shiny black-lacquered bar, which was already six people deep with waiting customers.
‘Hmm, this could take a while,’ she said to Max as they came to a stop at the outskirts of the throng.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll get the drinks,’ he said, walking around the perimeter of the group as if gauging the best place to make a start. ‘Glass of wine?’ he asked.
‘Red please.’
‘Okay, I’m going in,’ he said, taking an audible breath and turning to the side to shoulder through a small gap between two groups of chatting people with their backs to each other.
Cara watched in fascinated awe as Max made it to the bar in record time, flipping a friendly smile as he sidled through the crowd and charming a group of women into letting him into a small gap at the counter next to them.
After making sure his newly made friends were served first, he placed his order with the barman and was back a few moments later, two glasses of red wine held aloft in a gesture of celebration.
‘Wow, nice work,’ Cara said, accepting a glass and trying not to grin like a loon. ‘I’ve never seen anyone work a bar crowd like that before.’
Max shrugged and took a sip of wine, pinning a look of exaggerated nonchalance onto his face. ‘I have hidden depths.’
She started to laugh, but it dried in her throat as she locked eyes with someone on the other side of the room.
Someone she thought she’d never see again.
Swallowing hard, she dragged her gaze back to Max and dredged up a smile, grasping for cool so she wouldn’t have to explain her sudden change in mood.
But it was not to be. The man was too astute for his own good.
‘Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ he said, his intelligent eyes flashing with concern.
Damn and blast. This was the last thing she wanted to have to deal with tonight.
‘Fine,’ she squeaked, her cheeks growing hot under the intensity of his gaze.
‘Cara. I thought we’d agreed to be straight with each other from now on.’
Sighing, she nodded towards the other side of the bar. ‘That guy over there is an old friend of mine.’
He frowned as she failed to keep the hurt out of her voice and she internally kicked herself for being so transparent.
‘He can’t be a very good friend if you’re ignoring each other.’
She sighed and tapped at the floor with the toe of her shoe. ‘It’s complicated.’
He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to go on.
After pausing for a moment, she decided there was no point in trying to gloss over it. ‘The thing is—his fiancée has a problem with me.’
‘Really? Why?’
‘Because I’m female.’
He folded his arms. ‘She’s the jealous type, huh?’
‘Yeah. And no matter how much Jack’s tried to convince her that our friendship is purely platonic, she won’t believe him. So I’ve been confined to the rubbish heap of Friends Lost and Passed Over.’ She huffed out a sigh. ‘I can’t really blame him for making that choice, though. He loves her and I want him to be happy, and if that means we can’t be friends any more then so be it.’
The look of bewildered outrage in Max’s expression made the breath catch in her throat and she practically stopped breathing altogether as he reached out and stroked his hand down her arm in a show of solidarity, his touch sending tingles of pure pleasure through every nerve in her body.
Staring up into his handsome face, she wondered again what it would feel like to have someone like Max for a partner. To know that he was on her side and that he had her back, no matter what happened.
But she was kidding herself. He was never going to offer her the chance to find out. She was his employee and she’d do well to remember that.
Tearing her gaze away from him, she glanced back across the room to where the fiancée in question had now appeared by Jack’s side. From a distance they appeared to be having a heated discussion about something, their heads close together as they gesticulated at each other. As she watched, they suddenly sprang apart and Jack turned to catch her eye again, already moving towards where she and Max were standing.
He was coming over.
Her body tensed with apprehension and she jumped in surprise as Max put his hand on her arm again, then increased his grip, as if readying himself to spirit her away from a painful confrontation.
‘Cara! It’s been ages,’ Jack said as he came to a stop in front of her, looking just as boyishly handsome as ever, with his lopsided grin and great mop of wavy blond hair.
‘It has, Jack.’
‘How are you?’ he asked, looking a little shame-faced now, as well he should. They’d become good friends after meeting at their first jobs after university and had been close once, spending weekends at each other’s houses and standing in as ‘plus ones’ at weddings and parties if either of them were single and in need of support.
There had been a time when she’d wondered whether they’d end up together, but as time had passed it became obvious that wasn’t meant to be. He was a great guy, but the chemistry just wasn’t there for her—or for him, it seemed. But seeing him here now reminded her just how much she missed his friendship. She could have really done with his support after Ewan sauntered away from their relationship in search of someone with less emotional baggage, but it had been at that point that his fiancée had issued her ultimatum, and Cara had well and truly been the loser in that contest.
Not that she blamed him for choosing Amber. She had to respect his loyalty to the woman he loved.
‘I’m great, Jack, thanks. How are you—’ she paused and flicked her gaze to his fiancée, who had now appeared at his side ‘—both?’ Somehow she managed to dredge up a smile for the woman. ‘Hi, Amber.’
‘Hi, Cara, we’re great, thanks,’ Amber said, acerbity dripping from every word as she pointedly wrapped a possessive arm around Jack’s waist. Turning to look at Max, she gave him a subtle, but telling, once-over.
‘And who’s this?’
‘This is Max...’ Cara took a breath, about to say my boss, when Max cut her off to lean in and shake hands with Amber.
‘It’s lovely to meet you, Amber,’ he said in the same smooth tone she’d heard him use to appease clients.
It worked just as well on Amber because her cheeks flooded with colour and she actually fluttered her lashes at him. Turning back to Cara, she gave her a cool smile, her expression puzzled, as if she was trying to work out how she’d got her hands on someone as impressive as Max.
‘Did Jack tell you—our wedding’s on Sunday so this evening is our last hurrah before married life?’
