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‘Hmm sure.’
‘I can fire you, you know,’ Paige said, wishing she hadn’t bothered interacting. But Belle knew her almost as well as some of her best friends and had in fact taken on a grumpy Paige once or twice before and lived to tell the tale.
‘You tell me that nearly every shift,’ Belle said with a wink.
Paige grunted.
‘Besides, if you fired me you’d have to work more shifts and then you couldn’t spend any time with Melanie.’ Again, the same sing-song taunt.
Paige upgraded to a growl in Belle’s direction.
‘You certainly wouldn’t have anybody to drop off secret boxes of prosecco either.’
Paige spun around, her eyes narrowed. ‘I told you not to talk about that.’
‘I know. It’s why it works so well to wind you up.’ Belle’s smile was sly. ‘You know if she’s distracting you, making you almost smash all our glasses, then maybe you should do something about it.’ Belle slipped away before Paige could respond.
She could do something about it could she?
Paige allowed her mind to wander for a moment.
‘Hey.’
Paige spun around quickly, feeling a little bit flustered at having conjured the person that she had been so vividly thinking about just a second before. She quickly gathered her cool, or what was left of it. ‘Hey. You ready for our second date?’ Paige asked.
Melanie nodded but didn’t say anything further, as Paige led the way towards the private staircase and up to her flat.
‘So hopefully we can get loads sorted out today, lots of things ticked off the list,’ Melanie said, her voice sounding a little tight as she followed Paige up the stairs.
‘What’s up, are you OK?’ Paige asked.
‘Yeah, of course.’
Paige opened the door and gestured for Melanie to go first. Something wasn’t right though she was sure of it. ‘Is business going well?’ she asked, trying a different avenue.
‘Yeah.’
‘You can tell me you know?’
‘I’m sure it’s nothing but’ — Melanie’s shoulders visibly sagged — ‘as well as the reviews, we’ve started getting some strange complaint letters and some voicemails . . .’ Her voice drifted away.
‘Who would do that?’
‘I don’t know. I’m sure it will pass. But honestly, I don’t even nearly have the time to think about it. It doesn’t appear to be affecting business and there’s plenty of incredible reviews.’ Melanie sighed, and Paige studied her again. Melanie’s skin, not quite as pale as her own, seemed to be duller, a little dark under her eyes, and she wondered if that was always there or usually covered by concealer. She made them both a hot drink before they sat down at the table, adding the tin of biscuits that Connie had pulled together along with iPads, phones and in Paige’s case, a notebook and pen too.
‘Right, so I think let’s start with Councillor Houghton. He wants an update,’ Melanie said as she straightened her skirt and pushed her glasses up her nose. A move that Paige was quickly associating with Melanie feeling flustered. ‘I’ll load up the email on my iPad.’ Paige moved closer towards Melanie so that she could see the screen, so close they were practically touching.
‘Great,’ Paige said. There. That’s what she was after. That scent of mango, the hit that made her mouth water, and her hands itch, and she felt it right into her very centre. Belle was right, Melanie was distracting.
Paige couldn’t help but imagine all the amazing ways they could distract each other, couldn’t help but imagine her legs, how smooth her skin would feel under her palms as she moved them up her calves, round the back of her knees, slowly edging higher . . .
‘If you look here,’ Melanie said before looking up into Paige’s eyes and stopping abruptly. She swallowed. Paige saw Melanie’s eyes widen, her pupils dilate, and Paige knew hers were doing the same. They were staring at each other now, lost in their own bubble in time. Neither moving, nor saying anything but communicating a whole lot. Paige’s stare forcibly moved as she saw that Melanie was looking at her lips and she edged even closer. Paige’s brain fractured, part of her trying desperately hard to think things through, to pay attention, the other part of her pushing forward the last few inches until their lips joined.
Melanie’s eyes looked back up to hers, her pupils wide through her glasses, a desperate look, her brow furrowed.
‘What do you want, Melanie?’ Paige asked, hearing her own voice sound like a whispered growl. Their faces were now only an inch apart, their breathing shared. Paige slowly raised a hand to gently stroke the side of Melanie’s face with her fingertips until they fell towards her neck where she slowly pressed her hand against Melanie’s thudding pulse.
Still Melanie said nothing, but her eyes were back at Paige’s lips, and her breathing was hard, and Paige felt it too. Her own heart raced, her blood pounded through her body.
