“Oh, right.” She dips her chin. “I got a bit worried this morning when I didn’t see you, but I didn’t know whether to call and check in on you or if that was overstepping the line—”
“You can always call me, Gee. Always.”
My eyes fall to her sweet but sharp mouth as she presses her glossy lips together. “That’s… good to know.”
“Caramel latte with oat milk for Giselle!” shouts the barista, pushing the takeaway cup so hard across the marble counter that a little bit of the scalding liquid sloshes over the top of the lid.
Giselle makes a grab for it, wiping up the droplet running down the side with her finger and then licking it away.
My cock twitches in interest before I can give myself a mental slap.
I watch as she peers up at me and then glances over my shoulder before fixing her gaze back of mine.
“Are you free tonight?”
I nod, my heart soaring.
“Do you want to come to mine, say half six, and we can… talk.”
“I’ll be there,” I promise. “Half six on the dot.”
Giselle sends me a wide smile, pearly teeth on show. It’s my favourite smile on her – real, raw, and unfiltered.
“I’ve missed seeing your smile, Gee.”
My honest admission makes her entire face light up and my stomach flips knowingI’mthe one who put that smile there. It’s an addictive feeling.
“I’ve got to get going, I’ve got a class in twenty minutes, but I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Okay.”
Giselle squeezes the top of my upper arm before she takes a step back, raising her hand in a silent farewell to somebodybehind me. I follow her line of sight, my eyes landing on the raised right hand of my older brother.
The shit eating grin plastered across his lips says it all.
Dropping her fingers from my skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps, Giselle ducks out of the coffee shop door with one last smile in my direction.
I watch her go, padding past the glass window, until she’s out of sight.
“Is she going to give you another chance?” Blake slaps me on the back, shoving my coat and scarf beneath my nose, while I nod.
“Good. Don’t fucking fumble it this time.”
“I won’t. I can promise you that, brother.”
Chapter 21
Giselle
Amixture of nervous and excited energy dances through me as I lock the door to my dance studio behind me.
It’s been thrumming through my person ever since I bumped into Hudson, and his older brother Blake – if I hadn’t already seen photographs of him; the almost copy and paste features which so closely resembled an older version of Hudson and the unabashedly watching of our conversation, definitely gave away his presence – at the coffee shop on the corner this morning.
I don’t know if it’s my nerves, or what, but I can’t count how many times I’ve caught myself clockwatching today. It feels like it’s taken an age until, finally,finally, my last class of the evening begins to wind down and I can get my arse out of there.
Wrapping my scarf around my neck to ward off the chill building outside and shrugging on my coat, I heft my gym bag over my shoulder and trek down the corridor, punching my ID number into the scanner beside the door to clock out for the evening, before I go.
I bypass Freddie, who is still serving drinks at the sports bar, and brace myself to face the freezing February beyond. I wish March would hurry up, bringing with it bright yellow daffodilsand pretty pink cherry blossom, but for now, I guess I’m stuck with the remnants of winter and it’s nail biting clutches.
