Page 38 of Sparks Fly
“Not all of it, but I made a good dent.” I take a mouthful. “I will do the rest tomorrow. My posting has been a little quieterjust because I am trying to make the most of the break whilst I have the chance.”
“I totally get that. I can’t stand social media. Of course, I have it. But that’s more a technicality than a want. My manager handles it. I do have a personal one, but I don’t really use it.”
“It takes up a lot of my time, but this is my full-time job, kind of have to like it.” My lips purse as I rest the stem of the glass on my lap and look back out at the boats.
“Did you know you always wanted to be an…” He pauses for a moment.
“Influencer?” I finish his sentence.
“Yes.”
“No, it wasn’t my dream. I didn’t want to do this at all, really. I wanted to get into Public Relations, make my own business. But things happened, courses change, paths get blocked and then I met Royce…” My stomach twists and my heart thumps against my rib cage. “I was already deep into social media by then, I scratched his back, he scratched mine in a sense and well… yeah.” I roll my lips and slowly turn my face to look at him.
“I’m sorry about you and Royce.”
“Don’t be,” I rush out, shaking my head. “It’s fine. He’s fine, I’m fine.”
“I know you’re fine.” He moves forward, and I watch as he hovers his glass over the table between us. “But I am just saying, I am sorry.”
I nod, licking my lips.
“But again, I am kind of not sorry because it brought you here, to Monaco, in my penthouse…” He pauses.
“How did your thing go,” I ask, trying to change the subject of this very slippery slope we both seem to be perched on the edge of.
“My thing?”
“Yeah, didn’t you have to meet someone?”
“Oh, yes.” He chuckles softly as he sits back into his set, nestling back. “It went very well.” His brows raise.
“Saint Onyx stuff?” I push my luck here to see if he will let anything fall from those full, pouty lips.
“Maybe.” The corner of his lips lift, and I find myself smiling at him.
“Oh, come on,” I push and a giggle slips past my lips.
“If I tell you…” He pauses and I find myself leaning forward. “I would have to kill you.” He lets out a heavy sigh and I scrunch my nose up. “And you’re too pretty to kill.”
Blinking, my lips part for a moment to speak but his lips just twitch into a devilishly handsome smile.
“Only joking…” His tone is deadpan before that smile is back and a small snicker leaves me.
“So, you can tell me?” I push the question but he does nothing, other than sit back into the sofa and let that smirk dig into his cheeks, causing dimples to appear.
I roll my eyes. “Spoil sport.” I turn my face back towards the marina, my eyes drifting and I feel my mind slipping.
“Look, when I can tell, you’ll be the first to know.” His soft voice pulls me to look at him, his green eyes sparkling as he focuses on me and only me.
“Okay.” I drop the conversation, I didn’t really feel like spending the evening speaking about Saint Onyx anyway. I accepted his invitation out of politeness.
I drain my glass but before I can even ask for another, the older lady is there filling it back up again. I give a weak smile and take another mouthful.
This is going down far too easily. I need to eat otherwise it’ll go to my head, and I will be drunk around my ex-boyfriend's dad and nobody wants that.
“Are you okay? Is this weird?” I see the way his face falters for a moment, the lady is there topping his own glass up.
“A little bit.” I blink a couple of times, shuffling in my seat. “And I am hungry,” I admit, my stomach rumbling in protest.
