Page 87 of Midnight Enemy

“Hi,” I say shyly.

“Lovely to meet you, Scarlett.” She comes forward and shakes my hand. “I’m so sorry,” she says to Orson, “you should have texted me to say you had company. You’re always alone, so I didn’t think.”

Her words warm me through. He wasn’t lying, then, when he said he hasn’t dated anyone recently.

“It’s okay.” He gestures for me to sit on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. “I was wondering whether you could make us some pancakes.”

“Oh.” My face flushes. “That’s okay, I don’t expect—”

“Of course.” She smiles. “Banana?”

Orson looks at me expectantly. “Er… um… that would be great,” I mumble.

“I’ll make the coffee,” Orson says, switching on the machine, a huge thing with all kinds of buttons and dials. “How’s Jackie?”

“She’s good, thanks. It was our anniversary yesterday. Five years.”

“Oh, honey, congratulations.” He hugs her briefly and kisses her cheek. “Wow, that’s gone quick.”

“I know. Talk about an old married couple. She’s talking about us going to Fiji for a couple of weeks in June. Would that be okay with you?”

“What? Absolutely not.”

She ignores him. “Thanks, sweetie.”

He chuckles and starts the espresso pouring while she begins making the pancake batter.

I watch them, liking their casual attitude and the fact that they’ve obviously known each other for a while. What did he call her? His housekeeper. So she buys his groceries, occasionally cooks for him… what else? Cleans, I guess. Well, I suppose if I was a billionaire I wouldn’t want to dust and vacuum my own house, either.

Before long, the pancakes and coffee are ready, and Orson sits next to me while we eat, while Gina washes the pans, then continues putting away the groceries.

“These are really good,” I say, enjoying the sweet, fluffy pancakes.

“Next time we’ll get Gina to add a few of the chocolate truffles,” Orson says.

“Naughty boy,” she says, putting some packets of pasta in the cupboard. “You can’t add chocolate to everything.”

“Says who?” He has a sip of coffee, then realizes I’ve stopped with my fork halfway to my mouth. “What?”

I shake my head.

“What?” he presses.

“You said… next time…”

He has another mouthful of coffee, giving me an amused look. “Yeah…”

“I thought this was… you know…”

“A one-night stand?”

Embarrassed, I glance at Gina. She doesn’t look around, but I think she’s trying to hide a smile.

Orson just laughs and has another mouthful of pancake as he picks up his phone and brings up a calendar. “I’ve got a meeting this evening with some investors. And the day after that it’s Kingi’s birthday and we’re having a party at the club in the evening… Oh! Would you like to come?” His eyes light up.

I stare at him. “Go with you, you mean?”

“Yes, Scarlett. Come with me to a party. Be my date.”

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