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One
Adelaide
D
odging pedestrians, Adelaide dashed along the footpath. As her heels clicked on the concrete, her skirt flowed behind her in a riot of colour. She’d worn the floaty skirt in a vain attempt at brightening her mood. It wasn’t that she was angry or even sad, just fed up. Everything was just bleh. Grey and dull, instead of bright and exciting.
She was in a rut. One she couldn’t seem to pull herself out of.
At twenty-three, the whole world should be at her feet, but she was bored and sick of being broke. Something needed to change. She could name at least one thing, but she’d been stuck on him for ten years, so why would that suddenly be any different?
Pushing it all aside, Adelaide skidded to a halt outside the open-air café where she was meeting her friends and eyed the time. She was late, but hopefully Katy, Emma, and Robyn hadn’t been waiting long.
Adelaide adjusted the package under her arm and caught her breath, looking around to find her friends. They were already seated by the railing overlooking the tree-covered slope and rippling surface of the lake. Ducks paddled and a kite shaped like a dragon was aloft, drifting on the breeze coming in off the ocean only a couple of minutes’ drive away. In the middle of winter, some might expect that the trees would be bare, with snow and ice covering the ground. But this was the Gold Coast. Most days—like today—it was warm enough for short sleeves.
There was a stark contrast between the peace and serenity in the gardens and the busy road the park was positioned on. She breathed in the fresh air, appreciating the scent of the potted flowers nearby before she headed over to her friends. Lunch, good company, and a few laughs was exactly what she needed.
As Adelaide approached, Katy turned. A smile brightened her face as she stood, reaching out for a hug. Adelaide closed the distance between them, squeezing her tight. “It’s so good to see you,” Adelaide greeted warmly. “It’s been far too long.”
“I know, right?” Katy shifted so Adelaide could greet Emma and Robyn the same way and motioned to the chair opposite. She slid into it and smiled in thanks when Robyn poured her a glass of water from the jug on the table. “Work has been insane and with Levi helping Mike out at the gym more often now, it’s been a bit of an adjustment to all our schedules. We’re still trying to make it work so that we have some time with the three of us together. We haven’t ventured out to catch up with anybody in what feels like forever.”
“With Connor working what—Friday and Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons?—you being in the bakery early and Levi working afternoons, it’s got to be a juggle,” Emma commented and Katy nodded.
“Do you find the same, Robyn?”
“Yeah, Mike, Ez, and I are like ships in the night sometimes. Ez’s hours at the hospital vary, I do business hours, and Mike works all over the place with the gym being open seven days. If nothing else, it’s good for childcare—there’s usually one of us around for the kids, but we can go days without actually spending any time together.”
Adelaide lifted the package onto the table. “Hopefully this will help.” Katy’s lips curled into a cheeky grin, one of those we’re-going-to-have-a-hell-of-a-lot-of-fun kind of smiles, as Adelaide passed her the package.
She’d wrapped it in thick brown paper, tied with a hot-pink ribbon. It was the signature look she’d developed for her brand. Adult’s only toy parties were her speciality, where the toys her clients bought kept on giving back. It was why she wrapped her orders as gifts—after all, orgasms were pretty great presents to yourself and anyone else you might want to share them with. She was the Tupperware lady of sex toys. The Avon lady of orgasms.
“Thank you,” Katy replied, still grinning and shuffling excitedly in her chair. She slipped the package—lube, anal beads, and a vibrating wand—under her cute little purse and opened her mouth to say something—
“Afternoon, ladies. Welcome to Lavender. I’ll be your waiter today. Have you dined with us before?”
“No, but the menu looks divine,” Emma remarked. Adelaide overheard Liam recommending the restaurant to Adelaide’s brother, Elijah, and she’d wanted to try it out. “Who suggested we come here?” Katy asked.
“Liam.” She willed the smile to stay fixed firmly in place, but even she could tell it had become strained. The waiter, oblivious to her distress, took their drink orders and promised to be back once they’d looked at the menu.
Katy waited until he was out of earshot to say, “I know that look. Still nothing? Really?” No one except the three ladies before her knew about her hopeless crush on Liam. It was embarrassing as hell to still be stuck on the same boy you were in love with when you were thirteen, and the closer she kept it to her chest, the better. There was less risk of Liam ever finding out.
She certainly couldn’t tell her older brother that she’d been crushing on his best friend—the same best friend who still lived next door to them—for years. Her mum and pop were out too.
Liam Masters, professional rugby player, hair the colour of dark chocolate, hazel eyes that were more green than brown, which twinkled when he was happy, perfect smile and body to die for, Liam Masters.
Her brother’s best friend.
The man who she was completely invisible to.
Yes, that Liam Masters.
Urgh.
She’d fallen for him on his first day at their school. He’d stepped in to stop some oversized twatwaffle picking on Eli. Her brother was three years older than her but hadn’t had much of a growth spurt. He’d been short, skinny, wore oversized glasses and always had his head in a book. He struggled with his sexuality and was easy prey for the bored dumbarses at their school.
Then along came Liam, and he and Eli clicked. They’d become inseparable. He hadn’t ever really had a best friend before, and even though Liam was new to the school, as the star recruit rugby player, he was instantly popular.
He was a good guy, had been even as a teenager. Liam accepted Eli without question, treating him like his brother from another mother. Within six months, the house next door was sold, and Liam’s family moved in. If she thought they’d been inseparable before, it was nothing to what it was like after they’d moved in. Liam spent so much time at their place, he could very well have moved in.
