When I returned a short while later, having changed into a lace-edged vest top and a floaty cotton maxi skirt, Alex looked up and smiled. No one missed the relieved expression on his face.
‘Better?’ I asked.
‘Much.’
He stood and came up to me, sliding his arms around my waist and planting a quick kiss on my lips. ‘Sorry about earlier. Just caught me by surprise.’
I shrugged it off. ‘Don’t worry about it. Purely for PR.’ I gave a quick smile that felt a little tighter than perhaps it should have done. And then, because I was completely incapable of not saying anything when a situation was bothering me, I turned my face up to his and raised an eyebrow. ‘It might have been nice if you hadn’t looked quite so appalled though. Not exactly a boost to a girl’s ego, you know.’
‘Sorry. Like I said, you just… surprised me.’
‘Charlie wasn’t exactly expecting it either but he didn’t look like he wanted to run off screaming.’
Alex grinned and pulled me a little closer, apparently enjoying what he viewed as banter.
‘You’re not dating Charlie.’
I leant back in his arms a little so that he got the full benefit of the look I fixed him with. ‘You’re cute, but you’re not that cute. I’ve no plans to run off with you just yet.’
‘Now who’s bruising egos?’
‘Ah ah!’ I waved my finger at him. ‘You can’t have it both ways.’
Alex released an arm from around my waist and caught my waggling finger with it. Gently, he lifted it to his lips and kissed it. His eyes were on mine, shining with mischief and the unmistakeable look of wanting, as he kept it there. I knew where this was going, and, judging by the way my pulse had kicked up, I was pretty sure that Alex knew that I knew what he had planned. He kissed my finger again. His lips lingered and began to move, gently. My eyes widened and Alex grinned. I wiggled and pushed off his chest, stepping back.
Across the room, I saw Tilly and Charlie peering in deep concentration at the screen of his laptop. Tilly was making ‘oohing’ noises, and genuinely seemed to be engrossed, but I wasn’t so sure about Charlie. I saw him lift his hand to the back of his head and give two scratches. His nervous tic that something was off. I’d noticed from early on that he did this whenever he wasn’t sure about something or felt uncomfortable.
‘How did they come out?’ I asked, moving away from Alex to cross the room and peer upside down over the top of the laptop screen.
Tilly looked up, a big smile on her face. ‘They’re amazing! Charlie’s amazing!’ She laughed, squeezing his bicep, which admittedly took both hands.
Charlie flicked a glance to her, and gave a little wiggle of his head, smiling.
I scooted round and squashed up next to her to take a look. Tilly was right. The photos were fabulous! He’d taken plenty when we hadn’t been aware, which for someone of Charlie’s size, making us forget that he was there taking pictures, was a pretty good testimonial to his skills in this particular area of photography. The posed ones were gorgeous, but it was the candids I absolutely loved. And, of course, the silly selfie of the three of us, with Tilly and I standing on the bed, just to get up to the same height as Charlie, one of us at each of his shoulders. That had to be my favourite.
‘That one’s definitely going on the blog!’ I said, pointing to it.
Charlie looked mildly horrified. ‘What?’
‘That one. I love it!’
‘Me too!’ Tilly added. ‘It’s fabulous! People love “behind the scenes” stuff.’
Charlie remained unconvinced. I looked over to where Alex was reading on his tablet. Sports news, if I had to hazard a guess. Normally he was pretty interested in his friend’s photography, but I don’t think he’d quite yet recovered from having me open the door to him decked out in full wedding regalia. Pictures of me wearing a big white dress probably wasn’t anything he was in a hurry to see just now. But I needed his back up on this.
‘Alex, what do you think?’
‘About what?’ he said, his eyes still on the tablet.
‘This photo of Charlie. Tilly and I think it should go on the blog. Charlie disagrees.’
‘What’s the photo?’
‘If you come over here, you’ll see,’ I replied, with studied patience.
Alex raised his eyes to me and took in the innocent look on my face. A grin slid onto his own. He laid the tablet down on the table and crossed the room, walking behind the couch to look over our shoulders at the image under discussion. Much to his relief, I imagined, there wasn’t a whole lot of wedding dress on display as it was mostly our head and shoulders in shot. He laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
‘Sorry, mate, I’m with the girls. That’s a great shot. People will love it.’
