the ship.’
Leo laughed. ‘I am not an all-you-can-eat buffet. And if you’d just asked me, I’d have told you why I was coming out of Brooke’s suite.’
‘In your tuxedo from the night before.’
‘In my tuxedo from the night before.’
‘After blowing off our last night together.’
He turned to face me and my heart wobbled. He’d taken his jacket off and his chest was straining against his shirt, reaching for me.
‘In fact – I already did tell you this,’ he said, looking confused. ‘I was playing cards. Dahlia put a poker night on for some of the crew and Brooke insisted Zach and I join in. We used Brooke’s suite since it’s so big. It was a sort of wrap party once the guests had all gone to bed and I tried to get out of it, but she insisted. Obviously we wanted to keep her happy, and I didn’t want to make her and Zach suspicious by saying no, so I thought I’d just go along for an hour or two and then call it a night. I’d planned to come back to your room but I kept winning, and I lost track of time. Suddenly it was five in the morning, and I didn’t want to disturb you.’
I eyed him suspiciously.
‘It’s the truth. Ask Barbie Queue if you don’t believe me. She was there.’
The second double vodka was softening my resolve, and I did start to wonder if maybe that made some sense. More sense than him sleeping with her.
‘Did you win money?’ I mumbled.
‘No. I was winning big, then lost a couple, then started chasing the losses and Thiago won the lot. It cost me three hundred euros.’
‘Oof.’
‘I’ll claim it on expenses. All part of the client immersion – am I right?’
I half-smiled. ‘Why didn’t you tell me all this at the time?’
‘Because I had no idea that was what you were thinking and we haven’t been alone together for a second since! You’ve ignored my calls and messages – exactly like you did all those years ago when we were interns.’ His face was full of hurt and confusion. ‘I didn’t want to look like an idiot again, so I decided to face facts… and the obvious explanation was you’d used me to get ahead in the pitch.’
‘I’d used you?!’ That he could even think that about me was galling.
He shrugged. ‘None of it made sense so I chalked it up to a weird sales tactic on your side.’
‘OK well it seems we might have both jumped to conclusions then,’ I said in a small voice.
‘I’ll say,’ Leo replied. ‘You’ve always thought the worst of me, and I’ve no idea why. Give a guy a chance, eh?’
I tipped the nuts in with the crisps and faffed about, mixing them all together. My cheeks were burning, and Iwasn’t sure if it was shame or because I’d had four shots of vodka in under twenty minutes.
‘Sorry,’ I said, offering him one of his own nuts. ‘Although, in my defence, it did look dodgy. What was I supposed to think? It looked like the walk of shame to the untrained eye. Anyone else would have thought the exact same thing.’
‘Anyone else wouldn’t be you though, would they?’ Leo said, taking my hands. ‘I was starting to hope you might see the good in me.’
‘I did! I do,’ I tried, earnestly. ‘But you fooled me once and I walked straight into it with a trusting heart. I couldn’t bear to think it had happened again. I didn’t ask for an explanation as it seemed obvious there could only be one.’
