And oh God, the girls were there too. Chloe, her face beaming, and alongside her Donna and Tanya, who had reason enough to hate her. A lump rose in Mia’s throat. All these people had come here for her.
Her eyes slid over to the bar, where Mateo winked in that flirty way he’d always had with her. Finally, next to Mateo, was the man who made her heart leap when their eyes connected. Luke’s smile, the one she’d first fallen for, was in full force, crinkling his eyes at the corners, dimples flashing. In his hand he held a lurid pink cocktail, complete with pink feather stirrer.
When their eyes met, laughter bubbled inside her, along with a tonne of emotion that made her chest feel tight and her throat almost impossible to speak out of.
‘Snap,’ she managed, tugging at her newly dyed hair which she’d streaked with pink, in celebration of finishing the rom-com.
Or maybe it had been in celebration of romance, because this surely was one hell of a romance playing out right in front of her eyes. And incredibly, she was at the heart of it. She was the heroine.
Shaking her head, she looked at her friends. Her friends. And felt choked all over again. ‘I can’t believe he forced you out on a Sunday evening just to celebrate me finishing my book.’
‘Forced us?’ Stan rasped. ‘Nobody forced us, love.’ He glanced over at Luke. ‘He did promise us a free drink, mind.’
Everyone laughed, and then, thank God, started talking because as much as Mia loved the show of support, she hated being the centre of attention.
Naomi was first to come up to her, squeezing her arm. ‘You’re a dark horse. I didn’t have our local computer whizz down as a romance writer.’
‘Whoa, you can’t call me a writer. I’m still a long way from getting anything published.’
‘Luke said you’d finished writing a book.’ Stan joined them, looking smarter than she’d seen him with a neatly trimmed beard and new haircut. ‘That makes you a writer. Not sure about the romance, mind. If it’d been a thriller I might have read it.’
Mia spluttered with laughter. ‘For that, I’m going to make you read it anyway.’ She gave Naomi a sidelong glance. ‘Who knows, you might learn something.’
The others came over and Mia lost count of the number of times she had to tell people not to get carried away. Only a few writers ever get their work published. It was what she said to Luke, too, when she finally managed to talk to him.
‘But writing a book, writing ninety thousand words, is one hell of an achievement. You should be proud, shout about it.’
He was so happy for her, Mia almost couldn’t look at him because she felt too much. ‘Well thanks to you I am shouting about it.’
Some of the light in his eyes dimmed. ‘Was this the wrong thing to do?’
Her heart burst open. ‘This was the most amazing thing to do.’ Reaching across the bar, Mia gave him a fierce kiss. ‘I can’t believe you persuaded everyone to come, though. How many cocktails have you had to give away?’
‘You really think I needed to bribe anyone? That these people weren’t so utterly thrilled for you, they couldn’t wait to congratulate you?’
Her heart bounced. ‘Really?’
‘Really.’ His eyes looked deep into hers. ‘You’ve made friends here, Mia. Friends who care about you.’
She glanced back over her shoulder at the people who’d come out to support her and felt a burst of pride. She’d been so worried about starting a relationship with Luke, about being dependent on him for her happiness, yet without realising it she’d made other friends, too. Friends who’d still be there for her even if she and Luke didn’t make it.
‘It seems I’ve also found a boyfriend astute enough to plan this celebration to show me exactly that.’
He let out a bark of laughter. ‘Okay, I like astute, so I’ll admit I hoped you’d see this as more than a celebration of your writing. It’s a celebration of what you’ve achieved in four months of living in Manchester.’
‘Friends, a finished book.’ She placed a hand on his cheek. ‘And an awesome boyfriend.’
He waggled his eyebrows. ‘An awesome boyfriend who can make you romantic pink cocktails to match your hair.’
‘What do you think of the pink?’
His eyes skated slowly over her hair and then across her face, the green getting more intense when they finally rested on her mouth. ‘I think you’re the sexiest flamingo I’ve ever seen.’ As she struggled between laughter and wanting to pour her cocktail over him, he grinned. ‘Nah, only kidding, you’ve got far better legs than their spindly efforts. You’re more … Snagglepuss? No, wait, I’ve got it. Pink Panther, except he was a boy, and tall, and had big eyes like you, but they were yellow, not blue.’
God, he wasn’t just sexy and hot, he was adorable. ‘Is that it then, you’re stumped for a new nickname for me?’
He shook his head, a slow grin forming across his face. ‘I’ve got it. That Cartland woman who wrote all the romance novels and always wore pink.’ Taking her hand, he kissed her knuckles, then slowly slid his gaze up to hers. ‘I think you’re the sexiest Babs I’ve ever met.’
As always, he cracked her up, but as the laughter died, her feelings for him grew, leaving no room in her chest. She loved him, she knew that now, but it wasn’t the time to tell him. Instead she clasped his hand and brought it to her lips. ‘And I think you’re the sexiest, most thoughtful boyfriend I could ever have wished for.’
Chapter Thirty-Four
Luke walked into his spare room to do his usual weights on Tuesday morning, and smiled when he saw a message in Mia’s window. The woman loved communicating this way and he had to admit, walking in to find a message in her window gave him a bigger kick than reading one on his phone.
Coffee?
* * *
Naomi’s
* * *
11 a.m.
Bending to grab a pen, he scribbled back:
Missing me?
They’d spent Saturday night through to Monday morning together when he hadn’t been working. It wasn’t nearly long enough. Increasingly he, the man who’d bounced from woman to woman in casual, no-strings relationships, was getting frustrated at not seeing Mia enough outside work. He knew she had her judo classes now, and that in between her day job she was busy editing her book before sending it out to publishers. Still, he wanted more of her time. Wanted more of her.
Movement in the window opposite signalled she was putting up a reply:
Maybe
Another flicker of movement, and another message:
Or I just
* * *
Need U 2
* * *
Buy me
* * *
Coffee
He laughed, though he had to admit one of the down sides of dating a woman with a sharp mind was he didn’t always know when she was joking.
After posting a thumbs-up picture, he began his work-out.