rest of us have ceased to exist. As Victoria’s laugh fills the air, I notice that Bella’s eyes are cast down to the tabletop.
“Bella—” Liz begins quietly, but Bella cuts her off.
“There’s no need to say anything, Lizzie,” she says, keeping her voice so only the three of us at the table can hear it. “We were merely chatting. That’s all.”
“I saw the look in your eyes when you were talking to him an—” Liz persists.
“Shh!” Bella orders, her eyes pleading with Liz to stop. “I should have known better. I’m the girl guys enjoy hanging with to kill time. I saw the way he looked at her. Camden never looked at me like that, nor would he ever,” she whispers. “Victoria is the kind of girl he would be interested in. I’m not. That’s the way it is.”
“I hate when you talk like this,” Liz insists, her eyes flickering with intensity. “You have just as much to offer a man as Victoria. He’s a fool if he doesn’t see that.”
At that moment, I see the same determination I’ve seen in Xander’s eyes. No wonder they are so close—they are alike in so many ways.
“No, it’s not true,” Bella counters. “And I don’t want to talk about this, it’s humiliating.”
I see the dynamic at play here. Liz is right, of course, but Bella doesn’t want to hear that now. She’s embarrassed, even though she shouldn’t be, and probably wishes she could leave.
And the last thing she wants to hear is how amazing she is, and that the right man will appreciate that one day. Even though this is true, it sounds like a bunch of crap when you’re feeling low and humiliated.
I clear my throat. “I’m going to make sure Xander is staying out of trouble. Care to come with me, Bella?”
She flashes me a look of immense gratitude. “Yes, I would like that.”
We both rise from our seats, grab our drinks, and head outside to the patio. As soon as we open the door, Xander looks over at me, and a smile lights up his face. My heart dances happily as a result.
Bear and Lucy immediately run up to Bella and me, barking and circling around us, tails wagging. Bella kneels to pet Lucy, and I ruffle Bear’s big head.
“Hi, Bear,” I say affectionately.
Xander comes over to me and loops his arm around my shoulders. Then he dips his head towards my ear.
“I missed you, Sunshine,” he murmurs so only I can hear his sweet words.
How many times can I melt in the month of March? A hundred? A thousand?
Warmth fills me. I gaze up at him, loving the adoration I see in his eyes. “Well, it’s a good thing I came out here to remedy that situation, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he says, and to my surprise, in front of everyone, he drops a sweet kiss on my mouth. He tastes of beer and smells of smoke from the grill, and it’s such a masculine blend. Very attractive.
The back door opens again, and this time, Victoria returns with Camden in tow. Bella rises and quickly averts her gaze away from them.
“I’ve brought a platter and a footballer,” she says, triumphantly.
Christian and Xander call out greetings to Camden, and Victoria introduces Camden to Roman and Charlie.
“I see my timing is perfect,” Camden says, watching as Christian begins removing prawns from the grill and putting them on a platter Victoria has set down next to him.
“Yes, we’re almost ready,” Christian replies.
“I hope it’s not too spicy,” Victoria says as she takes a sip of her margarita. “I don’t like things spicy.”
“I would hope you would,” Camden says, arching an eyebrow flirtatiously at her.
Oh, God! They are flirting about food the same way Xander and I did when we had our first dinner together!
She laughs. “You are wicked, Camden Tremblay.”
“I know, I’m a hideous flirt,” he says. “I apologise.”
“No, do not apologise. You need to keep it up.”
Oh, no. These two will be flirting all night at this rate. Victoria said she was bored with her dating sabbatical. She didn’t want an aristocrat.
And now that she has a sexy, tattooed Canadian footballer paying her attention?
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see where this could be by the end of the evening.
Ugh, poor Bella. I glance at her, and she’s standing straight and still, her gaze fixated on something in the distance. Something that is no doubt a blur in her mind as she tries her best to act unaffected.