“Daniel?” I shrug. “I’ll handle him. He just needs someone to walk into a venue with, he’ll pick up a gorgeous woman in about ten minutes flat. You don’t need to worry about Daniel, Elliot, he is the last of your worries with me. I’ve seen him pick up women a million times. I promise you, we really are just friends.”
A trace of a smile crosses his face and I know he liked that answer. “If he baits me again, it’s on.”
“Okay.” I smile up at the mercurial man before me. “I’ll talk to him.”
“I just moved house today.” He shrugs. “I’m not sorted yet; my house is full of boxes.”
“That’s fine.” I smile. “I don’t care if we sleep on the floor.”
“Who said anything about sleep?” he says as he raises an eyebrow.
I smile up at him and he takes me into his arms and hugs me, and it’s tight and tender and full of unexpected emotion.
Maybe we really do have something here?
“Meet me out the front in ten minutes?” I ask. “I just need to go and say goodbye.”
He pulls back and keeps my hand tightly gripped in his.
“I’m coming out in ten minutes, tops,” I reassure him.
He exhales heavily, and I know he doesn’t want me to go back inside to Daniel.
“Elliot.”
“Fine. You have five minutes.”
I kiss him quickly and make my way back into the auction room. Daniel has moved and I look around. Where is he?
I find him talking to a group of women in the corner, and I smile. I wasn’t lying before to Elliot, he really does very well in the hook-up department. He glances up, sees me, and excuses himself.
“Hi.”
“Thank God you got rid of that fuckwit,” he whispers.
“Um . . .” I frown. “About that.”
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me.”
“We just need to talk.”
“With body fluid? Come on, Kate.”
“Stop it, I want to see where this goes.”
“Why?”
“Because he makes me forget who I am, Daniel, and when I’m with him, I’m not sad Kathryn any more. For the first time in years, I feel like my old self. I need you to be my friend and support me in this.”
“For God’s sake,” he mutters under his breath. “He’s a psycho.”
“Maybe.” I shrug. “Are you okay if I go?”
“Fine,” he snaps. “Fuck off then.”
I smile.
He kisses me on the cheek. “Bye.”
“Are you sure?”
He widens his eyes. “Positive.”
“See you at home?”
“Yeah.” Daniel turns back to his conversation with the girls, fully distracted. I let out a sigh of relief and, with nerves swirling around in my stomach, I turn toward the door.
I walk out of the front door and look around, see the black Mercedes double-parked. I cross the road and go around to the passenger side, the lock clicks open, and I get in, and because of his close proximity my mood instantly changes from anxious to excited in two seconds flat. “Hi,” I whisper.
He stares over at me and the air crackles between us.