Page 54 of Not in a Million Years

‘Or we could have four and use all the names.’

‘Unfortunately, I see one flaw in your cunning plan,’ I said.

‘What’s that? We don’t have the dosh for a house in the country with a chestnut tree and stables?’

‘Yeah, that, obviously. But also, you know, you like boys.’

‘Kate,’ he said, his face suddenly serious. ‘If I tell you a secret, will you promise never, ever to tell anyone else?’

I felt a knot of tension inside me, where the warm, happy feeling had been a second before. I knew secrets were powerful – and dangerous. I knew they could drive people apart just as often as they joined them together. But when someone asks another person that question, is there ever a different answer to the one I gave?

‘Of course,’ I said.

‘I don’t just like boys. I’ve never told anyone except you.’

My mouth felt dry and I could feel my heart beating hard. The tension under my ribs felt different now – less like dread and more a kind of wild excitement.

I said, ‘Is that because… because you…?’

‘Because I like you, Kate. I’ve been fucking smitten with you from the moment I first saw you.’

My voice came out in a whisper. ‘Same.’

And then, as if a powerful elastic band was pulling us, we cannoned into each other’s arms on the sofa, kissing and kissing as if we’d never be able to stop.

Twenty

Now

I don’t know why, because I certainly hadn’t expected to need it, but when I’d done my packing two weeks before, some deep-rooted instinct, or force of habit, had made me include a little black dress. It wasn’t much – just a mid-thigh-length slip in stretchy polyester, with shoestring straps and a cowl neckline, that I’d had for years and hung on to because it was versatile, had never gone out of fashion (probably because it had never been in fashion in the first place) packed down to a tiny roll and never creased.

I thanked my years of travel experience as I took the dress out of my wardrobe and pulled it on, adding a pair of dangly silver earrings, loads of mascara and bright red lipstick. I didn’t exactly look glamorous, but I hoped I’d be able to fake it until I made it – or that everyone else would be too drunk to care what I looked like, which was far more likely. I was piling my hair up with a claw clip – it was too frizzy from the sea air to wear down – when Daniel tapped gently at my door.

‘How insane is this?’ I said as I opened it. ‘We’re going to a literal party on an actual yacht!’

‘Not that insane. I texted Maksim and told him I was here; he was having some people over and said we should join. What’s insane about that?’

‘Urgh, don’t be such a spoilsport. What shoes should I wear?’

‘Doesn’t matter.’ Daniel looked as if he’d been putting in some serious effort with the hotel-room iron – his pink linen shirt was pressed so crisply I could almost hear it crackle, and his chino shorts looked freshly laundered. ‘You’ll have to take them off anyway. The decks of those boats are tens of thousands of pounds’ worth of teak, and the owners are understandably a bit fussy about them.’

‘Oh. Shit. Then I’m going to have to paint my toenails. Hold on. There’s beer in the minibar fridge if you want one.’

I grabbed what I needed from the bathroom and perched on the end of the bed, soaking off the old polish on my toes, which was chipped round the edges from walking on the beach. Daniel cracked open a beer and lounged in the balcony doorway, half looking out at the view, where Meridia dominated the skyline, and half watching me.

I finished removing the old nail enamel and held out two bottles towards him. ‘Inside Scoop or Go Overboard?’

‘What? Inside what?’

‘That’s what it’s called,’ I explained with exaggerated patience.

‘Do people seriously get paid to think up bollocks like that? And would you seriously wear something called Go Overboard to a party on a boat?’

‘Fine. Inside Scoop it is. And don’t laugh – I bet you buy paint that’s called equally ridiculous things. And at least I didn’t bring Sandy Bum.’

‘I dunno. I feel I could get behind Sandy Bum.’

Did he mean that literally? Looking down so he couldn’t see me blushing, I shook the bottle and began carefully applying the polish. Daniel kept watching me, a faint smile on his face.

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