Year, new start, Isla decided as she soaped up.
She was going to break up with Rupert.
Isla already knew that she had to stop hiding behind him and certainly she didn’t like it that people thought she was somehow standing by her man as Rupert seemingly made a fool of her.
Rupert had rung and explained what had happened before the news had hit. The actress had the same agent as Rupert and the supposed tell-all had been at the agent’s direction. Only when the exposé had happened had Rupert found out it had been planned.
‘Not good enough,’ Isla had said. Still, she found it hard to be cross with him—after all, she knew that what had been said in the article was all lies.
Isla was determined to end it, though she was tempted to put off the break-up. She had asked Rupert to stick close to her tonight and she was nervous about the charity ball coming up in a couple of weeks. Alessi’s award meant that he would be sitting at the same table as her father—the same table as her!
Yet things had seemed better when they’d spoken today, Isla thought, recalling the smile he had given as she’d come out from behind Christine’s curtain. She closed her eyes for a moment and remembered their kiss that night and just how nice it had been to briefly be in his arms. She stood in the shower, the water cascading over her, as she returned to the blissful memory. Her hands moved over her hips as she remembered his there, and then her eyes snapped open as one hand started to move down of its own accord as she ached, honestly ached to return to the memory and bring it to a more fitting conclusion. She wanted to know what might have happened had she not said no. She wanted to explore the possibilities, her body was almost begging her to.
Isla stood, stunned by her own arousal.
She had buried her sexuality completely.
Since the night she’d delivered Isabel’s baby she’d just quashed that side of herself.
Now, though, her breasts felt so heavy she was fighting herself not to touch them and the intense ache between her legs refused to recede. For the first time she wanted to explore her own body.
Shocked, Isla turned off the shower taps and stepped out. She quickly dried herself and pulled on some underwear and dressed. She wore a very pale green summer dress that did nothing to reduce the flush on her cheeks. She simply couldn’t stop thinking about Alessi and that he’d be there tonight and so, too, that smile.
And the memory of that kiss.
He’d use you, Isla reminded herself as she put on lip gloss. The same way he’d worked his way through half of MMU.
Not that any of the staff seemed to regret their flings with Alessi.
Would she regret one?
Isla snapped herself out of it.
There was no way she was going to do anything about the reluctant torch she carried for Alessi. She could actually picture his incredulous smile if she told him her truth. Scrap that, incredulous laughter, she amended, and then headed out to the lounge.
‘You look great.’ Darcie smiled. ‘I’m actually nervous about meeting everyone.’
‘Well, don’t be,’ Isla said. ‘They’re a friendly bunch.’
It was a warm, sultry night and they took a tram for a couple of stops and then arrived at the bar and, as promised, everybody was incredibly friendly and pleased to meet the new obstetrician.
‘This is Lucas,’ Isla introduced them. ‘He’s a senior midwife on the MMU …’
‘It’s nice to meet you,’ Darcie said with a smile, and Isla continued the introductions.
‘And this is Sophia, a community midwife …’ Thankfully, for Isla, Alessi wasn’t there, and she allowed herself to relax. She went and bought some drinks and ordered a couple of bottles for the table but as she walked back she saw Alessi had just arrived. What gnawed at Isla was that he was there with Amber.
‘This is Alessi.’ Isla pushed out a smile. ‘He’s a neonatologist. Alessi, this is Darcie …’ She watched as he smiled his killer smile at Darcie and then Isla continued. ‘And this Amber, a student midwife …’ Isla almost winced as she heard the tart note to her voice and she caught Alessi’s eye. She wasn’t jealous that he was dating her student; she wanted to tell him instead that she was cross.
‘Hi, there.’ Isla jumped as she heard Rupert’s voice and felt his arm come around her waist. ‘Sorry if I’m a bit late.’
‘It’s fine.’ Isla had never been more pleased to see him and gave him a kiss—the practised kiss that they were both used to. What she wasn’t so used to was turning back to the table and the black look Alessi was throwing in Rupert’s direction.
He looked then at Isla and gave the smallest shake of his head.
All evening she found herself aware of his disapproval.
Well, she very much disapproved of who Alessi was dating, too.
Her skin prickled when he spoke with Amber. Her usually cool edge seemed to be melting and though the conversation flowed at the table, for once Isla wasn’t the perfect hostess. Thankfully everybody was keen to hear about how things worked in Cambridge, where Darcie was from and where Isabel would now be working. No one, apart from Rupert and Alessi, seemed to notice her tension.
‘Take it easy,’ Rupert said, because Isla was again topping up her glass. Isla rarely drank more than one glass of champagne but tonight she was rather grateful for the wine, and Rupert, who could sense her volatility, was right to warn her.
Not that Alessi approved of Rupert telling her what to do—Isla saw the sharp rise of his eyebrows at Rupert’s words.
Alessi didn’t like it that Rupert, given what he was putting her through, had just warned Isla to slow down. He didn’t like it that Rupert was here in the least. Alessi was, in fact, having an extremely uncomfortable evening, though it wasn’t Isla that he felt bad for, but Amber. Alessi, even if his relationships didn’t last very long, would never cheat or flirt with another woman, except his mind was fighting not to do just that.
It felt wrong to be sitting with Amber while Isla was there.
He was very aware that he was sitting next to the wrong woman.
‘I’m just going to go to the loo,’ Isla said, and as she got up to leave, Alessi made himself sit there, though the temptation was to follow her.
The restrooms were located right on the other side of the bar and Isla headed off. She knew she had maybe had a little bit too much to drink and was glad of the chance to just take a breath.
No one had said a word about Rupert. They were all used to Isla bringing him along but she was aware of slight pity in her colleagues’ eyes and Isla loathed it.
Tonight she was ending it, which left her without a safety net, and as she walked out of the loos and straight into Alessi the Rupert-free tightrope got its first wobble, the first inkling of what was to come.
‘Everything okay?’ Alessi asked, because the look that she gave him was less than pleasant.
