Page 35 of Worth Every Penny
“No. Not really. It was a long time ago…”
“Kate was in love with him when we were at school,” Elly interrupts, like I just waived my right to privacy.
“I wasn’t in love with him,” I reply far too quickly.
Elly laughs, tilting forward in her seat to share the gossip. “You were obsessed.”
I wince. Even now, energy is vibrating in every cell because we’re talking about him. “Can we not talk about this?” I groan, feigning reluctance.
Elly’s smile splits wide, and she points a finger at me. “Stop pretending you don’t want to. You’re practically drooling already.”
Damn.She knows me too well.“Am not.”
Thankfully, Elly doesn’t push me any further before she turns to Marie. “Kate got in the hot tub and took off her bikini top. Twirled it round on her finger and tossed it in the water.” Elly stands up, whirls her index finger in the air and shakes her hips in a playful version of a stripper dance. She finishes by flicking her finger, letting the imaginary bikini top fly across the dance floor.
That’s not at all how it went down, but I don’t want to spoil her theatrics.
Marie smirks. “Then what happened?”
I take a deep breath. Might as well tell her the whole story. “He looked at me like I’d lost my mind and told me to go back inside. And then…” I grimace at the memory and Marie raises an eyebrow.
“What?”
I press my hands over my mouth and talk through my fingers. “He covered his eyes.”
Marie seals her lips, her facial muscles tightening like it’s an effort not to laugh. When she relaxes enough to talk, she says, “That bad, eh?”
“That bad,” I confirm. “He tried to grab my bikini top from the water without looking and give it back to me.”
Elly giggles, throwing her forearm over her eyes and patting the air in front of her. “I’m blind. Little K, your tits are brighter than the sun. Stop shining them in my face.”
“Little K?” Marie frowns. “That’s what he calls you?”
“Yeah, he has a nickname for her. Cute, eh?” Elly says, smiling. Then her eyes light up and, if it’s possible, the smile gets wider.“Did he give you that nickname before or after he saw your boobs?”
“Hey!” I cry, gesturing to my breasts, which are at least medium-sized, and definitely don’t warrant the diminutive nickname.
Elly’s giggling so hard now she’s holding her stomach. I’m laughing too, but mostly out of shame. Marie’s glancing between the two of us like we’re crazy.
After a few minutes, Elly’s laughter has run out of steam, and she slides back into her seat opposite me. “When was the last time you had sex?”
The change of topic throws me for a loop. “Eh?”
“I remember when.” Marie picks a cube of ice out of the ice bucket and pops it into her mouth, speaking around it. “It was that chap she met in Cornwall last summer. Said it was the worst sex she’d ever had. No orgasms. Not even nearly.”
“Actually, that was the summer before last,” I admit.
Marie whistles. “Fuck, Kate. What’s that? Two years? Your pussy must have cobwebs in it.”
I give an exaggerated gasp, grab a fistful of ice and chuck it across the table at her. She raises her hands and squeals, then does the same to me. Ice skitters all over the table, and we both laugh. The alcohol is doing its work, my blood running hot with it and a wooziness dripping through my awareness, softening the edges.
“You have to spring clean. Have a proper dusting session,” Elly smirks at me, but then her eyes flash over at the bar and she grabs my wrist. “Oh my god,” she hisses. “It’s Michael Drayton.” She’s staring at a tall, blond man by the bar, dressed in a white t-shirt and low-slung blue jeans.
“Michael who?” Marie asks.
Elly quivers with excitement, so eager to get her words out that she stammers before she’s able to string a sentence togetherproperly. “Drayton. Michael Drayton. He’s the lead in those new action movies. You must have seen the adverts on the side of the buses.” She spreads her hands wide through the air as if she’s imagining seeing the posters before her. “He’s shirtless and running at the camera, a huge explosion happening behind him? One of the best bodies in Hollywood. Totally ripped.”
“Oh, right, him,” Marie says, looking utterly disinterested, and no wonder; she’s completely besotted with her boyfriend, Kevin.