Page 63 of Crush

“Or you could substitute ice for the word for vagina,” Mia chuckled.

“Nice,” I replied, turning away from the window.

Mia’s eyes roamed over my face and then she grimaced, “Maybe you should go back to your room and hide.”

My brow scrunched, “Why, I don’t feel guilty about it. It was what it was. Sex,” I replied lying. It was more to me than that.

She shook her head and snorted, “No, I mean, last night you looked cracking and right now you look like shit.”

I smoothed my hair and pinched my cheeks to give them some colour, “Great. Thanks a lot.”

I suddenly wished I put some make-up on. Too late now.

“Here they are. Sleep well, ladies?” Luca drawled with charm, looking like he’d just stepped off the catwalk.

Mia’s face lit up, “Not bad, I could do with a new head though.”

Luca and Max both grinned, “You’re not wrong there.” Luca replied, massaging his temples with two fingers.

Max’s eyes met mine but his expression didn’t give anything away and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Was he going to pretend nothing happened? Shit of course he was, at least in front of my father. What did I expect him to say?Last night was great, thanks for the ride.

“Well, you both slept like the dead, it’s almost lunchtime,” my father said with a laugh.

“Morning Daddy,” I replied, moving toward him, and kissing his cheek. “Max, Luca,” I added with a non-committal smile. They both responded with a nod. “Did you sleep in the study all night?”

My father glanced towards Max, “No, Maxim helped me upstairs in the end. It was late though or should I say early. I’m just heading back up to bed now for a bit.”

“I’ll call you later Jonathan,” Max said.

“Yes. And thanks again. I enjoyed our chat. And good to meet you, Luca. Girls, I’ll see you later.” My stomach sank, what chat?

“Goodnight, Sir,” Luca replied

“Well, what do you boys want for breakfast?” Mia questioned as we watched my father head down the corridor towards the stairs.

“You’re wearing it,” Luca said with a cheeky wink.

“Smooth, Luca,” Max cut in with an eye roll.

“How about a bacon roll, to start?” I offered, motioning towards the counter with the breakfast items.

“We’ve eaten. We thought it only right to hang around to say goodbye and check you were both alive and well. We sank quite a lot of booze last night,” Max said with a lopsided smile. God, he was cute.

“Yep, tell me about it. I can still taste vodka,” Mia chuckled.

That initial twinge of atmosphere lifted further and we laughed at Mia’s expense about having to half carry her up the stairs. She took it in the spirit it was intended. Luca said something about hearing creeping up and down the corridor but we didn’t give his comments any weight. Eventually, Mia and Luca exchanged numbers.

Max and Luca’s bags were by the front door and as we walked over Max explained, “Your father has arranged for Dexter to give us a lift back to mine.”

“Cool. OK.” I felt tongue-tied, I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t as if we could talk about what had happened with our friends so close and people bumping past us. I had told Mia and I imagined Max had confided in Luca but to talk about it in a group would have been weird.

As we stood by the open door in the hallway, I could see Dexter had brought the car around.

“Well, I’ll see you at work tomorrow then,” I said to Max, my eyes roaming over his face. The way he was looking at me was an improvement. He didn’tlook annoyed or indifferent and I realised that I didn’t want him to leave. But what could I do?

Fuck! One night together and I was already a pining mess.

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