by Chant, Zoe
Not even a second. Not when that second could mean the difference between Delilah being safe, and –
“Hey there – lookin’ good!”
Euan was snapped back into the real world by the sound of Trent’s voice. He glanced up, knowing his expression was darkening but unable to help it, to see Trent lounging back against the car they’d be taking, arms crossed over his chest, a rakish, dashing smile on his face.
He looked like everything Euan wasn’t – relaxed, charming, every inch the ladies’ man he had the reputation of being. To his surprise though, Delilah didn’t respond how he expected her to at all. She didn’t blush and giggle the way women usually did around Trent – she just matter-of-factly nodded to him, smiling politely.
“Thanks. Brooke picked it out,” she said. “I’m glad it looks okay – it’s not usually the kind of thing I’d wear.”
“Well, it definitely suits you,” Trent said. “But Brooke’s pretty good at that kind of thing.”
Euan was a little surprised at how quickly Trent had dropped the flirty, bantering tone – but then, Euan knew that despite his eye for the ladies, Trent would never have persisted if it was clear the lady in question wasn’t interested.
Still, anger simmered in his stomach at the memory of how easily Trent had flirted with Delilah.
“You should hop in the back,” he said, his voice a little rougher than he’d intended as he opened the door for her. “There’s a divider, but if you need anything – and I mean anything – there’s a button for communication with the driver just here.” He pointed to a panel below the tinted glass divider that rose between the front and back seats. “Just press it, and I’ll be able to hear you talk.”
Delilah nodded, gathering the flowing skirt of her dress in her hands before stepping into the car. “Okay. Sure.”
Euan took a moment to make sure she was settled, then closed the door behind her. He glanced at Trent, unable to disguise his black expression.
“The car’s been checked over?”
“Of course – top to bottom, like usual,” Trent said, a hint of confusion in his voice. “Euan, is everything all right?”
Why were you flirting with Delilah? were the words that were sitting on the tip of his tongue – but even before he said them, Euan realized how ridiculous they sounded.
It wasn’t even flirting. He just said she looked good. Which she does.
So why had he reacted with such a simmering anger in his stomach?
“I – no, nothing’s wrong,” he said, forcing himself to relax. He was being idiotic. Even if Delilah had responded to Trent’s flirting, she was her own woman. She could flirt back with whoever she wanted. And the fact of the matter was, she was beautiful. People were naturally going to notice and flirt with her.
“Well, all right, if you’re sure,” Trent said, sounding anything but sure. “You know we’ve got your back, right? You don’t have anything to worry about at all on that score.”
“I know,” Euan said, grimacing slightly. Trent was a good guy. In the past Euan had found him frivolous and annoying – when they’d been paired up for a code-breaking mission a few months ago with Callan and his mate Ella, Euan hadn’t been able to think of anyone he’d rather spend time cooped up tediously figuring out a complicated cypher with less. But Trent had turned out to be shockingly kind and sympathetic when the truth about Euan no longer being able to shift had come out, and had instantly excused the utterly foul mood Euan had been in for months in a way that Euan could now admit he hadn’t probably deserved.
“So cheer up,” Trent said, patting him on the shoulder. “You’re going to a chic party with a pretty girl, not a funeral.”
“It’s a kids’ birthday party and it’s a mission,” Euan shot back, his eyebrows drawing together.
“Have it your way,” Trent said, shrugging. “Here’s the keys.” He tossed them up for Euan to catch. “Hey, and try to have at least a little fun, right?”
Euan shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Sure, Trent. Whatever you say.”
Trent gave him a smile and a little salute before he turned away, heading back to the office building.
Drawing in a deep breath, Euan took a moment to try to calm the tension simmering in his gut. This was his first time out since he’d lost his shifted form. A little tension was normal – but too much wouldn’t do him any good.
Trent, Hector, Brooke and Rhys had all told him they were here for him – and now, he just had to decide that even if he wasn’t sure he could trust himself yet, he could trust them.
Releasing his breath, he opened the driver’s side door and got in.
Chapter 7
Sitting in the car watching as the Sydney streets flashed by through the window, Delilah had to admit she was nervous.
She was often nervous when she was on her way to one of her sister’s parties. She knew Jenny meant well by inviting her, and that it would be ten times worse if she just never invited her at all – like she was ashamed of her or something, since Delilah was about the furthest thing from the kinds of crowds Jenny and her husband ran in. Delilah had to talk to rich people as part of her job – since rich people were usually the ones who bought art from the gallery – but there she was an employee, a service person. She wasn’t exactly rubbing shoulders with them on equal footing.
She just wasn’t… fancy in the way Jenny and her people were. And she didn’t have any desire to be, either. She was fundamentally a track pants and t-shirt kind of girl, happier with paint staining her fingers and her hair pulled up in a sloppy ponytail while she worked. Even putting on a suit for as long as she had to at work was kind of a pain.
But, Delilah had to admit to herself, I do feel kind of cute in this dress.
She could live with wearing a nice, flowy dress every now and then.
Especially if it made Euan look at her the way he had been when she’d first come out of the lift with Brooke.
She felt her face coloring a little for about the fourth time that day as she remembered it – kind of like someone had whacked him over the head with a two-by-four.
She hoped she wasn’t being too big-headed in assuming that it’d been because he’d thought she looked nice.
And he’d been so gentlemanly in opening the door for her, too – Delilah wasn’t too proud to admit she’d kind of liked that, since it’d seemed such a natural action on his part rather than some ostentatious ladies first display.
I wonder how I’m going to introduce him to Jenny, Delilah thought, flashing a glance toward the tinted glass that separated her and Euan. She could see the silhouette of his profile as he drove, but that was about all she could make out. Crap, we probably should have talked about that. She bit her lip, as a sudden, even worse thought hit her. Double crap, what am I going to do about Johnny, or Louie, or Warnie, or whatever that guy’s name who she’s trying to set me up with is?
The thought made her feel queasy as she remembered it. In between everything that’d happened in the past not-quite-twenty-four hours, she’d completely forgotten that Jenny had invited a guy just for her.
She’d just have to try to tough it out. Or tell Jenny that Euan was just a friend. Though something about that made her feel even queasier than trying to make conversation with Hewey the Investment Banker.
Could I…?
No, no, she definitely couldn’t, Delilah decided. She couldn’t brazenly tell Jenny that Euan was her boyfriend, and kill two birds with one stone and get Stewie the Banker – or whatever his name was – out of her hair in the process.
Letting out a long, slow breath, Delilah decided she’d just have to tell Jenny that Euan was her friend, her art friend from the gallery, who Jenny had never met before and Delilah had never mentioned because of… reasons.
Or maybe I’ll just tell her he’s the model for my next series of nude studies, and I’ve invited him along in order to, uh, observe him.
The thought made a very unladylike snort of laughter burst from her
lips, and a dart of heat shoot through her belly. She crossed and uncrossed her legs.
“Everything all right back there?”
Euan’s voice crackling from the car intercom almost made her jump out of her skin.
“Just fine!” she yelped, before remembering she had to press the button to talk to him. “Just fine!” she repeated, hoping that, even if Euan had apparently lost his ability to shift, he hadn’t somehow gained an ability to read minds. “I just, uh, I’m admiring the scenery,” Delilah added, completely unnecessarily.
Why oh why must I be like this?
“Okay,” Euan’s voice came a moment later. “We’ll be there in about five minutes. You said your sister had parking?”
“Uh, yeah. I texted her to let her know I’d be driving. We’re arriving early, so we’ll definitely be able to park in her garage,” Delilah said. Ever since Jenny’s husband Greg had decided he was no longer collecting motorcycles and had sold the ones he had, they’d had a spare few parking spaces.
Delilah thought Jenny might already be suspicious about things, since she never drove, and didn’t even own a car.
But it’s cool. I have a cover story all sorted out. No worries. He’s Euan, my hot nude model gallery co-worker.
Delilah resolved to try not to think a single thing for the next ten minutes.
She was mostly successful, too, since she barely even noticed that they’d reached Jenny’s street until Euan was swinging the car around into her driveway.
She bit her lip, peering out of the window. Everything looked exactly how she’d expected it would, knowing Jenny – she’d told Delilah about the party decorators who’d be coming early to put up balloons and streamers on the edge of the fence and along the drive. Delilah knew the fancy gold and pink streamers rippling in the breeze coming off the harbor were nothing compared to what she’d find inside the house. Jenny had assured her that it’d be a ‘back to basics’ party, but Delilah had to admit she wasn’t sure what that meant in this instance – whose baseline for ‘basics’ was Jenny using here?!
Euan swung the car around, completing the last turn of the driveway before the house. He pulled up outside the garage – which was blocked by a decorator’s van. Biting her lip, Delilah opened the car door and stepped out.
Euan had somehow managed to beat her out of the car, and was already standing and surveying the white expanse of Jenny and Greg’s house – three stories high, made of airy glass and white stucco, and surrounded by palms, fronds swaying gently in the breeze.
Delilah didn’t have to imagine how it must feel to be looking at a place like this for the first time, since she felt pretty much the same way every time she came here: What am I doing in a place like this?
To her mild surprise though, Euan didn’t seem to be staring at the house with anything close to an awestruck expression at its excesses.
“There’s a lot of views into this house,” he said after a moment, dark eyes darting over the glass paneling that made up the walls of most of the first floor, and the wide-open balconies.
“Um. Yeah. I guess if you pay for harbor views, you kind of want harbor views,” Delilah said – before it hit her what Euan was talking about. “You… you don’t think that –”
Euan shot her a quick look. “I’m sorry. It’s force of habit. I truly don’t think we’ll need to worry about anything like that here. And Rhys and Hector will be on it if we do, and you won’t even know about it.”
Delilah thought back to the previous evening and the conversation they’d had. Rhys and Hector… they become griffins? Is that right?
Did that mean they could fly? Her knowledge of mythical creatures was kind of fuzzy. Anyway – no matter what they turned into, Delilah already knew she wouldn’t be worried.
I have Euan here, after all.
“Oh,” she said, suddenly remembering the thought she’d had in the car. “I was wondering – should I just tell Jenny you’re my friend? I didn’t really say I’d be inviting anyone – you’re kind of a late addition, but she did tell me I could have a plus one.”
“If that’s what you think would be easiest,” Euan said evenly. “It would be best if you kept the story vague, so we don’t contradict each other on the specifics. We met at work. You’ve known me for a couple of months. I gave you a call and asked if you were busy on the weekend, you said you had a party, and on the spur of the moment you asked me along. How does that sound?”
“No, that all sounds fine,” Delilah said. It all sounds so… mundane. Nothing like the truth at all.
She fought down the urge to shake her head at herself.
Mundane’s what you want, silly! What, you want to tell Jenny what really happened last night?
No, she decided, just as Jenny appeared at the front door, she did not.
“Dela!” Jenny called out to her, waving. “I’m sorry the van’s still here blocking the way – I decided I wanted a few extra little things so they’re running a bit late. Thank goodness you’re here though – I’m just making fresh fairy bread, and I could use your –”
Jenny stopped in her tracks when she saw Euan standing by the car. Her eyes swung to Delilah for a moment, and Delilah gulped as she saw the massive question in them, but Jenny was nothing if not adaptable.
“Oh – hello! Delilah didn’t tell me she’d be bringing her plus one after all! I’m so sorry, I don’t think we’ve met before –” She held out her hand for Euan to shake.
“No, we haven’t. Euan Hawkins,” he said, taking her hand. “Sorry if it’s a bit last minute – I’m afraid I’m imposing a bit.”
“Not at all!” Jenny shook her head. Delilah had to admire how smoothly she switched gears, from slightly chivvying older sister to polished society hostess. “Don’t even think of it – we’re thrilled to have you. The more the merrier! I’m Dela’s sister, Jenny Lowe. Please, both of you – come in. Dela, if you have time I could use a little hand in the kitchen, but don’t you feel you have to help, Euan.”
“I’d be happy to, if it’s needed,” Euan said, voice quiet and low as they began following Jenny back to the house.
His voice wasn’t as gravelly as it had been back at the Agency office, Delilah noticed – though it still didn’t fail to send a little shivery thrill down her spine when he spoke. And she saw that his eyes were taking in everything as they walked, his head turning unobtrusively this way and that, seeming as if he was just taking in the beautiful house and gardens, though Delilah could tell from the sharp look in his eyes he was doing far more than that.
“Greg’s in the yard helping set up the pen for the pony rides,” Jenny said. “The pony hire guys are all there too, of course, but you look like you could swing a hammer – or fold out a fence, whatever they’re doing down there – if you wanted to go see if they needed a hand,” Jenny continued.
A pony rides pen? Delilah thought. For a ‘back to basics’ party?!
“Sure,” Euan said smoothly. “I’d be glad to help.”
“Wonderful!” Jenny smiled at him as she led them through the foyer – past even more gold and pink streamers, and a massive banner reading ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!!’ in sparkly silver lettering that was hung over the French doors leading to the kitchen and dining area.
Jenny trotted her way over to the glass sliding doors that opened out onto their pool and terraced garden, calling out to her husband Greg.
Delilah knew what she was doing – she was politely, seamlessly, getting Euan out of the way so she could quiz Delilah mercilessly about him.
Delilah swallowed.
Remember what he said. He’s just a work friend. I met him a couple of months ago. He’s not my nude model. He’s definitely not my boyfriend.
She was so busy running over what she might say in her head that she barely even noticed Jenny’s husband Greg – who, despite being very tall, was otherwise Euan’s physical opposite.
She watched, biting her lip, as Greg introduced himself and the two men shook hands, bef
ore Greg led Euan off down into their terraced garden – though not before Euan had glanced over his shoulder at Delilah, seeming to pause slightly.
Is it all right for me to leave you for a moment?
Strangely enough, it felt to Delilah that she could almost hear Euan’s question, though he hadn’t said anything.
Quickly, she gave him a nod.
Of course. I’ll be fine.
Euan’s dark eyes gazed into hers for a moment longer, before he returned her nod firmly and turned away.
That’s a view I could get used to, Delilah thought, watching his backside as he moved away. Delilah was still hungrily watching his broad back and wide, muscular shoulders as they began to disappear down the steps of the garden when the sound of Jenny’s voice in her ear made her jump.
“So. Who’s this Euan then?”
Delilah swallowed. She told herself to just be cool – he was a friend. A friend!
“He’s a guy I know from work! He’s just a friend!” she blurted out in what was possibly the least cool way ever, feeling the color immediately rising in her cheeks.
Jenny stared at her, one eyebrow raised in what Delilah was certain was the universal big sister language for uh-huh, a friend.
“Right – well, you didn’t mention he was coming yesterday,” Jenny said, as she turned and headed to the kitchen. “It’s not a problem – we have plenty of space and food – but it seems a little… last minute.”
“I guess it was,” Delilah said. She picked up a knife and a slice of white bread, ready to make the fairy bread. “Hey, didn’t I spend all yesterday afternoon making these? And where’re Rosie, Emma, and Ollie?”
“The kids are upstairs playing and getting ready with Genevieve – I told Emma the decorations were a surprise, so she hasn’t seen them yet. The fairy bread we made yesterday was for photos – and it’d be a bit stale and soggy by now anyway. We need fresh for today,” Jenny said, as if it were totally normal to make one set of party food just to take photos of it. “Don’t change the subject, Dela. How long’ve you known this guy? Why did you decide to invite him suddenly?” She narrowed her eyes. “Is this because you don’t want to talk to Davy?”