Flick busied herself with a few crumbs on her plate. While she recognised that Luke was trying to protect what they had and not turn their relationship into a source of gossip, it still hurt a little to hear him dismiss it.
‘So it’s just casual sex?’ Ethel said, pulling a face.
‘It’s very new right now,’ Flick said.
‘But aren’t you leaving in a week or two?’ Ethel said to Luke.
‘Yes,’ Luke said. ‘I officially get the keys on Monday. And then there’s a few weeks of renovations before I can move in.’
There was no hesitation, no explanation, nothing to say that he might stay if things worked out between them.
‘So you’ll just sleep with him, get what you want from him and then he leaves?’ Ethel said.
‘Ethel,’ Luke’s voice was firm. ‘Flick is not with me for my money. As hard as it is to believe, she actually likes me for me. And whether you believe that or not, I don’t care. I trust her completely.’
‘Sorry.’ Ethel looked suitably chastised. ‘I’m just looking out for you, that’s all.’
‘Well I don’t need it, especially not when the things you say are clearly hurtful to us both.’
There was an awkward silence.
‘Yeah, sorry,’ Quinn said. ‘I like to wind Luke up because he’s my mate and that’s what we do, but itwasn’t my intention to hurt you, Flick. He is ridiculously happy with you, that’s good enough for me.’
Alex stood up. ‘This whole conversation is making me feel uncomfortable, I feel like I’m back at school. I’m going back to work, there’s a lot to do to my studio before the grand opening on Sunday.’
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Quinn said, flashing Flick an apologetic smile as he hurried out the room after Alex.
‘I’m going back to work on the gift shop,’ Flick said, she stood up and walked out the room.
‘Are you OK?’
Flick looked up from where she was adding fairy lights to some of the shelves to see Luke leaning against the doorway.
‘Yeah.’
‘It doesn’t matter what they think, remember.’
‘I know, it’s just hard to hear. Though I do appreciate you sticking up for me.’
He moved closer.
‘And I’m sorry for downplaying what we have. I wasn’t expecting Katherine or anyone to start asking about us. I didn’t know what to say. Our relationship is private and, while I have no intention of hiding it, I’m certainly not going to tell everyone that you straddling me as we made love this morning was the single sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.’
She smiled and not just at the memory of him lying in his bed, staring up at her as if she was a goddess.
‘It’s OK, I don’t want to share that kind of stuff either. I guess no one will really take us seriously because you’re leaving in a few weeks.’
‘Yeah, I know.’
And that was it, he didn’t say anything else. No offers to stay, no, ‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.’ It was hard for her to take what they had seriously, let alone anyone else. She wanted to talk to him about it but she supposed it was too early for big discussions about their future. She had a few more weeks yet. She ignored the voice in the back of her head that said in a few weeks she would be head over heels in love and if he left he would break her heart.
‘Are you coming to the pirate festival on Saturday?’ Luke asked, which was a change of subject if ever she heard one.
‘Yeah, it sounds like fun.’
‘Are you going to dress up?’
‘Oh sure. I can pop down to the costume shop tomorrow afternoon.’
