Page 95 of What Happens in Dubai

‘A bottle of your best champagne, please.’

‘Absolutely.’ She handed us the menus and left the table.

As soon as she was gone, Tom burst into laughter. ‘Penicillin! That was brilliant, Zara. Out of all the—’

Ping.

I seized my phone from my bag, glad of the distraction. It was Ashley.

Don’t wait on me. I’m going to Dave’s! WTF!!! xxxxxxx

I sighed. ‘Ashley’s not coming.’

‘Hmm, I don’t blame her. Hopefully those two can sort it out.’

I agreed quickly, texting her back with lots of sexy GIFs. ‘So, what do you fancy?’ I asked, picking up the menu, keen to keep the chat strictly platonic and distract me from gazing towards the handsome surgeon. Now I’d lost my chaperone, the pressure of snowballing back into a love bubble with the wrong man was weighing heavily on my shoulders. I had to stay strong.

‘I’ll, of course, have a fillet. What about you?’

I looked up from the menu and felt Tom’s devilish eyes on me. ‘Same,’ I grinned.

‘Let me guess. Well done?’

I nodded. ‘What about you?’

‘You know I like it raw, Zara!’ he smirked, and I felt a sudden surge of warmth from my overly crushed clit.

‘Too far, Tom. As always!’ I tried to laugh it off, feeling flustered.

The drinks arrived, and we ordered our meal. The night was going well, and I was reminded again how much we enjoyed one another’s company. Sex aside, we got on astonishingly well.

Tom glanced at his watch for the second time and I laughed.

‘Do you need to be somewhere?’ I asked, raising my brows.

‘Not at all. I’ve just realised the battery is dead on my watch. Look.’ He turned his wrist round to me, showing off his fancy Tag.

I suddenly cringed at my accusation.

‘And let’s face it, the only place I go these days is to work. You and Ashley are the only bloody women I see!’ he laughed.

‘No, erm, oh what was her name again – Claudia?’ I murmured, pretending I had forgotten about the Arabian goddess he was with in Dubai.

‘Who?’ he sniggered smugly. ‘No, she was a holiday romance. If you could even call it that. So, what’s happening on the man front with Zara?’ he asked.

I felt a little taken aback. ‘We don’t have conversations like this, Thomas.’

‘Oh, come on. We’re friends now. Friends chat to other friends about their dating lives, don’t they? So, the Dubai guy? Spill.’ Tom sipped his champagne.

I felt a sudden dunt of humiliation thinking about Cameron. I hadn’t heard a single word from him since he’d left. ‘Not much. He was a dick. I honestly think I’m not a relationship type of girl, destined to be single for the rest of my life. I suppose it would be a far less complicated life, eh.’ I tried to make a joke of it.

‘Me, yes, absolutely. You, no! That would be a waste!’ Tom snapped back.

‘Why is that then?’ I asked.

Tom shrugged and sat back in his chair, looking serious all of a sudden. ‘You’re a great girl, Zara. Fantastic, clever, sexy, silly … it would be a real shame for you not to meet someone who appreciated that.’

I paused, waiting for a sarcastic comment to follow up his array of compliments.

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