Page 31 of The Game

“Smile!” I say, and as he starts laughing, I take a few shots.

Adam looks at my phone as I flick through the pictures. The fluorescent lighting gives it an interesting vibe, but something’s missing … I pick up Pepper and smush her near our faces as she wriggles about and I snap more photos, then she licks Adam right up his face.

“Ugh!” He wipes his sleeve over his cheek, and I snatch some more shots. “Can you tell I’m not an influencer?”

It makes me laugh, but oh, the images are gold! A fantastic one of Pepper licking Adam: his face is all scrunched up as her tongue swipes across his nose.

So, I pull up Instagram and post the picture to my account, Pepper’s too, adding the caption “Looking forward to a day trying out some exciting new electronic toys!”, and I tag Adam and his business and several big dog accounts in the hope they’ll share it, and dump some hashtags in for good measure.

Adam peers over my shoulder as I do it, and he smells of something like … burning rubber? It’s strangely appealing. I turn my head after I’ve posted the shot, and his face is right there, smiling.

“You’re good at this.”

A smattering of freckles run straight across his nose. Small black lines in his hazel eyes. Warmth starts in my chest and seeps downward.You’re staring, Anna. His eyes catch mine for a beat before he takes a step back.

I look down at my phone and clear my throat. “Damian, my social media manager, taught me to keep filming and shooting until you capture something that works.”

“Look at the sign behind us on the wall in the picture,” he says, not meeting my eyes but leaning in again and tapping the screen as a smile curves over his lips.

LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENEDsaysthe neon right behind Adam’s left shoulder, and we both turn to look at it.

I start to laugh.

“Serendipity,” Adam says.

I’m not sure if he means me and him, or Pepper licking him or something else.

“Damian will be in touch if it’s bad,” I say as my phone buzzes in my hand. “Uh-oh.”

I pull up our marketing WhatsApp channel. The words …

Fabulous, Anna!

are followed by a few heart–eye emojis.

“Wow, he’s on it, isn’t he?” Adam grins as he reads the message, and I sneak a quick look at his freckles again. “Come on, let’s go and meet the team,” he adds.

Farther down the corridor, we stop by a black door with a huge whitefivewritten on it, and he turns the handle to reveal six people standing nervously in the center of a large room. Two guys with long hair are setting up lights in front of a mural of two dogs that takes up the whole wall at the far end of the room. Pepper starts jumping up, nearly strangling herself with her leash in theprocess, desperate to say hello to everyone. I turn to Adam.

“Can I let her off her leash?”

“Go for it,” he says.

Tail going like a propeller, she races around, and Adam’s staff crowd in. Dogs just remove all awkwardness in any social situation. Adam is laughing at Pepper, so I study the office. The walls are whitewashed, and the ceiling has all its old beams on display. A squishy red couch and Persian carpets adorn the concrete floor. Brown wood desks spill out across the space at jaunty angles, and there’s some tall cupboards and a separate room at the back. It’s so Adam—warm, relaxed, welcoming.

“What a lovely place.”

Everyone looks up from where they’re fussing over Pepper and stares at me. God, did I say something off? It is a nice office, isn’t it? Sometimes my lack of depth with people screws with my radar, I think. I swing around to focus on the mural. “And I love this!”

One of the guys with dreadlocks and painty fingers beams at me from where he’s setting up the lights.

“Are you the artist?” I add.

He nods as a girl in pink pants and red boots steps forward. “I’m Susie. Adam’s marketing manager. It’s great to meet you, Anna.”

I instantly like her offbeat vibe. “Likewise.”

She gives me a crooked smile. “You posted something on the way in!”

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