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Sam shrugged. “You can borrow him for a bit. As I said the other night, tit for tat.” He pulled Maya close.
“Pardon?” Arran asked, as Liv shot Sam a death stare.
“Nothing,” Liv replied quickly, releasing his hand. “Sam was saying some crap about me becoming your bestie as recompense for him claiming Maya as his.”
Arran’s fingers reached out of their own accord, aching with the loss of her touch. “Pimping me out to your sister, Holland?” he said, catching a little blush appearing on Liv’s cheeks.
Sam gave him a grin.
“Don’t be so hasty,” Nico chimed in. “I’ll throw my hat into the ring for the best-friend stakes, Liv. You don’t want Adebayo when you can have me.”
Elise raised her eyebrows at Nico.
“I’m good anyway,” Liv said. “I’m already in the lucky position of having two besties.” She nodded toward Elise. “Dr. K has my back.”
“I reckon Dr. Kowalski also needs my services,” Nico said, looking at Elise with a smile playing on his lips.
Elise openly rolled her eyes.
“Okay,” Liv said, smiling. “You versus Arran to be besties with Elise and me. But how will we decide?”
“Whoever got you the best birthday present,” Nico said. “Speaking of which…” He lifted a couple of gift bags, handing one each over to the twins. “You’d better open them simultaneously, because it’s the same thing.”
As soon as he said that, both Liv and Sam tore into the tissue paper inside the bags, each clearly determined to be the first to brandish the present, which was a big bottle of something, judging by the shape of the bag. Despite their efforts, they both pulled the bottles out simultaneously—a magnum of champagne each.
“Wow,” Liv said, eyeing the bottle with a sparkle in her eyes. “This is our favorite one. Thanks, Nico.”
“Yeah, thanks, man,” Sam added, holding his hand out above Maya’s and Elise’s heads for Nico to high-five.
Nico folded his arms, giving Arran the smuggest smile in the history of the universe. Arran raised an eyebrow in return, shooting Nico a look that said, “You’re toast, Hadid.”
“What’re you countering with?” Elise asked Arran hopefully, seeming keen for him to trump Nico.
Arran shrugged and pulled a couple of envelopes out of his pocket. He silently passed one to Sam and one to Liv. “You don’t need to perform synchronized present opening with these. They aren’t the same.” He absorbed the spark of excitement in Liv’s eyes and the deadpan arching of an eyebrow from Nico.
Sam was fastest. “Awesome. A voucher for the ski shop.” He gave Arran a fist bump.
Liv lifted the card out of her envelope, taking in the contentsand looking up with wide eyes. The shining emotion on display in the sea of her gaze made his heart ache.
“Thank you,” she said, quietly.
“Don’t hold out on us,” Maya said, bouncing in her chair. “What is it?”
Liv cleared her throat. “It’s a voucher for afternoon tea for two at that posh hotel in Glasgow I was telling you about. It got a great write-up.” She met Arran’s eyes. “I told Arran about it recently.”
“That’s lovely, Arran,” Elise said, shooting Nico a smug smile, which clearly conveyed that Arran had won the best-present competition, hands down.
Nico, unfazed, gave Elise a wink in return, which seemed to cause color to flush her cheeks, and she glanced away. He smiled at Arran. “You win, bro. So, Liv. Who’s going to be the lucky person you take with you for your afternoon tea?”
Liv glanced between Maya and Elise. “I’m not sure. I don’t want to cause any scone-based arguments.” She leaned back, eyeing Arran. “I might have to choose you.” She cleared her throat. “In order to avoid any fallout, I mean.”
Arran dragged his eyes from the hypnotizing green hue of Liv’s to check out Maya’s and Elise’s reactions. They appeared more than happy with the idea, judging by the slightly sappy smiles on their faces.
Turning back to Liv, he swallowed against the dry sensation in his throat, his pulse surging at the idea of accompanying her on something that could, possibly, in some sense of the definition, be classed as a date. Arealdate, as opposed to their blind-date fiasco. “I can’t buy you a present and then use it for myself.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, you can. My present, my choice.” She gave him a defiant look that was more than a little sexy and stuck out her hand to shake on it. He grasped her hand and sealed the deal, trying to ignore the electrifying sensation caused by her skingrazing his. Every time he touched her was more intense than the last, and at some point soon he’d likely self-combust. Her eyes lingered on him and he was caught in her gaze for a couple of beats, his fingers slow to release hers. She seemed in no rush to let go either, and again he let himself wonder…Maybe she also felt the attraction between them.
Sam’s voice cut into the moment. “I got a call from Dave today.”
