Page 49 of Another Lucky Number

He’s still being overly polite and formal, which causes my confidence to waver. What if there’s more to this than I’m aware of? What if something’s changed in the last day and a bit and he’s just not interested anymore? But then that would make no sense.Noneof this makes sense.Why is he even here?

‘Can we talk?’ I say. ‘I need to explain something to you.’

‘You don’t owe me any explanations.’ His demeanour remains cold and distant. ‘My friends are also waiting for me. Can we do this later?’

It’s perfectly clear to me that in this context, ‘later’ means ‘never’. He wants me gone.

‘Um… OK… I’ll leave you in peace then,’ I mumble. ‘Sorry to have bothered you.’

‘No problem. Have a good one.’ He gives me the same curt nod he did at reception and walks away towards his waiting friends, leaving me standing alone and completely gutted.

Chapter Twenty-One

While watching James go, I glance across at Amber and Cat, who are making questioning gestures at me and indicating that I should go after him. I respond by throwing my hands up in my own gesture of ‘what can I do?’, then I let out the same frustrated cry from earlier – though at a much lower volume.

‘James, why are you here?’ I suddenly yell after him.

He stops and turns. ‘This was always where I was coming on holiday. I wanted to surprise you – though I realise now that was a pretty stupid idea.’

‘Why was it stupid?’

‘Are you really asking that? Is it not obvious?’

I take a few tentative steps towards him. ‘Because you saw me dancing with Sébastien last night? It was just a dance. Nothing more.’

‘That’s not how it looked from where I was standing. And I wasfifteenfeet away.’

He’s not wrong. In fact, he appears to be confirming what I’ve been thinking myself. That there is chemistry between meand Sébastien, but that’s all it is: a raw biological connection. It’s no match to what I’ve felt with James and he needs to know that.

‘Look, James, Sébastien’s a great-looking charismatic man. I’m not sure there’s a straight woman in the world who’d—’

‘You don’t need to offer a defence.’ His face is now betraying the hurt he’s clearly feeling. ‘I get it. He’s hot. You couldn’t resist. I was supposed to be hundreds of miles away, and I have no claim to you anyway.’

‘Nothing has happened, James.Nothing.’ I take another couple of steps towards him. ‘Sébastien did ask me to dinner, and I went, but only because I wound myself up worrying that you’d hook up with some hot blonde on your own holiday. When I thought he was making moves on me, I put a stop to it, because I didn’t want to ruin things with you. Then it turned out he only wanted to talk about the job… I actually made a bit of a tit of myself.’

James studies me, and I remove my sunglasses so he can look me in the eye and (hopefully) trust that I’m telling the truth.

‘Not like you to do that.’ He keeps his expression neutral, but I know I’ve won him over. I can see a hint of the lovely man I enjoyed a date and a knee-trembling kiss with at the airport sneaking through.

‘Very funny.’ I playfully wrinkle my nose, before slipping my sunglasses back on and turning serious again. ‘Please tell me you believe me.’

‘Shall we take a walk?’ he says and I nod.

James calls to his friends to say he’ll catch them up in a bit, and I signal a similar message to Cat and Amber. They respond with four enthusiastic thumbs up. Amber then punctuates her message by jumping up and making thrusting gestures, which I sincerely hope James does not see.

We make our way down the beach, and Itake off my flip-flops so I can enjoy the feel of the gentle sweeping tide chasing my feet while we wander along the shoreline.

‘So, this job thing?’ James prompts me.

‘Yeah, as I said, that was Amber doing her usual.’ I roll my eyes and he laughs. ‘Sébastien wasn’t going to consider me for it, because he was already well through the selection process. But then he had a change of heart and offered me a chance – as long as I do the interview while I’m here.’

‘Wow. That’s quite something. And a bit weird having to do it here – on your holiday.’

‘Tell me about it. I’m sacrificing nearly half my time here to do it. But I think it’s worth it. Amber and Cat are helping me prepare, and I’m still able to make the most of the resort, so it’s not that bad.’

‘Fair enough. And this job, if you get it. Is it based out here in the Caribbean?’

‘No. That’s the great thing. It doesn’t matter where it’s based. The company is geographically dispersed and the Head Office staff tend to work remotely. I’d have to travel, but I can be based back home.’

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