Page 35 of How to Get Even

Before long, four frozen margaritas were raised in a toast.

‘Your official welcome to Nayak New York,’ Chase declared.

Cheers turned into appreciative moans as everyone took a sip of exceedingly excellent margaritas.

‘One week down and how do you feel? Ready to run for the hills yet?’ Maurice asked.

‘Not at all. I’m just getting started,’ she said with a confidence she finally felt.

‘So where did you to get to this afternoon?’ he asked, his gaze curious.

‘Market research,’ Chase replied without taking his eyes off the menu.

Bella bit her lip as she felt Maurice’s gaze on her.

‘Moremarket research,’ she clarified, having already told Maurice about the galleries she’d visited yesterday.

Chase’s eyebrow crinkled, but she doubted anyone noticed.

It then took nearly twenty minutes to wrangle everyone’s food order and what ended up coming to the table was a mishmash of fried fabulousness, the likes of which Bella would never normally let herself anywhere near, let alone eat.

Bella asked Maurice about growing up in Martinique and what had brought him to New York.

‘A man, darling. Isn’t it always a man?’ he replied with a knowing smile.

‘And what happened tothe man?’ Bella asked.

‘Lord only knows. That was nearly twenty years ago now.’

Ali started to tell Maurice a funny story about Ye-Joon, Bella smiling at the obviousness of her crush and more than a little envious of how uninhibited Ali was. She was free in just about every way, her expressions wild and wonderful, her enthusiasm seemingly endless. What would it be like to live like that? she wondered.

Ali tried to steal an onion ring from Maurice’s plate, but he playfully slapped her hand away, causing her to scream. Bella flinched, but laughed along with the team, surprised when Chase donated his last ring to Ali.

Chase eyed her spring roll.

‘No way,’ Bella replied passively, causing Chase to narrow his eyes.

‘I’d trade you.’

‘Nope,’ she said, shaking her head and biting into the delicious layers of flaky pastry, visibly relishing the garlicky pork and ginger-coated vegetables inside.

‘Cruel woman,’ Chase complained as the plates were taken away.

Dessert menus were placed on the table and Bella stared longingly at the red velvet cake. There was no way she should be even considering it, but…

‘Tempted?’ Chase asked, his gaze on her finger tapping beside the cake’s description.

She’d be running off this dinner for at least a week as it was. ‘I’m good, thank you,’ she said, sitting back in the red vinyl seat full, reasonably happy, and very tired.

‘And now for the best bit!’ exclaimed Ali, jumping up and down and making the vinyl squeak. ‘Kara?—’

‘Nope,’ Chase said. ‘I’m out.’

‘Me too,’ Bella said with a smile at the look of miserable disappointment on Ali’s face. She turned to Maurice, her gaze pleading for him to say yes.

‘Please, Maurice,please.’

Maurice peered down at her, eyebrow raised and Bella was fully prepared for him to flat out refuse when he instead said, ‘Only if you agree to let me do at least one Madonna, one Kylie and one Celine.’

---