‘Very. You and Cherie seemed to hit it off – I thought you might exchange contact details or something.’
‘Nah – sometimes people come into your life for a brief moment. You’re not gonna be lifelong friends or anything – they’re single-serving friends.’
‘Single serv—’ I cut myself off. Is that how Delaney sees me? Only if that was the case, would she be entertaining the idea of us working together?
‘You haven’t heard that expression before?’ she asks.
I glance down at her and she’s looking at me, her eyes filled with curiosity. Only, she’s not watching where she’s going, and she trips on a cobblestone. She stumbles, her left ankle rolling, and falls into me, and I catch her before she tumbles to the ground.
‘Are you okay?’ I ask. ‘Did you hurt your ankle?’
‘I don’t think so.’ She gingerly rests her left foot on the ground, testing her weight while I hold on to her. ‘No, all good.’ She looks up again, her mouth stretching into a grateful smile. ‘You keep rescuing me – maybe youareSuperman.’
I crinkle my nose at her. ‘Superman?’
A blush rises in her cheeks and she drops her gaze. ‘It’s what Megan calls you.’
‘Megan, your best friend, calls me “Superman”? What exactly did you tell her about me?’
Delaney’s pursed lips tug to the side. It’s very cute, this look – and even more evidence of her embarrassment than her pink cheeks.
She’s also still in my arms, which feels both completely natural and utterly wrong. I steady her on her feet and let go.
Whatareyou doing?I ask myself as we walk on.I honestly have no idea, I reply.
‘I didn’t mean you – you get that, right?’ Delaney asks a minute or so later.
‘Sorry?’
‘The single-serving-friend thing – that doesn’t apply to you.’
‘Oh, right – I didn’t think it did,’ I say – only a tiny fib.
‘Nick?’
‘Mmm?’ I’m expecting her to tell me she’s tipsy or she had a nice evening or something, so what she does say is a shock.
‘Did you know that Nicholas and Pippa are having dinner together tonight?’
NowIstop in my tracks.
‘What?’
‘Apparently, they got talking earlier and she invited him out.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah.’
We keep walking, only more slowly this time. It irks me that Pippa and Nicholas are having dinner, making me a little queasy. But I’m sure it’s completely innocent. Unlike almost kissing Delaney. And lying about sharing a bed with her. And having to fight my attraction to her.
Somethings else occurs to me and the queasiness ramps up. If Nicholas has talked to Pippa –andshe’s invited him to dinner – then he probably knows that Pippa’s parents and Ashley are in Reykjavik. Hell, he could be having dinner with all of them right now. Which means it’s likely he’ll learnwhythey’re all together. What if he tells Delaney?
Or maybe he already has.
‘Did he say anything else?’ I ask, preparing to explain why I withheld such important information.
‘He wants me to come to London when flights reopen,’ she replies flatly.