But it was already coming out of Eva’s mouth. The truth. ‘I want you to know that I think you’re incredibly hot,’ Eva told her plainly.
Maddy’s lips parted in shock.
‘I mean it,’ Eva said. ‘If you weren’t taken, I’d be very tempted to shoot my shot.’
Maddy’s cheeks flamed instantly. ‘I—I…’
Twenty-Five
While Maddy was trying to stutter out a response to Eva’s words, she became aware of her body in a new and terrifying way. Specifically, she became aware of a single bead of sweat sliding slowly down her spine.
It started somewhere between her shoulder blades and made a deliberate journey downward, as though it had all the time in the world. As though it wasn’t currently exposing Maddy to herself.
She sat very still. If she didn’t move, it might not count. If she didn’t acknowledge it, it might not mean anything.
The problem was, it meant everything.
Because Maddy did not sweat like this. Not in a perfectly climate-controlled spa restaurant. This wasn’t heat. This was something else.
This was panic.
Something that had started the moment Eva had looked at her and said, plainly and with a level of eye contact that would bring anyone to madness,I think you’re incredibly hot.
Maddy stared fixedly at the table. At her leftover rice noodles. At the careful arrangement of cutlery. At literally anything that was not Eva.
You are getting married to the love of your life. This is nothing.
Except it didn’t feel like nothing.
‘I—I…’ Maddy tried, aware that several seconds had passed and she was still verbally malfunctioning.
Eva was still looking at her. That was the problem. If Eva had laughed, if she’d reduced it into a joke, Maddy could have recovered. Pretended it was just part of the game.
But she hadn’t. So Maddy needed to speak.Now.
‘Thank you,’ Maddy said finally, ‘but I’m not into muff.’
Oh god. Where didthatcome from? Abort, abort!
‘Muff?’ Hannah said, her lips practically aquiver with horror.
‘Muff,’ Eva said quietly, with disappointment.
‘Muff?’ repeated her mother. That added fresh horror to it.
‘To Muff!’ giggled Mary, raising her drink in the air. ‘And all who sail in her!’
‘I’m starting to feel left out,’ Aria muttered. ‘MUFF!’ she declared loudly.
‘Jesus, can everyone stop saying that?’ Maddy begged.
Mary drained her drink. ‘You started it,’ she said and burped. There was laughter around the table, but it all felt strangely distant.
The bead of sweat reached the small of Maddy’s back and settled there.
This was ridiculous. It was a game. A stupid hen-night game. Eva had been prompted. It didn’t mean anything.
Except… Maddy had seen the moment before Eva spoke. The decision. That hadn’t been for the table. That had been for her. It had beenreal.
