Her smile was self-deprecating. ‘It’s just so many people. It’s kind of overwhelming.’
‘I don’t know many of them well,’ he amended honestly.
‘So they’re mostly business associates?’
Thanos considered that. ‘Many are, yes. But I suppose a few hundred are people I socialise with.’
‘But aren’t actually friends with?’ she prompted, a teasing smile on her face, a divot between her brows that he had an irrational urge to drop his lips to and kiss.
‘What’s your definition of a friend?’
‘Someone you could call at any time, day or night, who’d have your back when you needed support.’
He lifted a brow, his stomach churning a little. ‘In that case, I have only one friend.’
‘Oh?’
He swivelled his head, moving his gaze across the room. ‘My brother, Leonidas.’
‘Ah.’ Her smile was just a lift at the corners. ‘I think that’s cheating.’
He laughed, a sound that ruffled through his broad chest. ‘Is it?’
‘Yep. And I can’t compete because I have no siblings, so it’s not really fair.’
‘You didn’t invite any of your friends?’
She pulled her mouth to the side a bit, as she thought about that. ‘I don’t really have any friends.’
He saw regret cross her face followed swiftly by confusion, almost as though she’d said more than she’d intended, and wanted to draw the words back in. But he wouldn’t let her. Her admission fascinated him.
‘Why not?’
‘Honestly?’
‘Yeah.’
‘It’s complicated.’
He arched a brow. ‘I’m your husband, remember.’
She pulled a face and lowered her voice, lifting up onto the tips of her toes so he alone would hear her. ‘In name only.’
‘Ah.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t hold that against me.’
Alice lowered her body back, staying close to him, her brow furrowed thoughtfully. ‘I’ll try not to.’
‘So? Friends?’
She expelled a soft sigh. ‘We moved around a lot when I was growing up. It was hard to meet friends, and once I did, we’d leave town again. I used to email a few, but after about my sixth school, I stopped even trying to learn the names.’ She grimaced. ‘Work is no different. I mean, I’m a temp, so by the very nature of my job, I’m never in the same place for long. And when I am, and I do by chance come across someone I click with socially, I can’t really catch up with them because I care for Mom so much of the time.’
Thanos hadn’t been born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. True, he’d known excessive wealth and comfort during his childhood, but he’d also known a corresponding degree of pain and emotional distance, of loss and hardship, and yet he found it hard to think of a single thing he’d gone through that could compare to the sheer loneliness of what Alice had experienced.
‘I’m only twenty-four but I don’t really do the stuff people my age are into. I can’t afford it.’
He smiled but it was completely without humour.
‘There wasn’t anyone I could think of to invite,’ she said with a lift of her shoulders.