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“I held her hand,” Hugh said, realising how he sounded as soon as the words were out.
Damian’s eyes bulged slightly before his chest convulsed with laughter.
“It’s not that funny,” Hugh said dryly.
“It is! You act like such a grown-up all the time.” Damian pulled his phone out and tapped away at the screen. “Why do you act like a twelve-year-old when you go on a date?”
“I didn’t …” His eyes flicked to Damian’s phone. “Have you just messaged Leo?”
“Yes. Of course. You held her hand!”
“Shut up.” Hugh dropped into the stainless-steel patio chair. “The date went well. That’s the main thing.”
“So why didn’t you kiss her?”
He’d been asking himself the same question since the moment he’d walked away from Allie the previous evening.
“I thought about it.” He’d definitely wanted to. “But then I kind of freaked out. Everything had gone so well and I didn’t want to mess it up.”
“Are you really that bad at kissing?” Damian chuckled at his own joke.
“I just didn’t know if I should. We had a really great time, but she also made it very clear before that she’s not interested in a relationship or anything. Just fun.”
“Oh, dear.” Damian shook his head. “Do I really need to explain to you how consenting adults can have fun?”
Hugh dropped his chin to his chest. “There’s no point in talking to you about this if you can’t be serious.”
“I’m sorry,” Damian said, not quite losing the edge of amusement in his voice. “So the date went well and Allie liked Sometimes Island?”
“Yeah, that place really is very romantic.”
“Did you bump into Leo’s witch?”
“I did. She’s a very quirky old lady with an incredible memory and a penchant for matchmaking.”
Damian went suspiciously quiet. “Do you think it would be a good place to propose?”
“What?” All Hugh could think of was the business card Arietta had given him, which was tucked away in his wallet. There was no way Damian could know about that. “I’ve been on two dates with her. I’m not thinking about proposing.”
“I wouldn’t imagine you were,” Damian said slowly, an air of suspicion in his tone. “I was thinking about me.”
“Oh!” That made way more sense. “You’re going to ask Amy to marry you?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I keep thinking about it, but I’ll probably wait a while. She only just got divorced. And everything is going so well with us. I don’t really see a need to change anything.” He didn’t look as though he was convincing himself, never mind Hugh.
Damian’s gaze went to his phone and he cracked up laughing.
“Is that Leo?”
“Yeah. Check your phone. It’s on the group chat.”
Warily, Hugh went into his phone, scanning the messages. After Damian had announced that Hugh had held hands with a girl last night, Leo had replied to say he hoped he’d worn a glove.
“That’s not even funny,” Hugh said, glancing around and catching sight of Allie arriving at the top of the beach.
“It is funny,” Damian insisted. “Because—”
“No!” Hugh glared at him. “Please don’t explain to me. I know why you’re giggling like an adolescent. I just don’t think it’s very funny.”
