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“Humph,” she said, pretending to be affronted as she sipped her beer. Then she remembered what he’d said earlier on. “Hey, you promised to show me your short list on the lights competition page.”
His eyes widened, and she tried to ignore how appealing his apparent excitement was.
He pulled out his phone and gestured for her to come around the table to sit next to him. She did so, trying not to lean in too closely and get a whiff of that evocative scent of his as he showed her the screen.
“I’ve liked the pics of all my favorites,” he told her.
Taking the phone, she scrolled through, noticing a pattern among all the ones he’d liked. They were precisely the ones she would also choose, which was both unexpected and weird.
“You’ve got a good group here.” She glanced up. “I didn’t think I’d agree with your selection. But you have excellent taste.”
Accepting the phone back, he laughed. “You’re surprised that I have good taste?”
Figuring it was best to mind how she answered, given that his taste had included choosing her friend over her, she hesitated. “I thought that you’d prefer the classic aesthetic.”
Shaking his head, he leaned in. “No way. I like to root for the underdog. The rookie. The new kid on the block.”
The underdog. Maya remembered her father disparaging her for backing the exact same kind of contender, and met Sam’s gaze for a moment. He really was throwing her this evening. She glanced away, fiddling with her charm bracelet.
The movement of her fingers seemed to catch his eye, and he reached down to take her wrist. Maya almost flinched. But not because his touch was unpleasant, far from it.
Sam fingered the bracelet. “You still wear this.”
Maya held her breath, hoping that he hadn’t spotted the charm. He turned her wrist to reveal the tiny moon, running his fingertip over it.
His voice was quiet. “And you kept the one I gave you—I mean, we gave you. For your eighteenth.”
Maya’s mouth went dry. It had been her birthday a few weeks before she’d left for university, after the two of them had started working together, but before they’d had their little trysts in the boot room. She’d told him how she liked the moon and the star charms in the jewelry store. Sam had turned up to her birthday drinks with the moon charm inside a little black jewelry box and presented it to her, a gift from the whole ski team.
“You know me,” Maya said, trying to keep things light. “I always loved anything to do with the moon and the stars. Think I was a werewolf in a previous life.”
Sam met her gaze. “I remember.” He held on to her wrist for another couple of seconds, causing her heart to trip over itself. Then he appeared to come to his senses and released her in favor of his bottle. He lifted it and took a long drink.
Maya followed suit, figuring that reminding him how he’d once liked her or, at least, pretended to like her, wasn’t a good idea.
They finished their drinks, and she wondered whether she should call it a night after that awkward moment, but the thought that her dad might still be awake made her hesitate.
Sam gave her a nudge. “One for the road?”
What the hell. I’m used to being awkward in his presence now.
“Okay,” she replied. “Last one, then I’m going home to face whatever terrible fate awaits me.”
He gave her a smile as he lifted the empties to take back to the bar.
Maya glanced at the moon charm. It was her favorite because she’d coveted it, and the star one, for ages. Plus, it was gifted from all her old work colleagues and had nostalgic value. But deep down it meant more than that. It carried extra significance because Sam had given it to her. Something that she hadn’t been keen on admitting to herself in the past.
He arrived with the drinks, taking a seat and clinking his bottle against hers. “I’ll walk you home after this one.”
Maya shook her head. “You stay. I’ll be fine on my own.”
“Nope. Sorry.” His mouth was set in a firm line. “It’s against my moral code not to.”
Maya smiled, wondering if he ever cursed his moral code the way she did hers. Walking home the woman he’d felt up a couple of times before deciding her friend was a better option likely wasn’t an idea he’d be keen on, if not for said pesky moral code.
“When did you tell your dad about the job?” Sam asked. “Tonight?”
Maya shook her head. “I didn’t tell him. Hana, the massive traitor who’s going to lose her head when I see her, told him.”
