Page 44 of Ride the Wave

‘Come on,’ he says, giving me a pointed look and shifting his body ever so slightly towards me, resting his elbow on the counter of the bar. ‘You really think that you’re completely comfortable when you’re interviewing?’

‘Yeah, I do it all the time.’

‘You’re very good at pretending to be relaxed, but you’re working too hard to give that appearance,’ he says, angling himself even more towards me, blocking whoever’s on his other side. ‘You’re on the job. I’ve seen you when you’ve been genuinely relaxed and you’re… different.’

‘Oh, what, in yoga? That doesn’t count. It’s a classtrainingyou to relax.’

He shakes his head, looking entertained by my riled-up reaction. ‘Not what I was talking about. I was talking about when we were on the beach.’

I quirk a brow at him. ‘You do realise you’re proving my point? I was interviewing you on the beach. That’s why you’re so cross at me, remember?’

‘There were moments during that conversation that you let your guard down too. There were times when you weren’t being an interviewer; you were being yourself.’

‘Maybe I’m really good at my job.’

‘No one’s that good.’

I stare up at him. His eyes bore into mine.

‘Either way, it was nice to see you… stop for a bit,’ he adds casually.

‘Stop?’ I repeat, puzzled.

‘Yeah, London,’ he says, breaking into a warm, annoyingly inviting smile, the crinkles appearing in all their glory. ‘You were relaxed. As in,properlyrelaxed. You can say you were feigning it by trying to trick me into talking to you. But it felt real.’

He takes a swig of his water, letting me soak in his words.

When I still haven’t responded after a while, he gives me a prompt: ‘You all right? I don’t mean to insult you or anything.’

‘No, I’m not… I’m not insulted. I guess I see what you’re getting at,’ I admit, not entirely comfortable with the realisation that he may be right. ‘I did enjoy the conversation. Even if it was on the beach, which I hate.’

He rolls his eyes at that. ‘No one hates the beach.’

‘I do.’

‘Maybe you haven’t experienced it with the right people,’ he says, shooting me a look. ‘You didn’t mind it Thursday evening.’

‘I…’

My mind is racing and Leo chuckles at my furrowed expression.

‘It’s a good thing, London,’ he insists. ‘Like I say, nice to see you chill out a bit. Your natural state seems to be so busy, alert and vigilant, always looking for the next thing you should be doing, scheduling it into your phone, planning to make plans.’

I snort. ‘Oh yeah, “city mode”. Busy, alert and vigilant – you’re making me sound like a meerkat.’

He brightens, ‘Hey, you could do worse than a meerkat. Fun fact—’

‘Last time you said that, it turned out to be about a shark’s dental capacity.’

‘Whichisa fun fact,’ he argues defensively. ‘As is the knowledge that a group of meerkats is called a mob. I don’t know why, but I love that.’

I break into a wide smile. It’s the way he said that: so delighted with himself.

Uh oh. Is the emotionally-distant, guarded Leo Silva secretly…cute?

‘So what I can surmise from this conversation,’ I begin, clearing my throat and looking back out at the party, hoping to distract myself from inappropriate thoughts, ‘is that you’re full of random animal facts and you think I have a stick up my arse.’

He bursts out laughing, drawing the attention of Marina and her friends before they go back to their dancing. It thrills me that I made him laugh like that.

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