‘So that must mean it’s doing pretty well itself – oh, wait! You’rethatgirl.’
‘Excuse me?’ I said, feeling my cheeks begin to colour.
He caught sight of three pairs of eyes looking at him, each wondering what was coming next. ‘Oh, no! I meant, you’re the girl Charlie was helping with her taxes, is that right?’
‘Yes. He’s helped me with various finance-y bits.’
‘Charlie and I were out biking one morning a while back, and when I suggested going to grab a late breakfast, he said he had to go and help a blogger with her taxes. And he’s talked about a Libby. I just didn’t put two and two together until just now.’
‘Oh.’
‘Probably would have helped if he hadn’t left out the fact that you were gorgeous. Now I can definitely see why breakfast with me was far less appealing.’
I gave him a look but his smile remained firmly in place, and in fact only widened when I looked back at him. ‘I can also see why he might have wanted to keep that extra bit of information to himself.’ I shook my head, still smiling, and looked away.
‘So where is that ugly brother of yours, anyway?’ He turned to Marcus.
On cue, Charlie detached himself from a nearby group of people. ‘Alex! Glad you could make it, mate.’ They exchanged a quick, brotherly hug.
‘Wouldn’t miss it.’
‘Mum would be devastated if you did. Have you seen her yet?’
‘No, not yet. She looked engrossed, so I didn’t like to interrupt. I’ve been meeting these two lovely ladies and being assaulted by your baby brother.’ He turned to Marcus. ‘You know that’s actually an offence, assaulting a police officer? I could arrest you for that.’
‘Like to see you try, mate.’ Marcus offered up his bottle in a salute and laughed.
‘Still a cheeky little git, isn’t he?’ Alex turned to Charlie.
‘Afraid so.’
‘Luckily the other company has made up for it.’ He grinned at Amy and me, his gaze resting a little longer on me. This time I was sure. As was everyone else, by the looks of it.
‘Right. That’s good, then.’ Charlie smiled, his gaze resting on me for far less time than Alex’s had. ‘How was your shift?’
‘Fairly quiet, thank goodness.’
‘Would you excuse us for a minute?’ Amy interrupted. ‘We’re just going to sit down for a bit.’
We are?
‘’Course. You all right?’ Marcus brushed his fingers across the small of Amy’s back.
‘Yes, just need a little sit-down. These shoes, you know.’
I had a funny feeling there was nothing wrong with Amy’s feet.
‘OK. See you in a minute.’ Marcus dropped a kiss on the top of Amy’s head and let her go.
Amy took my hand and led me over to a bench overlooking an ornamental pond, its waters half shaded by the swaying branches of a willow tree. Plants and flowers, none of which I knew the name of, spilled around its edges, making it look lush and beautiful, providing hiding places for the fish that flashed in the sunlight.
‘Oh. My. God.’
‘What?’
‘Alex is hot! And he’s totally into you! You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed!’
‘No. I did. I mean, notice that he’s hot. That’s pretty hard to miss.’
