Page 56 of Three's a Crowd
‘For fuck’s sake, Daisy,’ Adam muttered, glaring at her.
She felt like kicking him.
‘What’s your fucking problem, Adam?’ Zach asked suddenly, his eyes flashing with irritation at his friend’s vindictive behaviour.
Adam just glared back at him with a sardonic grin on his face. ‘You know exactly what my problem is,’ he snapped back.
‘What’s going on here?’ Daisy asked, suddenly struck by the fact she was missing a step. What were they talking about?
Zach glanced at her, then held up his hands in a placating gesture towards Adam. ‘Look, why don’t we go and get you another drink at the bar?’ he suggested, nodding at Adam’s now empty glass, clearly trying to defuse the situation.
‘I don’t need you getting meshit. I’ll go on my own,’ Adam stated, standing up and striding away, careering into people as he went.
‘Adam, wait,’ Zach said, throwing Daisy a look that saidstay here, I’ve got this, before getting up too and following him through the crowd towards the bar.
Daisy watched them go. Perhaps Zach would be able to get through to him; she certainly didn’t seem to be having any luck.
Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder and swivelled round to see the man from the café standing there, grinning at her. He looked fantastic in his tuxedo, very dashing, and Daisy was momentarily awed at the sight of him. He really was very handsome, but in a much more traditional way than Zach and Adam. Like an old school movie star.
‘Daisy, how lovely to see you again,’ he drawled in his mid-Atlantic accent, moving round to sit on the sofa next to her, without bothering to ask if she minded if he sat down this time.
The sheer bloody confidence of the guy was astounding.
‘Sonny. Hi,’ she said, raising a hand in greeting and once again feeling slightly uncomfortable under his intense gaze.
‘So, did you enjoy the film?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I thought it was fantastic,’ she admitted, nodding. She probably should at least be civil before she escaped, just in case he was a friend of Zach’s.
‘Not one of the director’s best,’ he said, giving what seemed to her to be a disingenuous smile. ‘But a good effort all round, I thought.’
Daisy wasn’t sure about his tone. Something about it didn’t ring true.
She was distracted by a tall figure looming over them and Daisy turned to see Zach standing at the end of the sofa, watching them with a dark frown on his face. Perhaps he’d not been able to get through to Adam after all.
‘Ah, the man of the moment,’ Sonny said, holding out his hand to Zach for it to be shaken.
Zach grasped it for a moment, shaking it abruptly before pulling his hand away and nodding curtly at the other man.
Sonny clearly sensed Zach wasn’t in the mood for chitchat because he excused himself and after leaning over to kiss Daisy on the cheek – which she was too surprised by to react to immediately – backed away from them with a grin, striding off towards the other side of the boat.
Zach watched him go, his frown still very much in place.
‘Where’s Adam?’ Daisy asked.
‘I left him at the bar. I don’t know what’s got into him,’ he confided with a grimace. ‘He seems really angry with me about something, but he won’t tell me what.’
‘Yeah, I’m sorry about that. We had a bit of a row about coming out this evening after I stood him up for lunch. I think he’s feeling miffed about not being able to do exactly whathewants every second of the day. But then, I guess it’s his holiday too, so maybe he has a point,’ she said, putting a hand on his arm for reassurance.
Zach looked at her steadily for a moment before saying, ‘Sod it, let’s leave him to have some fun on his own then. Come and dance with me.’
Before she could react, he grabbed her hand and pulled her up off the sofa, towing her towards a dance floor on the other side of the boat. It was already full of couples gliding around the floor to a slow jazz number being played by a cool-looking band set up on a raised stage. Nervous excitement rushed through her as Zach wrapped his arms around her back and guided her into the middle of the throng, where they swayed together, their bodies pressed close.
She caught sight of the bright lights of the Cannes shoreline flash by in the distance as he slowly turned her, leading the movement and melding her into his body.
Her breath shortened and her head began to swim with the intensity of her response to him holding her so close, his scent wrapping around her senses and his breath ruffling her hair. The unnerving throb began to pulse, deep inside her again, sending tendrils of need through every part of her body, and she pressed herself closer to him, drinking him in and revelling in the wild joy he was provoking.
‘I knew you’d be a great dancer,’ he murmured into her ear. ‘That’s one of the things I love about you: the way you move. You carry yourself with such grace.’
