Kelly pulled the door closed, heard the telltale snip and double checked the handle to make sure it was locked. It didn’t budge. Finn was locked safely inside his apartment. She turned absentmindedly towards the lift, her mind still reeling at the notion that she had somehow become a social media influencer.
She felt the other woman before realising she was there. Ran straight into her, actually – bounced off her.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Kelly said automatically. She regained her composure, took a step backwards and appraised the woman she’d crashed into but who hadn’t moved an inch. She stood there, this other woman, like an Egyptian Queen as her people bowed down before her majesty. She was taller than Kelly by at least half a foot and looked down on her with almond-shaped eyes full of curiosity. Her winged eye makeup lent her expression an air of mockery and her high cheekbones accentuated her regal bearing. Even in the artificial light of the corridor, her skin was flawless – an almost indescribable shade of caramel.
And her body … No wonder Kelly bounced straight off her with breasts like those. She wore a pure black, spaghetti strap dress that completely defied the laws of physics with its cloth to weight–bearing ratio. It plunged deep at her bust, revealing a smattering of freckles across her chest, before it hugged her hard, flat stomach and fell to the floor, split all the way to her thigh on one side to reveal a powerful, almost visibly muscled leg. Kelly stared in wonder, sheer wonder, that anybody in real life could be so breathtakingly beautiful. Although she was clearly older than this young woman, Kelly felt like a tiny, underdeveloped, anaemic child. Pale and weak and juvenile.
‘Hi,’ the woman said. Her voice was jarringly friendly, even a touch naive, perhaps. And her smile was so disarming, Kelly didn’t know whether she wanted to be her mother, lover or best friend. She had an inexplicable desire to want to protect this woman and possess her at the same time.
‘Hi.’
‘I’m Ashley. We’ve met once before. You’re Kelly, right?’
Kelly nodded and spoke in a rush to cover her embarrassment. ‘Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t recognise you with clothes on.’
Ashley laughed.
Kelly shook her head and facepalmed. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I meant—’
‘You meant I usually get around in gym gear.’
Kelly took the out. ‘Exactly.’
‘Well, I’m going to a fashion show tonight, so I thought I’d better at least try to look half decent.’
‘Trust me, honey, you look better than half decent.’ Fuck, what was she doing? Kelly sounded like a besotted schoolboy.
Ashley laughed. ‘I hope Finn thinks so. I’m actually kind of ambushing him. He’s brushed me off a couple of times but I’m not giving up that easily. I’m going to pretend my date cancelled to make it like he’s doing me a favour. Appeal to his chivalrous side.’
Kelly was sure Ashley had read that in a magazine. Or on a blog. Or on Instagram. Who knew? But it was clearly some sort of dating advice direct from a lobotomised baboon.
Ashley’s eyes flew wide. She pointed from Kelly to Finn’s door and back to Kelly. ‘Wait, you and Finn. You’re not …’
‘No, no, we’re just friends.’ As Kelly spoke, a deep and unexpected melancholy began to spread inside her.
Ashley puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. ‘Oh, phew. I remember Finn saying you were just friends as well, but you never know, right?’
The melancholy became heavier, more pervasive. ‘You never know,’ Kelly repeated.
‘Are you okay? You look sad.’
What a thing to say!You look sad. They didn’t even know each other! ‘I’m fine,’ Kelly said. ‘Have fun tonight.’
She scurried away from Ashley. When she pressed the lift button, the doors opened immediately. She entered, pressed the button for the ground floor and turned to wait for the doors to close.
Finn’s door opened. Kelly stood on her tiptoes to see his face over Ashley’s shoulder. He was momentarily stunned at the sight of her. He flicked his gaze towards Kelly. She held her breath, but he looked back to Ashley with eyes full of desire.
The lift doors closed.
Chapter Fourteen
Finn had warned Ashley that they would be photographed. It’s just a part of his job, he’d said, and she hadn’t seemed fazed by it in the slightest. Finn figured that when you looked like Ashley, having your picture taken wasn’t such a big deal. It wasn’t like she’d ever take a bad shot.
But when they’d arrived at the fashion show, even he had been unprepared for the level of attention. Ashley stepped out of the car first, so Finn could only see what was framed by the door. There was a red carpet, of course, a crowd and then an explosion of light. How had they even known he was in the car? They were pretty sophisticated with their tracking, but this felt next level. Had a celebrity scout seen him leave his apartment and reported it to a pap at the event? But he wasn’tthatbig a star – could he not even leave his house without them knowing?
Finn straightened his jacket, took a deep breath and deployed his celebrity smile. Esme had helped him master the look with unrelenting zeal. Confident but not arrogant. Smoky but not too sexy. Mischievous but not petty criminal. He had to appeal to the mums, the teenage daughters of the mums, the pre-teen daughters of the mums, the dads, the young adult women and the young men so they wanted to be him but not be jealous of him. ‘So, essentially, everybody,’ Finn had said to Esme.
She had thrown her hands in the air in a triumphant flourish. ‘Now you’re getting it, Finley, my boy. The Smile for All Seasons!’
