‘Understandable when you’re trying not to get caught breaking house arrest.’ He winked at Skylar.
I rounded on her.
‘You told him?’ I hissed, the heat rising to my cheeks.
‘It’s better than everyone thinking you dodge questions by leaping under tables!’
Ethan watched us, bemused.
A woman wearing a lanyard and holding an iPad interrupted to usher us over to a screen covered in Lewis Blume’s name, so that we could pose for the photographers. Having already been photographed, Ethan excused himself and joined a circle of incredibly beautiful people nearby. I assumed the photographers would want Skylar on her own, so I took a step back while she put a hand on her hip and looked at them over her shoulder. She looked so slick and professional.
‘And Miss Royale, if you could step forwards now?’ the woman with the iPad instructed.
‘Me?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said, smiling. ‘There’ll be more when you’re seated, too, but if we could just get some full-length shots of you and Miss Chase, that would be great.’
‘Come on, Flick,’ Skylar said, holding out her hand.
I thought about keeping my cover for the tiniest second . . . but then a camera flashed my worries away. This. Was. Awesome. I took Skylar’s hand and eagerly stepped in line next to her, mirroring her pose with a hand on my hip.
‘You’re a natural.’ Skylar laughed as the photographers thanked us and we moved aside to let them snap the next arrivals.
‘It’s so much fun!’ I said, looking around eagerly. ‘I recognise everyone in here. Look, Ethan is talking to Marianne Montaine.’
‘Let’s go take our seats,’ Skylar said chirpily, taking a photo of the crowd and posting it online.
I followed her to the benches lining the runway and tried to act as though I did this sort of thing all the time, which was VERY difficult, especially when I spotted a reality TV star holding hands with someone who was NOT her boyfriend.
‘OMG!’ I gasped, giving Skylar’s sleeve a sharp tug and nodding my head in their direction. ‘In the last episode, she was dating that Aaron guy who owned the French Bulldog!’
‘Who? What are you talking about?’ Skylar followed my gaze but still looked confused.
‘The best show on TV! You might not get in America but basicallyshewas hanging out with this guy, Matt, who everyone could see was all wrong for her because the only thing he talked about was his strawberry protein shakes, and then Aaron came along who was way more down to earth and . . . uh . . .’ I hesitated as Skylar stared at me blankly.
So much for playing it cool.
‘Never mind,’ I said hurriedly, flicking my hair over my shoulder and changing the subject. ‘Fashion shows are just sooo tiring.’
The lady with the iPad came over to lead us to our seats, gesturing to where our name labels were propped up next to each other on the bench.
‘Enjoy the show,’ she said brightly, hurrying off to escort everyone else to their seats.
‘The only problem with front row,’ Skylar began, sitting down and crossing her legs, ‘is that you’re constantly on show.’
‘You say that like it’s a bad thing,’ I replied, taking my place next to her and buzzing with excitement as heads turned to look at us.
‘You can’t let your guard down for a second. Trust me.’ She gave me a knowing look. ‘Someone once got a photo of me yawning and then I got a phone call from the designer the next day, asking me why I didn’t like her collection. I loved it! I was just jet-lagged but the reporters made it seem like I was bored.’
‘So, just perfect smiles the whole time.’ I grinned as a group of people sitting opposite stared across at us, whispered to each other and then began lifting up their phones to take photos. ‘That won’t be a problem today.’
‘Picture?’ a photographer said, crouching down in front of us and holding up his camera. ‘If you could just lean towards each other – that’s perfect. Thank you.’ He clicked away as I tilted my head towards Skylar and smiled. ‘Ah, excellent, and now the three of you?’
‘Three of us?’
‘Absolutely,’ came a familiar voice. Ethan sat down next to me and leaned in for the shot.
He smelled so good. And his knee was touching my knee. And his arm was warm against my arm. And he smelled so good. Did I already say that?
