Page 11 of Lipstick Kiss

“I got you a dirty martini. Took a while to find the olives,” Luke said, coming out with a fancy glass with her cocktail.

“Thanks, Luke,” Freya said, taking the drink from his hand.

“Did you show them?” he asked gleefully.

“Yep.”

Freya took a long gulp of her drink. Her wide eyes scanned her friends to see them all stifling their laughter.

“I’m so glad I’m married,” Freya heard Archer mutter, then kissed his wife on her neck.

“And did you spill a name?” Luke inquired.

“Nope. Thanks for letting the cat out of the bag before I could tell Heidi. Real gentlemanly.”

“Aww, sorry, Peaches. I’m really happy for you. It’s something to celebrate,” Luke replied, then paused. “Don’t you think?”

“Well, I’m sure Freya will introduce us to her future husband when she’s good and ready. So stop cajoling her,” Jason said.

“It’s a hell of a ring,” Heidi remarked. “Worthy of the Turner name.”

Freya wanted to kick her best friend in the shin for her comment. If Freya wasn’t in such a state of remembering all the lies so far, she’d laugh.

“Half a mil, I’d say,” Erica commented. “Better never take it off, Freya, so you don’t lose it.”

“That’s a great idea,” Freya said, raising her glass. “Super idea.”

Erica jiggled from her giggling on Archer’s lap. She buried her face in his neck and stifled a howl.

Freya’s heart stopped for a moment. She’d thought it was worth a quarter of a million but double? She was glad it was stuck because she wouldn’t know what the hell she would do if she lost it.

“He must be filthy rich, Peaches. I bet he really knows how to treat you well,” Luke said with so much smugness that she wanted to punch him for the first time.

“What’s for dinner, Jason?” Freya asked.

Chapter Four

Luke

Six o’clock on a Sunday morning was not a time to be awake. He couldn’t shake the fact that Freya was getting married. They’d been friends forever. Explored the island, discovering all its mysteries. It was odd to think she’d bonded with someone else and not told him. Luke reasoned he’d been away for most of the last nine years, and what right he had that Freya would no longer be there whenever he knocked on her door.

Seeing the ring on her finger made him feel differently, like a curtain swooshed back, or a bulb changed to a higher wattage.

Luke didn’t know what the difference was, but something shifted from thinking of Freya as the girl he grew up with to a woman who had a career and was seeing a man.

He did suspect she was making it up when he called on her the previous day, but when Heidi was so clearly hurt that she hadn’t been told, it was evident it was true. Heidiwasn’t that good an actress. He suspected Erica could pull it off but not Heidi.

Now he was tossing and turning all night, wanting to know who Freya had fallen in love with.

They’d agreed to meet at the back of his cottage at ten. Another four hours to wile away until he showed her what mystery they needed to uncover. He couldn’t knock on Jason’s door because he was still in the honeymoon phase. He couldn’t knock on Archer’s door because he didn’t want to disturb Erica’s sleep when she was six months pregnant with their first child.

Daisy was still on the mainland doing work experience at an accountant’s office Erica had hooked her up with. It was the firm she used and pulled a few strings to get Daisy proper experience and jump the queue. The name Erica Taylor could sway her accountant to fit Daisy in for six months. I didn’t want to call her as she was too far away.

Whenever Luke felt lonely when his siblings were busy, he always had Freya.

Moping in bed wasn’t Luke’s style. Instead, he showered and left his cottage to head to Edward Hall. Archer had told him that the elite team were doing endurance tests and would be working out. Luke wanted to see if he could work out who they were. Which branch of the military or special forces. Hell, he was plain curious and wanted to see what was so secretive they weren’t allowed to know.

Luke rounded the corner of Edward Hall and jogged up the side stone steps to get up onto the wide verandah at the back of the hall. He stopped dead when he saw a lone figure slumped in a blow-up chair covered in a duvet. This didn’t look like an elite fighter, and he would know that hair anywhere.

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