Page 22 of Vine (Island Love #3)

CHAPTER 21

MAX

“He’s pretty,” observed éti as she finished drying my dishes. She stacked them on top of one another. I liked them to air dry for a few minutes before I did that.

“He will be sad if you saw his?—"

“I did see his arms,” she interrupted calmly. “And I won’t tell Nico about them. Not if you prefer I didn’t.”

Already rocking on the balls of my feet, I counted my fingers. “You can tell him. Honesty is important in relationships.”

“It is.” She glanced up at me. “And, on that subject, has your friend Caspian told you everything now?”

“Yes! Stop trying to protect me!”

“Only if you stop shouting.” éti spread the tea towel out to dry almost exactly how I liked it. “I understand he’s having a very tough time, Max, I really do. When it blows over, what then? He’s leaning on you now, but once this filming comes to an end, he’ll be back in London, won’t he?”

“No. There’s nothing for him there. He’ll want to stay here with me looking after him.”

She sighed. “You don’t know that, Max.”

“Yes I do!”

“People don’t fall in love with you just because you want them to, my love.”

My annoyance rocketed. “He already has done. He just doesn’t realise it yet. He will want to stay. Why wouldn’t he? I have a house and a stable income and very good teeth. And I’m excellent at penetrative sex!”

The last part came out rather more loudly than I’d intended. In retrospect, I preferred it hadn’t come out at all. Voice modulation and thought filtering were perennial challenges. Behind me, someone cleared their throat.

éti gave one of the bright smiles she used with interviewers. “Ah, Caspian. Good. The coffee has just brewed. Do you take sugar?”

Merde.

“Er… no, thank you.”

I spun around as she handed my lover a mug. This morning, Caspian looked very small and pale. éti, in contrast, wearing the yellow dress she’d pinned on me, zinged like the sun.

“I tell éti most things,” I explained. “She’s very good at secrets.”

He dropped his head, cradling his mug. I wanted to hug him, but from the stiff way he held himself, I wasn’t sure he’d welcome it. “I’m not used to having my private life aired in public. I’m going to have to get used to it.”

“éti isn’t public!”

He gave me a lopsided half smile. “I know.” His eyes flicked up to éti. “It’s okay. And it’s true, anyway.”

éti laughed. “The La Forges have big enough egos already without bolstering them even more.”

“Says the woman with the biggest ego this side of Jupiter,” chimed an annoying voice. Nico shambled in, with Noir sniffing at his heels. At least he hadn’t heard me boasting.

“This is my brother,” I said to Caspian with a jerk of my head. “Nico.”

As they shook hands, Nico grinned with his good teeth. “Try to sound a little more enthusiastic, Max.”

I’d never introduced a sexual partner to my brother before, though I’d met plenty of his. I was proud to introduce Caspian, even though he looked like shit. One day, he’d be proud of himself too.

“Let’s adjourn to the sofa, shall we?” suggested éti.

Seeing as it was easier than not, we all obediently followed her.

“First of all, do you think the media will find you here?” she directed to Caspian, perching on the edge.

I sighed with relief. She’d know what to do. No one had more experience in managing public life than éti.

Sagged in the opposite armchair, Caspian clutched his drink like a lifebelt. “Maybe, but unlikely. As much as he’s loving the hype, Jonas—the producer—won’t divulge our location. He wants to finish filming.” His eyes dropped to the floor. “To wring every last drop out of it. And anyway, I’m not that important. Half the people mocking me online will also be googling who I am.”

“Yet they still have a fascination.” éti gave him a small smile as if she understood. Doubtful; no one ever needed to google her name. “And reading all the salacious details anyhow. Well, that’s something. If you do spot anyone hanging around, then let Max know. I have a couple of local guys I can call on for security if ever I feel the need.”

“And he has me,” I added, a little annoyed. Though I might accidentally miss a paparazzo and plant a right hook on that Jonas person. Hard enough to knock that slimy oil out of his hair.

“Secondly,” éti continued, “did you switch off your phone?”

“The battery’s died, and I haven’t recharged it yet. There were a lot of texts and missed calls from my agent. I need to speak to her.”

“She can wait.” éti gave a dismissive wave. “I suspect your value will have risen.”

“It has.” He sounded surprised. “A few weeks ago, I was offered a breakfast TV stand-in slot, which will probably lead to the main job after a few months. She says they’ve reduced the contract length from three years to one because they’re worried that I’ll be unreliable, but have increased the pay by a third. And the money on offer for me to join my ex in the jungle has doubled.”

“Then she can definitely wait,” said éti. “It sounds like you need some thinking time.”

And I needed some time to show him he didn’t need to agree to either.

“The most important thing right now is to seek professional help. For your…” She glanced across to Nico, who was listening but also playing with Noir so he didn’t appear to be. Dogs were good for that. “Health. The obvious thing to do is sack off the filming, return to London and obtain it there.”

“No.” Caspian shook his head, thank fuck. “I have to get to the end of the show. My ex-husband and I both do.” He studied his mug again. “We need the money.”

“Colette can help him,” I interrupted. “Here, on the island. She’s amazing.”

“She’s a good start,” agreed Nico, “if that’s what Caspian wants.”

“He does,” I said, earning an amused look from éti and an odd one from Caspian I couldn’t work out. “You two can go now, by the way,” I added. “Now we’ve got a plan.”

Of course, Nico took ages to drink his coffee. When I finally slammed the door behind them, I returned to find Caspian lying on the sofa with Noir spread in a puddle of black fur across his feet. If Caspian’s face was a text-based emoticon, it would have been one of the very complex, very sad Japanese ones.

Shoving Noir off, I took his place. Even though my mouth wanted to kiss Caspian’s pale cheeks and my penis wanted to hone its new skills, I rubbed his cool feet in my warm hands instead.

“I feel like I have my own personal community psychiatric nurse,” he commented.

“I don’t know any, but I don’t think they rub feet.”

“No. Perhaps they should.”

“Colette doesn’t either, but she’s great,” I said. “She was trained as a psychologist in Paris. She has tons of qualifications. She’ll see you today if I ask her.”

Caspian nodded like he didn’t care, then raised his sad eyes up to the ceiling. “Okay. But I’m going to have to turn up on set tomorrow.”

“Yes, but afterwards, I will pick you up and bring you home.”

“All twenty metres of the journey?”

“Twenty-two. And the same the day after that and the day after that. Until it’s done. We can text, too.”

“I like your texts, Max.”

“I’m good at them,” I said. “And at the weekend, I’ll take you on the date we never got around to having. Then we’ll come back here and have more great sex.”