Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Come on. You’re struggling with your writing and you ran away.”
“No, I came for a fresh perspective and to recharge my creative batteries. You’re just hoping you can run here, and I’ll clean up your mess.”
“Ellie, please. I just need a night or two to clear my head. I swear I’ll talk to Aaron before I leave.”
I sighed. “I can’t really tell you no, can I?”
“I know where you’re staying. I’ll come anyway.”
“Fine. But two nights and no more, you hear me? And I’m going to make sure you have spoken to him before you get here. If you haven’t, I’m going to pin you down like I did when we were kids and make you speak to him.”
“Thank you. You’re the best.”
“Stop sucking up to me, you twit. Make sure you talk to him. About more than just the animals, all right?”
“I will. I promise. I’ll be there late tonight.”
My brother was so full of shit.
He wasn’t going to talk to him at all.
Well, not on a personal level. He’d discuss the animals in their rescue, but that would be it. He wasn’t going to go any further than that.
I’d be surprised if he called him at all. Kev wasn’t exactly good at facing up to his feelings.
That was a bit rich coming from me since I’d typed out twenty texts to Max and not sent a single one, but here we were.
Kev hung up with another reassurance that he would call his maybe-fiancé, and I rolled my eyes. I’d believe that when I saw it—and seeing it would mean stealing his phone.
I set my phone down on the step next to me, taking care to make sure I set it screen-up so I wouldn’t scratch it. With that done, I was going to enjoy this morning cup of tea and hope the rest of my day wasn’t quite as stressful as that phone call had been.
Was I surprised that Aaron had finally proposed to my brother after mentioning it to me nine months ago? A little bit.
Was I surprised that Kevin panicked and froze? Not in the slightest.
He was like a possum. When frightened, he tended to freeze and play dead.
Not great in any situation, really, but especially not after being proposed to.
I shook my head. He was a mess. A whole arse bloody mess.
I wasn’t much better, mind you. I was in the situation that I was having a bit of a catastrophe myself, what with Winston the Great Disappearing Cat and Max the Great Random Kisser.
Sounded like the set up to a bad romcom.
Or my life. Which felt as though it was turning into a bad romcom.
Strangely enough, I hadn’t used yesterday’s… events… as inspiration. All right, maybe the trip and fall into his arms, but not the rest of it.
Dinner? Sure. Arguments? Sure. Fantasising about getting it on in a library window seat? Sure.
Kissing Max?
No.
Writing about that seemed so personal. Too personal. Honestly, I was a little afraid to write it. I was scared that I’d both be too honest about how it made me feel but at the same time, not quite do it justice.
It was a kiss, you know? A real kiss. One that I’d felt all through my body. One that I’d thought about endlessly since. Every time I closed my eyes, I felt his lips against mine. I felt his hands cupping my face, his fingers teasing my hair, his thumbs brushing against my cheeks.
I couldn’t get the moment he kissed me out of my mind.
It was a fucking conspiracy.
And I just didn’t know what to say to him. He left so abruptly afterwards that I knew he was as confused about it all as I was. Something told me that he was avoiding me just as much as I was him, but sooner or later, our paths would cross.
Probably because of Winston.
And we’d have to sort it out.
Also, we were adults. This was the kind of stuff that drove me insane in my books, and if I couldn’t stand it in a fictional setting, I sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to cope with it in real life.
If I didn’t see or speak to Max by dinnertime tonight, I was going to text him. No matter how weird or awkward I felt. I was going to make an effort to clear the air and put the situation to rights.
That was that.
My mind was made up.
I wasn’t going to be my brother. I was going to be a mature adult about it.
“Good morning.”
I blinked, jerking out of the hole I’d dug myself inside my head, and focused on the handsome, auburn-haired gentleman who’d greeted me. “Oh, good morning.”
“Sorry.” He smiled. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “You didn’t. I was in my own little world, that’s all.”