Page 26 of The Plot Twist

‘It went straight into the ear of the person who needed to know.’

‘Oh god,’ Allie panicked, ‘sorry. Honestly, don’t listen to me. I’m sure they were delicious, I just find it impossible to do party talk and eat enormous canapés at the same time.’

‘It’s a perfectly valid point. Smaller vol au vents next time.’ He raised his beer towards her glass of wine while looking at her fixedly in the eyes.

Allie gulped and tried to look away before she blushed an even brighter shade of red. She could lose herself in those eyes of his, not to mention the sensation of those pin prickles of desire that crept across her skin every time he looked at her. When was the last time she had experienced this? Had sheeverexperienced it?

‘Anyway,’ she flustered, putting her glass back down and finally breaking eye contact. ‘It’s not like I’ll be organising any book parties for a while so you really shouldn’t worry about my opinion.’

Will raised an eyebrow at her and Allie felt her stomach dip. She’d much rather sit here and swoon over Will than recall today’s events, but he was obviously waiting for an explanation. She sighed. ‘I found out today that my editor is leaving.’

‘I’m sorry. She’s been your editor for a while?’

‘Yep, since my first book,’ Allie said, ‘dragged me out of the slush pile.’

‘That’s got to be hard. Editors and writers have pretty close relationships.’

‘That sounds like you know something about publishing,’ she risked giving him a nudge with her elbow and was amazed to discover that when you really fancied someone, even touching them with your elbow did funny things to your insides.

Will shrugged. ‘I go to a lot of book launches, for work,’ he clarified. ‘I hear a lot, that’s all.’ He seemed keen to dismiss this line of questioning. ‘So, who will your new editor be? Do you know yet?’

‘Nope.’ She shrugged. ‘But, in the meantime, I have to deal with Jake Matthews, who is a snake of the highest order.’

Will smiled. ‘I didn’t realise snakes had a ranking order.’

‘Er, yeah.’ Allie frowned. ‘You’d really put a python up against a grass snake?’

‘Well, technically I think a grass snake is a type of worm.’

Allie laughed. ‘You’re funny.’ She swiped at him with her hand, which he caught in his.

‘Good,’ he said, not letting it go, ‘because I like your face when I make you smile.’

Allie felt the breath catch in her throat. Will was suddenly closer than he had been before. The distance between them was shrinking every second. ‘And I like hearing you laugh,’ he continued. He spoke into her ear, his breath against her cheek making her shiver again. She looked up into his grey eyes, which seemed more serious now. She turned imperceptibly towards him, he noticed, shifting his body to mirror hers. His hand went to her face, brushed a strand of her hair softly from her eyes and ran his fingers across her cheekbone. Allie shivered at his touch. He paused, catching her eye, waiting for her to make the next move. It didn’t take her long.

And as her lips touched Will’s, she sighed and knew that she was ruined. This was the spark she had been writing about for so many years that had, up till this point, been missing from her life. And that now, she could never go back to mediocre men, Will had ruined every future kiss with any other man. Not that she was complaining. If this was her last ever kiss, it was worth every second of its deliciousness. Will’s lips were warm and dry, his touch like an electric charge across her skin. And even as they kissed, in her mind, she could see the words on the page as she would describe it all later.

ChapterSeven

‘You smell of sex.’

‘I’m sorry, what?’ Allie muttered sideways through gritted teeth. If Jess’s intention was to distract Allie, then it was working. She wobbled dangerously and then collapsed on her mat out of her ardha chandrasana, just as the yoga teacher instructed the class to come slowly to a sukhasana, whatever the hell that was. Allie checked her neighbours and carefully crossed her knees, trying to pretend Jess hadn’t said what she had just said.

‘I said, you smell of?—’

‘I heard you the first time,’ Allie growled.

‘Ladies…’ the yoga instructor murmured, reminding them to focus on their breathing and shut out the outside world.

Allie surreptitiously tried to smell herself, pretending that nose in armpit was a well-known yoga stretch. Pulling a face, she shifted her mat as far away from Jess as she was able to in the overcrowded yoga studio.

‘I told you, we didn’t have sex,’ Allie murmured in protest.

‘Yeah but you want to,’ Jess said out of the corner of her mouth, ‘you’re giving off all the pheromones.’

Allie opened her mouth to protest again but caught the eye of the instructor who looked as if she was about to completely lose her ohm with the pair of them. Allie couldn’t help herself, she started to giggle. Jess looked over and saw Allie’s shaking shoulders and then she started too.

‘Did you get this for free? The class I mean?’ whispered Allie. Jess was always blagging freebies through her work. And if this class had been one of those then Allie felt less bad about making Jess leave early.

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