Page 16 of Be My Traitor

“A date withLucas,” I reminded her. “Your ex-husband and Amber’s father. This could never be just a date.”

“Why not? From what you’ve told me, Lucas sounds genuinely interested in being a proper dad and I know you always had a crush on him.”

I could feel myself blushing. “I thought I’d hidden it well.”

“You did.” Ivy rushed to reassure me. “But you forget I’m your best friend. I know when you’re hiding something and it didn’t take much to figure out what. I knew you’d never do anything you shouldn’t but I always got the vibe Lucas liked you back.”

“Really? What made you think that?” I couldn’t help being curious.

“Oh, just little things here and there.” Ivy shrugged. “He’d make a comment about something you were wearing, something a guy wouldn’t normally notice unless he was interested in someone. And there was a certain look he had on his face whenever he talked about you. I knew he wouldn’t risk doing anything to anger my father, so he’d never have acted on it, but I’ll be honest. I wasn’t surprised when you told me he was Amber’s father. It made perfect sense.” She reached out and rubbed my arm reassuringly. “You didn’t need to keep it a secret from me, you know. I wouldn’t have judged you. I never loved Lucas. I barely consider him an ex – it’s not like I wanted to marry him. Our marriage was a total sham, like our relationship was. If you think he’ll make you happy, then you should go for it. Just…”

“What?”

“Be careful, Mills. I always thought Lucas was a decent enough guy, but he’s always been good at keeping secrets. There’s a reason why he’s come back after all this time and it’s not because he has a burning ambition to be a headmaster.”

“I know, right?” I laughed. “I mean, the guy’s worth millions, billions even. Why would someone like that come back here and run a school? There’s something weird about it, but I have no idea what.”

“Have you thought about asking him? If only you had the opportunity to get him on his own so you could persuade him to tell you everything. An opportunity like… a date?” Ivy gave me a sly look and grinned.

“Okay, okay.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “I won’t tell him I’ve got the plague. But you have to help me decide what to wear. I can’t figure out what would say ‘I’m open to being seduced but you’re going to have to work hard to make up for the past five years.’”

“Hmm.” Ivy surveyed the clothes strewn across my bed. “What about this?” She picked up a short black dress that barely covered my butt.

“Too short.” I shook my head.

“This?”

“Too big.”

“This?”

“It doesn’t fit properly.”

“This?”

“I don’t like how my bum looks in it.”

“This?”

I tried to come up with an excuse not to wear the dress Milly was holding up, but I had nothing, so I took it from her and went into the bathroom to get changed.

When I came out, Ivy wolf whistled at me.

“Looking good, girl.” She grinned. “I love the colour you’ve used on your lips.”

“It’s not too much?” I hadn’t been sure when I put on my makeup whether I was going too far. I’d kept my eyes light, with just a touch of green on my eyelids, but I’d gone all out with a rich, deep red on my lips, making them look even more pouty than usual.

“Not at all.” Ivy came over and adjusted my dress, pulling it down a little at the front to show more cleavage. I pulled it back up again to where it was and Ivy tutted at me. “Don’t be bashful, Mills. You’ve got a beautiful figure. You should show it off more.”

“I’m showing more than enough in this, thank you.” I was wearing a dark green wraparound dress which emphasised my figure. There was a slit up the front which revealed my thigh when I walked and it hugged my breasts to show them off without needing to expose too much of my cleavage. It was sexy but subtle and now that I could see myself in the full-length mirror on the door of my wardrobe, I was happy with the way I looked. I’d debated going to the hairdresser and getting a new haircut, but I’d decided against it in the end. I didn’t want Lucas to think I was making too much of an effort for him. Just because I’d agreed to go on a date didn’t mean I wanted him to think I was going to be an easy conquest. Not this time, anyway.

“Lucas is going to love you in this,” said Ivy, as we went downstairs to wait for him to come pick me up. “He’s going to kick himself for disappearing on you all those years ago. Has he said why he did that?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m planning on asking him about it tonight. If he’s serious about us building a relationship, he’s got to stop being the man of mystery he seems to love being.”

“Yeah, Lucas always did have things he kept to himself.” Ivy went over to the fridge and pulled out the bottle of champagne she’d brought over. “But people can change and maybe he’s ready to be a grown up now.”

“We can hope!”

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