Page 56 of Endgame

‘I’m not surprised, Lara,’ I say, giving her a dirty look. All she does is snigger and stretch on the couch.

‘Right. Sleeping arrangements. I refuse to be complicit in any shenanigans, so, Honey, want to share the twin upstairs with me?’

‘Sure.’ She shrugs.

‘I’ll take the couch,’ I volunteer.

‘None of us were born yesterday. Unless you do something incredibly stupid, which I won’t put past you, Caleb, there’ll probably be some drunken sneaking around later. I saw the way you two hugged each other. I want to be far away from that,’ she says, pointing at Aari and me.

‘There will be no sneaking around, Lara,’ I confirm, and make my point by calling the front desk to request that the couch be converted into a bed while we’re at the pre-wedding cocktail evening.

‘And my creepy uncle is a priest. Come on, Honey, let’s settle in!’ Lara drags Honey behind her as they make their way up the stairs.

‘Do you think they are…’ I whisper to Aari.

‘No. Lara would have told me. But they like each other. That much is obvious,’ Aari whispers back conspiratorially.

‘She made Lara back off me earlier by just asking her to.’

We both laugh.

‘Come on, let’s put your stuff in my room,’ Aari offers. ‘If you need to shower, it might be best to do that now. I have some work to do before Ruby and Eden get here to make me magazine and social media ready.’

‘I thought we got rid of them?’

‘We did, but Melissa wants everyone looking beautiful for her wedding and I can’t be trusted to deliver on the homework. They’re here in the morning too.’ Aari rolls her eyes.

I take her up on her offer and indulge in the massive cut-out spa shower. When I emerge, I hear her declining pre-drinks in Dominic Miller’s villa, citing Eden and Ruby’s anticipated assault, and I’ve never been more grateful for those two.

When Ariella and Lara step into the garden cocktail reception, it feels like the whole party stops for a few seconds. Ariella is draped in a long, light and wispy flowing orange dress that moves and shifts with the wind, exposing large but safe parts of her glowing skin while reflecting the colours of the sunset.

‘You’re in trouble tonight,’ Honey whispers to me as we watch them both approach us.

Lara has been put in a daringly low-cut, long, green leaf-patterned dress cut right up to the top of her thigh and cinched at the waist to expose her killer legs and accentuate her unbelievable curves.

‘Not as much trouble as you’re going to be in when Lara starts casing the party for a job,’ I whisper back. ‘Ariella is stunning tonight, but if I was any of these guys I’d want to take Lara anywhere she’d like, and give her anything she wants, regardless of the consequences. I’d risk it all.’

Honey takes a possessive step forward.

‘Careful,’ I warn under my breath. She steps back to wait patiently for them to get to us.

‘I swear, if someone doesn’t hire me tonight on the slight suggestion that there is a minuscule chance that I might sleep with them, I’m going to be pissed off. These fucking control knickers are killing me. You’re all on employment duty. I want the ones that will hire me and forget that they created a rolefor me. I’m thinking, old and healthy,’ Lara declares quietly, grabbing a glass of champagne as it glides past.

‘I’m not sure I’ll make it to “later” to sneak around, Mason,’ I whisper in her ear.

‘You may not be the one doing the sneaking. You look sexy tonight.’ She arches an eyebrow at me. Holy fuck.

‘Ariella! You look phenomenal.’ Dominic approaches. ‘If you’ll excuse us, there’s someone from a charity that the Conscious Experience app supports here. She’d like to meet you.’ With that, Dominic whisks her off, and it’s the last I see of Ariella all night.

By eleven, I’ve met all the contacts I had on my hit list. When Dominic asks if I’ve seen Ariella because there’s yet another person he wants to introduce her to, I know exactly where she’ll be. I slip some Singaporean dollars to a waitress I’ve been exchanging nods with all evening, and ask for a favour before I head back to the villa. I find her exactly where I expected to; sitting on the couch in the living room, laptop in lap, fresh from a shower with wet hair, a bare face, in some loose shorts and a vest. Braless. Shit.

‘Had enough?’ I ask, plopping down beside her.

‘Yeah. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.’

‘Where are Lara and Honey?’

‘No idea.’ She sniggers and her breasts jiggle. Bloody hell. Hold it together, Caleb.

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