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‘NOT EXACTLY.’ HE wished he could offer to take her on a proper first date but if she was going to insist on meeting other people then tomorrow night’s party would be a good compromise. If everything went according to his plan he could organise a first date after that. ‘A friend of mine is hosting a “dates with mates” party. It’s for singles. Each guest is expected to bring a partner who they are not romantically involved with—it’s a way of meeting new people, of broadening your set of acquaintances and potentially meeting someone who you could date. So it fits within your rules. We’d be going as friends and you’ll get to meet new people. What do you think?’
She nodded. ‘Sure. I’d like that.’
He was surprised by her immediate reaction. There was no hesitation, no further questions. She was far more adventurous and sociable than he was.
* * *
Luci pulled her hair into a sleek ponytail and applied a coat of pale pink lipstick before zipping herself into the strapless black jumpsuit she’d bought that day. She’d seen it in a shop window that she passed on her way to work and had loved it but had had no reason to buy it. Until today. She’d told herself she hadn’t bought anything new in ages so it was a justified purchase. She told herself a lot of things. That she wasn’t looking forward to the date, that it wasn’t really a date and that she was keen to meet other people when, in fact, she was nervous about pretty much all of it. She was nervous about whether or not she looked okay, whether she’d fit in to the crowd, whether Seb would like her outfit, and what he would be thinking about their ‘non-date’.
Seb looked her up and down when she joined him in the lounge room. ‘Wow. You look sensational.’ Luci relaxed. At least now she knew what he was thinking. ‘I was going to suggest we take my bike but perhaps we should call a cab.’
‘The bike is fine,’ she replied. She enjoyed going on the bike. It gave her a chance to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight. What wasn’t to like about that? ‘Just let me grab my boots.’ She swapped her gladiator sandals for her old work boots and carried her sandals down the stairs to put on when they reached the party. Seb unlocked the compartment under the seat of his motorbike and pulled out his spare helmet, exchanging the helmet for Luci’s sandals and the wine. He had his spare jacket tucked under his arm and he held it for her while she slipped her arms in before helping her to fasten her helmet.
He started the bike and Luci straddled the seat behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly as he rode through the streets of the North Shore to Cremorne Point. He parked his bike on the road behind the house and helped Luci off. She changed her shoes and checked her hair in the mirror, then took a deep breath. She’d come up with the idea of meeting new people but the reality of walking into a party where she knew just one person was more daunting than she would have thought. It was another new situation for her. Something else she’d never done.
Seb took her hand and squeezed it. He must have known she was nervous but having him hold her hand only intensified the feeling. At the same time it felt so good that she didn’t want to object.
The party was already under way and music filled the night air. Seb opened the back gate and led her along a narrow path that followed the side of the house. When they emerged into the front garden Luci caught her breath. The house sat right on the harbour and the view was incredible. A white, open-sided marquee had been erected in the centre of the lawn with a dining table positioned beneath it, and closer to the water’s edge Luci could see a long bar, loaded with glasses and drinks, that framed the view across the harbour to the Opera House and the bridge.
The garden was lit with hundreds of lights—fairy-lights, up-lights and down-lights—and the Opera House glowed as the sun set. It looked spectacular.
Ginny came to greet them and Seb introduced her.
‘Welcome,’ Ginny said, and she kissed Luci on both cheeks. ‘I’m so glad you agreed to come. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Seb and I was afraid he was going to turn down this invitation too.’
‘Thank you for including me,’ Luci said as she gestured to the garden. ‘This looks amazing.’
‘Thanks but I can’t take all the credit. The decorating is my work. I’m a food stylist by trade, but the house belongs to another friend of mine—Michael. Come with me, I’ll introduce you.’
Seb and Luci followed Ginny across the lawn to the bar where the other guests had gathered and Luci tried to keep track of who was who during a whirlwind introduction. First up was Paulo, a Spanish chef, who Ginny had met on an assignment. She introduced him with the comment, ‘I can make food look pretty but I can’t cook so I invited Paulo.’ Then there was Michael, who owned the house, and he was followed by a model, a footballer, a massage therapist, Ginny’s brother, who worked in finance, a lawyer he knew, an actor and a food blogger. Luci was unsure what a food blogger actually did but the woman was extraordinarily thin so Luci assumed it didn’t actually involve eating. It was an interesting assortment of people and Luci thought the evening would either be a lot of fun or a huge disaster.
Ginny had a seating plan arranged and they were told it would change between each course. Luci started the night between Paulo, the Spanish chef, and Michael, her host.
Michael was smooth, dark and good-looking, with a European heritage, Luci suspected. Besides this gorgeous house, he also owned three restaurants. A fact he successfully mentioned within the first few minutes and several times thereafter. He seemed to think Luci should be suitably impressed. She was, but not by him. He was obviously wealthy but that wasn’t high on Luci’s list of priorities. He also had a very high opinion of himself but no sense of humour. Luci preferred someone who could make her laugh and would let her be herself. She suspected Michael was not that sort of man. She wasn’t interested in material objects. She wanted a family and she would give up everything else if she could have that. Nothing else was that important.
Paulo, to her left, was outrageously handsome and quite charming but he wasn’t her type of man either. He didn’t make her heart race or her breath catch in her throat. He didn’t give her the fluttery feeling she got in her stomach whenever Seb was near. If nothing else, this dinner party was helping her to narrow down her type of man.
Somehow she managed to survive the first course and conversations that she wasn’t particularly interested in. For the main course she found herself sitting between the actor and the footballer, a rugby league player. He had limited conversation, appearing to be restricted to the topics of rugby and golf, neither of which Luci knew anything about. Her mind drifted to the opposite side of the table where Seb was now seated. She never seemed to have any difficulty talking to him. They had discussed all manner of topics.
She turned her attention to the actor on her other side, leaving the rugby player to try to strike up a conversation with the girl on his right. The actor turned out to be ‘between jobs’ and working as a barista and he was pleasant enough, although she was pretty sure he was gay. Not that it mattered as she wasn’t interested in him anyway, but she wondered who had invited him.
Somehow, through all the various seat changes and movements, she managed to keep one eye on Seb and hoped no one noticed. She thought she was being subtle but it was hard to know. She did her best to concentrate on what the other guests were talking about but as the evening wore on she found it increasingly difficult. All she wanted to do was to swap seats and plonk herself next to Seb.
Even though he made
