Page 68 of Naughty or Nice

‘Go easy, Maylene, she hasn’t agreed yet.’

My eyes dart between them both, my brain too slow to play catch-up.

‘Sorry...’ Lucas says, gesturing between the goddess and I. ‘Eva, this is Maylene—she heads up operations for me out here. And, as Maylene says, she knows exactly who you are.’

He smiles at me, so proud, and I feel it all the way to my toes. As well as feeling the wash of shame at how quick I’d been to misjudge the situation.

His brows draw together and I know he’s reading me. Reading my faux pas. I need to cover it. Quick.

‘It’s lovely to meet you,’ I say. And now I need to leave, before I humiliate myself further.

My eyes drop to the box in her hands and up close I can spot the famous Fortnum & Mason label, see a glimpse of mince pies through the clear square on its top.

‘Mince pies?’ I’m so surprised it just comes out.

‘Ah, yes,’ she coos. ‘You can get them here, but it’s never the same. It’s my naughty indulgence—we can’t be good all the time, hey?’

She winks at me and my cheeks flare. My ‘naughty indulgence’ is currently looking at me as if I’m the most intriguing specimen he’s ever seen.

‘I’ll let you get on.’

‘No, wait.’ She looks to Lucas. ‘It seems a little unfair that we go and enjoy the best curry Singapore has to offer and leave Evangeline to do her own thing.’

‘I don’t want to bore her with work, and she’s supposed to be resting,’ says Lucas.

Maylene rolls her eyes at me. ‘And who are you? Her mother?’

I laugh. I like her. ‘I’m so glad you said that.’

Lucas looks to us both. ‘If you’re going to gang up on me, I’m not going anywhere.’

‘I have a feeling we’d get along fine without you,’ I tease him. ‘And, as it happens, I love curry.’

We look at him pointedly and then it occurs to me that maybe he doesn’t want to discuss work in front of an outsider.

I forget my teasing for a moment. ‘Unless you need to talk in confidence?’

Maylene waits for Lucas to reply and he gives a shrug. ‘I guess you’re here to see how we operate, so it can’t hurt for you to sit in.’

‘Great!’ we say in unison, and her friendliness and Lucas’s easy inclusion of me buries the dregs of my embarrassment and we head out into the evening.

A car is waiting for us. Of course it is. Like everything with Lucas, it’s slick and high-end.

And I am totally swept up in it. In him.

If I really concentrated I’d hear my phone vibrating, my watch attacking my wrist with an incoming call. I’d also hear my eighteen-year-old self trying to issue warning after warning.

Don’t get in too deep. Not yet.

But I’m having too much fun.

* * *

The food was good. The company exceptional.

Maylene and Eva hit it off. It’s no surprise. They’re both intelligent women with personalities to match. And, of course, when they’re together they can unite and rib me better. Better for them.

It’s late when we get back. As the lift doors open into my suite Eva’s already sweeping forward, confident in the new space—not like when we first arrived and she followed in my shadow.