Page 32 of Another Lucky Number (Lucky Number #2)

My heart sinks at this announcement, which for me is a certain sign that something’s badly wrong.

It’s dressed up as concern for me, but James’s strange behaviour in the bar, as well as the lack of an offer to at least walk me back to my suite, is screaming that there’s a problem – and he’s avoiding dealing with it.

‘Right, sure. I guess that makes sense.’ I try not to let my disappointment show.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?’

‘Fine. Maybe see you at breakfast?’

‘ If we make it.’ He laughs loudly, drawing attention from the others.

I make eye contact with Cat and I can tell that she’s tuned into the situation.

‘Shall we?’ She offers me her arm and I gratefully thread mine through it.

‘Have fun,’ we call to the others, who are already gravitating in the direction of the club, with Amber so caught up in her boisterous chat with Tyler and Rob that she barely notices us go. She certainly hasn’t clocked the awkwardness between myself and James, who jogs after them to catch up.

‘You OK?’ Cat asks, as we meander through the beautifully lit resort gardens, the faint sound of music from one of the many drinking establishments cutting through the quiet darkness. ‘What’s going on with you and James?’

‘You tell me.’ I look at her with hurt in my eyes. ‘He’s been weird with me ever since Sébastien came by our table.’

‘How so?’

She gestures to a bench and we sit down. I explain how things were before and after, and she listens intently, then frowns.

‘I’m no expert, honey, but maybe James is feeling threatened by Sébastien.

Sébastien does pay you a lot of attention.

We know he has no romantic intentions towards you – at least that’s what he’s told you – but James might still be worried that he does.

And that you might respond to them. All he’s seeing is this rich, charismatic, god-like man who he probably feels he couldn’t compete with, so he’s withdrawing to protect himself. ’

‘Could be,’ I say. ‘But I feel it’s more than that. Also, James has never been backward in coming forward before. He’s normally so confident, yet he’s backed off twice now because of Sébastien – when there’s no reason for him to do so.’

‘ No reason?’ Cat raises a sceptical eyebrow and I wince.

‘OK, maybe the first time when he saw us dancing looked bad. Especially as he didn’t know what was going on. But I explained the situation.’

‘Then maybe you’ve discovered his Achilles heel. Maybe James is super confident provided there’s no competition. For all you know, he may have had a bad experience in the past.’

‘I guess.’ I bob my head in acceptance of this possibility. ‘I never thought about it like that. What should I do then? I need him to know that there’s nothing between me and Sébastien.’

‘Are you completely sure there isn’t?’ Cat asks.

I’m thrown by this question. ‘What do you mean? Of course there isn’t. Why would you ask that?’

‘Because I sense some chemistry between the two of you, and if I do, so will James.’

The memory of me dropping James’s hand the moment Sébastien’s gaze landed on us crashes into my consciousness.

‘ Shit . You’re right. I messed up.’ I quickly explain what happened.

‘There you go,’ says Cat. ‘That’s the problem right there. You doing that must have caused James to feel insecure and think that you have feelings for Sébastien.’

‘That would hurt any guy’s ego.’ I screw up my face, annoyed at myself. ‘But I only did it because Sébastien could end up being my boss. It felt weird him seeing me having a “holiday romance”. It wasn’t because I have feelings for him.’

‘Then James needs to know that.’

‘Yeah, he does… Oh no … I’ve just realised something else.

Th e night I went for dinner with Sébastien, I told him – somewhat misguidedly – that nothing could happen between us because I have someone special at home.

Now he’s going to think I’ve hooked up with some random guy on the resort and question my previous excuse, because he doesn’t know James is that “someone special”. ’

‘Why does that matter?’

‘It matters because… I don’t know. Why the hell does it matter?’

‘Actually, I have an idea why.’ Cat fixes me with a knowing look. ‘Because as much as Sébastien said he wasn’t interested in you that way, how he behaves around you suggests the opposite.’

‘You’ve noticed it too?’

‘Yes. To me, it seems like Sébastien’s pretending not to be interested in you because it wouldn’t be appropriate to pursue you romantically while you’re a candidate for a job with him – and because you already fobbed him off.

But he’ll sense if there’s chemistry between you.

Perhaps he’s hoping something will develop between you if you get the job, or indeed if you don’t. ’

‘ Oh hell , that’s all I need.’

‘Because you like Sébastien as well as James?’

‘ No . Well, yes. Who doesn’t like Sébastien? But I want to be with James.’

‘Then, once again, he needs to know that.’

‘He does.’ I nod resolutely. ‘Shall I go to the club and tell him that?’

‘You could… but you’ve both had some booze, and it’s easy for alcohol fuelled arguments to blow up, no matter how much you want to resolve the issue. Maybe you could leave it until the morning instead.’

‘That’s good advice. Thanks Cat.’

Getting up from the bench, we continue our walk back to our accommodation block, and on reaching Cat’s suite, which is less than a minute’s walk from mine, we say goodnight.

I then wander along the corridor to my own room, caught in a cycle of indecision.

What Cat said makes a lot of sense, but I’m concerned that not dealing with this quickly might do more harm than good.

Although, with the mood James was in when we parted ways… Oh, I don’t know .

While continuing to switch back and forth on whether to go and find him, I round the corner to my suite and my breath catches in my throat: because James is leaning against the wall by my door.