Page 3 of Lipstick Kiss

Winding the long blue wool scarf around her neck, she fixed her gaze on Heidi, who was shoving on her coat.

“But what about my bacon bap? You promised,” Freya whined.

“It will be ready by the time you get back,” Jason saidfrom the other side of the vast expanse of kitchens. “Just getting the supplies now. Brown sauce, wasn’t it?”

“You know it’s ketchup, matey,” Freya replied, attempting to give him an evil stare, but he kept his back to her as he yanked open the industrial walk-in fridge.

Heidi came to her side, fastening her grey hip-length coat. She was fresh as a daisy at five to six in the morning. Freya grumbled internally at how fantastic she looked.

Giving Freya a broad smile, she hooked her arm through hers. “Come on, grouchy. I have something that will cheer you up. More than a bacon bap and Luke’s return.”

“What the hell have you got planned? A private viewing of Magic Mike’s west end show?”

Heidi laughed, tightening her arm through Freya’s and said, “Better. Much better.”

Freya let her coat flap open as she hurried along the path outside Edward Hall, following Heidi. They skirted the back and dashed up the shallow wide steps to a large stone verandah overlooking the lawns. Archer had planned for brides to stand on the balcony and throw their bouquets over the balustrade to the waiting singles underneath to catch. The verandah was large enough to fit fifty people with a five-piece orchestra. The doors to the ballroom were closed with the curtains drawn. It wasn’t until she was halfway across the stone slabs that she saw a dozen men in long shorts and vest tops doing pushups in the grass. A lone man was pacing and shouting. By the time Freya reached the balustrade to look over, she had needed to prop herself up. Twelve fit, sweaty men worked out on the lawn.

“Good Lord, who the hell are they?” Freya whispered.

“We have them as guests for a while. They’re here to train in the water but warm up on the grass first,” Heidi said, nudging Freya’s side with her elbow.

Freya looked to her best friend open-mouthed and then back at the men. They were finishing up and standing with their hands on their hips. All of them.

“Holy hotness, Heidi. They do this every morning?”

“Yep.”

“At six?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll be popping by. Tomorrow I’ll bring a blanket and a chair,” Freya said.

Heidi laughed, which caught the attention of one of the men. He looked up at Freya, gave her a wink, and pulled off his vest. Freya clutched Heidi’s arm like she was about to have the vapours and stared at the man’s naked torso.

“I’ve never in my life seen abs like his,” she whispered.

“Luke has gotta look like that, surely?” Heidi responded.

“I’ve never seen Luke naked or even topless in the last ten years. Anyway, why would I want to see Luke when there are all these men to gawp at?” Freya said, spreading her arms wide.

One by one, the men stripped off their shorts and peeled off their vests, throwing them in a pile. Each man wore a version of swim shorts that were very short and very tight fitting. They moved their arms, jumped up, and stretched while the instructor was bellowing at them. Freya was too far away to hear what he said, but she knew he was barking orders. Then, as a unit, they ran off across the lawn towards the top of the path that led down to the beach and was gone.

“Where’d they go?” she said, whimpering. “The beautiful men have gone.”

Freya reached out her hand to touch them in her mind.

“They’ll be back tomorrow, babe. Let’s eat, and then you can go back to bed for a nap.”

“All right. But I am serious about coming back tomorrow.Do you have their names and marital status?” she asked.

Heidi laughed and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“No, sadly not. Archer has a company name, and the rest is need to know. They’re some elite group of men who want private land to do whatever they’re preparing for that requires them to have expert sea training,” Heidi said.

“They have to be private hire mercenaries. It can’t be ex-marines, as they’d have the training. Navy, probably too. Maybe they’re a secret branch of the army. MI6 or is it MI5?” Freya babbled, ticking each one off on her fingers.

“Honestly, Freya, you can’t interrogate them. We are strictly looking only, no contact.”

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