Page 34 of All Mine (The All Mine #1)

Isabella

Girl Gang WhatsApp group

Wren : Code red.

Rosie : Come now. Drinks at The Wayside.

Amber : Can’t. Gotta collect Jayden from street dance in an hour.

Rosie : You won’t want to miss this.

Amber : What happened?

Isabella : I kissed Etienne.

Amber : Be there in ten.

The women were already huddled around a round table in the back bar of The Wayside, all cradling large glasses of dry white wine, when Amber skidded in wearing denim dungarees over a cropped top, hair in two plaits, looking like some sort of sexy children’s entertainer.

Wren pointed to the seat beside her and the waiting glass of Coke Zero with a straw. Amber sat.

‘You did WHAT?’ she said to Isabella, getting straight to the point.

Isabella lifted her face from her hands. ‘I kissed him. Etienne.’ As if she needed to clarify.

‘Where?’ Amber asked, as if that was important.

‘On his mouth,’ Isabella said, confused.

‘No, girl, I mean, where were you?’ Amber said.

‘Oh. In a cupboard.’ Now Amber looked confused. Rosie snorted.

‘Back up here,’ Amber said, propping her chin on her fists and sipping from her straw. ‘Tell me from the beginning.’

Isabella took a glug of wine and exhaled.

‘We were all at George’s birthday and ended up playing hide-and-seek. I hid in the cupboard under the stairs and then Etienne got in too.’

‘Cheeky. . .’ Amber said.

‘I told him to get out. I mean, it was dark in there, and crowded, and he was pressed right up against me. After I’d done my best to avoid him all day. In fact, I’d done my best to avoid him since he sucked my finger. . .’

‘What?!’ Rosie choked on an olive.

‘You never said!’ Wren accused, banging Rosie’s back.

‘And especially since he took this. . .’

She opened her phone on the table, and they all peered at the photo of his hand on her skin.

Amber fanned herself and rolled her eyes.

‘That’s seriously hot, Isabella,’ she said.

‘Why did he take that?’ Rosie asked, turning the screen to get a better look.

Isabella shifted in her seat.

‘In case I needed any visual stimulation to get me through my year of no sex.’

They all took a moment to look at the picture again.

‘That’d certainly help,’ Amber said and they all nodded. Isabella didn’t add that it had in fact been ‘helping’ every night since he’d taken it. She flicked the phone off.

‘Anyway, so I’ve been avoiding him because it seems every time I get near him, I can’t control myself.

I mean, I’ve never let someone lick my arm, rub my foot, suck my finger before.

And then all of a sudden, I’m in a cupboard in the dark with him and he was so close and.

. .’ She crossed her legs under the table at the memory of his hands.

‘Oh my God, this was at a child’s party?!’ Amber said.

‘This is definitely not PG behaviour!’ Wren laughed, leaning back and putting her arm around Rosie. ‘To think we were hiding behind the curtains upstairs waiting to be found by a four-year-old while this was going on.’

‘And then I kissed him,’ Isabella said, shrugging, as a flush pinked her cheeks. She took another long sip of wine.

‘And then we found them!’ Rosie said, leaning back into Wren, symbolising end of story.

‘Omigod?’ Amber looked at Isabella for clarification and she nodded.

‘Yup. There we were for all to see. Me with my tongue down his throat.’ Isabella’s head sank into her hands again and she groaned. Amber threw her head back and laughed so loudly one of the waiters jumped as he walked past.

‘But the question is,’ Amber said, getting control of herself again, ‘was it any good?’

Isabella raised her head, and looked into the eyes of each of the three women in turn. They all leaned in.

‘It wasn’t good,’ Isabella whispered. ‘It was amazing.’

‘Yes!’ Amber said and gave her a high five across the table. ‘So, what now?’

‘You going to sample the Etienne platter?’ Wren said.

‘She’s going to drink of the Etienne juice. . .’ Amber said.

‘You’re going to get Etienne’d,’ Rosie proclaimed with finality.

Isabella swung her head from side to side, definitively.

‘Nope, I am most definitely NOT breaking my promise.’

‘But you’ve said it yourself, you can’t trust yourself around him,’ Wren said.

‘And he’s everywhere here, you can’t avoid him,’ Rosie added. ‘I mean, we’re all in the same friendship group.’

‘What do your nipples think about that?’ Amber asked.

‘Believe me, I’ve taken my nipples into consideration,’ Isabella said with a smile. ‘And I’m also taking my own personal journey into consideration. And I’ve got an idea of how to combine both. We’ll just have to see if Etienne is up for it.’

She checked her surroundings again and beckoned the women in until their heads were almost touching over the table. When she’d finished whispering, Amber slumped back in her chair.

‘If you can pull that off, then you’re a stronger woman than me.’

Later that night, Isabella watched as the last diners left The Bistro, and Etienne waved his staff goodbye before flipping the sign to closed and dimming the lights.

It took her exactly one minute and ten seconds to lock her flat, hurry across the windy square and tap lightly on the front door.

Etienne appeared from the kitchen, squinting to see outside, and she caught the glint of his smile in the shadows when he spotted her waiting.