‘Jonathan Sisko.’ He introduced himself to Amber, his voice warm, his smile effortless. But I caught the tiny smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
I barely held back a snort. He wassofull of it.Sisko.
‘Yes, of course.’ I recovered quickly. ‘And I’m Lily Swanson, I suppose, soon to be Lily Sisko too.’
‘You know, honey, that’s the first time you’ve said your future new surname out loud,’ Cam said, locking eyes with me and then slipping a hand around my waist. My knees immediately weakened and I caught Cam looking down at my legs with a smirk.Fucker!
‘Aah, that’s so sweet,’ Amber said as Cam started running his fingers up and down the sensitive part of my lower back. I turned and tried to glare at him, but he just leaned in and looked deeply into my eyes.
‘The future Lily Sisko,’ he repeated, intensifying his gaze. My spine straightened and every single one of my muscles tensed as he leaned in even more. ‘I knew from the moment I saw her that she was the only woman in the world for me.’ The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I shivered involuntarily. Cam looked down, then rubbed a hand over my arm. ‘Chilly, honey?’
‘Uh . . . I . . .’ I stuttered stupidly as he traced his thumb up my spine. I shook my head quickly, and then as subtly as possible brought my arm around him and started poking a message into his back in Morse code.
One tap, three taps, three taps again! And when I was donespelling the word ‘ass’, I gave him an extra-hard prod just to make sure he knew I was serious. He burst out laughing and looked at me.
‘What’s so funny?’ Amber asked, giggling along too, as if Cam’s laugh had been contagious.
‘I just remembered that the first time we met, she actually broke my finger.’ He waved his crooked pinky finger in the air.
‘It was an accident,’ I said.
‘Of course it was, honey. We were both grocery shopping and going for the last avocado, and she was so enthusiastic, really, really enthusiastic – let’s just say she wanted that avo, didn’t you, honey? One minute I’m reaching for it, next minute a trolley is crunching my finger.’
Why the hell had Cam just made me sound like some unhinged cart-wielding avocado maniac? I winked at Victor and Amber. ‘Actually, it was the other way around, but he always likes to twist the truth of that story a little, don’t you . . .honey?’ I looked at him pointedly.
He threw his hands in the air in mock defeat. ‘You’ve got me. What can I say, I’m a sucker for guacamole.’
I fake-laughed, then looked at Amber and gave her my best eye-roll. She rolled hers back, as if we were sorority sisters, silently communicating with looks because we knew each other that well.
‘Anyway,’ I said, wrapping my arm around Cam again, ‘we don’t want to disturb your dinner. Maybe see you later, though.’
‘Nice talking to you,’ Cam added, and we started walking away. He spoke very quietly: ‘And in three, two, one . . .bingo!’
‘Would you like to join us?’ Victor asked, and we both spun around, wearing our biggest fake-shocked-slash-delighted looks.
‘Are you sure?’ I asked. ‘We wouldn’t want to get in the way of your romantic evening.’ I pointed at the candles and the rose petals. I wondered if this scab of a man had done all this for Sharaz too in the beginning. Wooed her with gifts and flowers. Money and Moët. The promise of Picassos and blue pills that clearly kept him up all night long.
‘Absolutely,’ Victor said.
Amber beamed. ‘Yay! This is so fun! Sit, sit!’ She gestured eagerly at the free chairs opposite them.
‘Well,honey, you heard her,’ Cam said, and pulled a chair out for me like the gentleman he was sonot. I shot him a sideways glance as I started to lower myself into it. He was really playing this up. ‘Wait . . . your hair.’ I felt his hands graze the bare skin on the back of my neck as he lifted up my curls, and then with a tenderness that caught me off guard, he arranged them down the front of my shoulders. ‘You were going to sit on it,’ he said, his fingers trailing through the strands. I realised that no one had ever run their hands through my hair like that, and it felt – oh God, what the hell was happening to me? – so good.
‘You can see you guys are newly engaged,’ Amber cooed as Cam sat down beside me.
‘You can?’
She nodded. ‘So in love.’ She looked from me to Cam and back again. ‘It’s so cute.’
‘Do you hear that, honey? We’resoin love.’ Cam smiled, a clear sign that he was enjoying this far too much. I decided to bring a littleunenjoyment to it and gave him a quick kick under the table.
‘Aargh!’ He winced. ‘Ah, um . . .’ He thumped his chest twice and fake-coughed. ‘Sorry, must have choked on something.’ He reached for a glass of water and took a sip, looking at me over the rim as he did so. His eyes drilled into me, but on his lips there was a little smile. I glanced across at Amber and Victor, who seemed to be sharing a moment of their own, so I took the opportunity.
‘Ass!’ I whisper-hissed at him.
‘You love it.’ And then he dropped his hand onto my upper thigh and squeezed.
I looked down as his hand started to creep further and further up. My entire body screamed out for it to keep going. But when I glanced at him and saw how fucking pleased with himself he looked, I knew I had to beat him at his own game. At whatever cost.
