Page 50 of When The Night Falls

‘Really.’ He nodded gravely. ‘I was only taking the piss, I’m sorry.’

I pressed my lips together and turned to walk out.

‘Hold on, I’ll walk you down,’ he said. ‘I’m about to have lunch.’

I didn’t wait. I headed straight toward the lifts. Andy and Ellie were waiting just in front of them. To my regret, William managed to catch up with me by the time the doors opened to let us in, and his pace grabbed the attention of both Andy and Ellie.

‘Christ, Will, you must be starving,’ Ellie said.

‘Tight schedule.’

During the brief journey, Andy traded regular glances with William over my head. They sent each other lopsided smiles, but Ellie paid them no attention, which made me think that the two men behaved like this on a regular basis. It wasn’t surprising when taking into account that they were best friends, but it annoyed me nevertheless, because I was certain I was the cause of their current amusement.

Stealing a glance at William in the mirror, I wondered if he had intentionally misled me earlier – when he had implied that he didn’t want to sleep with me again. In the end, his statement had been rather equivocal. ‘Who says I’d want to?’ didn’t erase all room for doubt. He hadn’t actually denied anything. Had he deliberately phrased it that way to misguide me? To buy himself more time to analyse how to proceed? In fact, he might only have said it to retaliate for a bruised ego.

The possibility intrigued me. Had he truly abandoned the idea of me, or was he only weighing up which route to take in order to win me over?

The impression I had of him was that he was not inclined to cease his pursuit when he had his sights set on a prize. He was far too stubborn. Last time we met, he had ardently tried to persuade me to give him a chance. The question remaining was: was I still the prize?

‘Oh my God, I just recalled – do you know what Andy did earlier?’ Ellie whirled around and faced William. Laughing, she said, ‘He thought Cara was somebody else, so he called her Sandra. You should’ve seen him. I’ve never seen him quite so confused.’

‘Did he?’ William replied, and it was clear from his tone that he was highly amused.

Too curious to stop myself, I stole another glance at him. He met it with a gleam dancing in his eyes, and I immediately grasped that they had talked about it behind closed doors.

Fuck.

When we reached the ground floor, Ellie and Andy exited before William and I did. William grabbed my arm, stalling me, while the others kept on walking.

I faced him.

‘Andy knows,’ he said.

‘You told him?’ I snapped, both irked and defensive.

He glared back. ‘He’s a fucking lawyer, Cara –he’s not dim. Of course he recognised you.’

‘Shit,’ I whined and stamped my foot.

Blinking, he dropped his gaze to it. ‘Did you really just stamp your foot?’

‘William! If Andy spills, it’s only a matter of time before everyone knows!’

His grip tightened on my arm. ‘He won’t tell anyone. He’s my best friend, and he’s got my back. Always.’

‘Tell anyone what?’ an exceptionally gorgeous woman asked as she entered the lift. With thick raven hair that cascaded down to the middle of her back, she took my breath away. Her upturned, dark brown eyes met mine, and her plump, pinkish-beige lips tucked into a vague smile beneath her small nose. She turned her attention to William. Once she saw him, her smile stretched into a grin.

‘Mind your own business, Vi,’ William said and dragged me out with him. Casting a glance at her over my shoulder, I saw her fold her arms over the ample chest of her slender and curvaceous figure.

Intrigued, I asked, ‘Who’s that?’

‘Violet Rodriguez. She’s my partner for a transaction I’m currently working on.’

‘She’s gorgeous,’ I said. When I looked back at William, he was staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

Returning to our conversation, I asked, ‘Do you swear Andy won’t tell?’

His jaw flexed. ‘Yes. But don’t be surprised if he gives you any funny looks. He laughed until he cried earlier, in my office.’

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