Want & Need

Chapter Four

I woke the next morning to the incessant ringing of my phone. Fumbling my way through the air, I managed to press the answer button somehow. I croaked a greeting to the caller.

"I'm engaged!"

Molly's shrieking voice snapped me out of my half-asleep state as I struggled to comprehend what she just said.

"Ky? You there?"

I sat up, running a hand over my eyes. "Yeah. Sorry. What?"

"I'm engaged! Like, engaged, Ky!"

I smiled at her excitement while trying to absorb her news. "Wow. Congratulations!"

To say I was a little shocked was an understatement. Molly was your typical free spirit—tall, slim, drop dead gorgeous, and not interested in relationships. She'd been dating this guy, Chris, for nearly six months, which was a record for her. I had been more than surprised when she'd agreed to go on holiday with him.

"When can you come over? We have so much to catch up on!"

I sighed as I threw back the bed covers. "Give me an hour."

A squeal of joy pierced my eardrums before the line went dead.

***

I arrived at Molly's an hour later, more awake and ready for her barrels of joy. The car door hadn't even opened before she came running out of the house, waving her new bling in my face.

I held her hand and stared at the huge diamond ring sitting on her finger. "Wow. That's huge."

She nodded, her long blonde hair waving with her enthusiasm. "I know."

"So how did he do it?"

A broad smile swept across her face as she relived her special moment. "It was so perfect. We were in this gorgeous restaurant right on the sea front. Candles, stars in the sky, he got down on one knee and everything."

I smiled. "I'm so pleased for you."

She grabbed my arm, dragging me out of the car before enveloping me in a bone crushing hug. "You know what this means?"

I stepped back, stretching out my shoulders. I raised an eyebrow, daring to ask, "What?"

She clasped her hands together and jumped up and down on the spot. "Shopping!"

I plastered a fake smile on my face and suppressed a groan. It wasn't that I was unhappy for her, it just didn't seem right. Before her holiday, she'd been detailing the hot personal trainer in her gym to me. Now, it was like he never existed. Still, she deserved someone decent and Chris was a good guy.

As I followed her in the house, my phone rang—Paul. I burst into my own smile as I realised this news would kill her. When he started at the company a few weeks ago, she used any trick in the book to be upstairs in my office, poised on the end of my desk when he emerged from his office. He never even batted an eyelash at her, which only served to fuel her more.

I ran back outside, answering the call. "Well, hello there."

"Good morning. I'm delighted you decided to answer."

I giggled. "It was accidental. I meant to press reject."

A soft, honey laden laugh trickled down the line, sending shivers up and down my spine. "Well, I'm guessing that answers my question then. May as well hang up now."

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that if you don't ask, you don't get?"

"As a matter of fact, Miss Wilson, I happen to live by that rule. Are you free tonight?"