We stood in silence for a moment. Now it was just the two of us, the weight of all the secrets and his words from earlier hung heavy in the air. He exhaled a weighty breath, burying his hands in his pockets and turning to face me.
‘Look, I’m not good with this shit. But I’m sorry.’
My head dropped between my shoulders. ‘It’s not me you needed to apologise to.’
‘And I apologised to Rosie, but man, it was a bit of a shock seeing you guys together like that.’
I scraped a hand down my face. ‘I know. That’s not really what Fallon meant when she said she wanted to surprise you for your birthday.’
He huffed out a laugh. ‘It’s alright. I knew about it all, anyway.’
My head snapped to the left, seeing the slow grin spread across his face. ‘How did you find out?’
He glanced out the window, the corners of his eyes creasing as he watched the girls gather around the unlit fire pit.
‘I love that woman, but her observational skills aren’t great.’ When I continued to stare at him in confusion, he chuckled. ‘When she was booking this place, she copied me in on the email.’
I groaned, swiping a hand down my face. Unable to stop myself from joining in on the mirth. ‘So you knew we’d be here too?’
He nodded. ‘Fallon leaves notes for herself around her flat, to remind her to do things. One of them said, ‘take birthday shit to Rosie, so he doesn’t find them’.’
‘Christ, why didn’t you tell her you knew?’
His expression sobered. ‘Because she was happy. And I’d do a fucking lot more than pretend to be surprised to make that girl smile.’
Every word was laced with sincerity. We fell into a comfortable silence, staring out the window at the girls. They’d found chairs from somewhere and were setting them up around the fire pit. Even in the small stream of light coming from the moon, it set a halo around the two of them. Fallon said something as she tried to set up one of the chairs, and Rosie tipped her head back, laughing.
I lifted my hand to my chest, rubbing at the spot that felt tight, making it hard to breathe. Oliver eyed the movement. He looked away and shook his head almost imperceptibly.
‘I’m sorry though, I didn’t mean to go off on you,’ he said, regret heavy in his tone. I got the distinct feeling there was more he was holding back.
‘I appreciate that.’ I shoved his shoulder lightly. ‘You’re still a prick.’
He huffed out a laugh. ‘So I’m told.’
When some doubt still lingered in his eyes, I slapped a hand on his back. ‘We’re good.’
‘That’s not how you do it.’ A high-pitched voice cried from outside. My chest nearly collapsed at hearing Rosie’s cry.
One of them had lit a match. In the dark, I couldn’t quite make out who it was. We didn’t waste any time. Oliver and I sprang into action, hurtling towards the back door.
26
I’d warnedFallon that she couldn’t simply throw a lit match into the fire pit and fire would magically start. I’m not a hundred percent certain on the thermodynamics of starting a fire. However, her way felt wrong. The second she started waving around a lit match, I shrieked, summoning the boys who came hurtling out of the back door.
Oliver wrapped an arm around Fallon and closed his fist around the flame, extinguishing it. A second later, two warm hands gathered me around the waist and lifted me out of harm's way. An unnecessary reaction considering I wasn’t in any real danger. George plonked me several feet from the pit, casting a worried look around. The crease in his brow was so adorable, without thinking, I reached up and smoothed the lines on his forehead. The action must have caught him off guard because he froze. Not moving, like I was a wild animal he was afraid of spooking.
Honestly, that was fair. I knew my reactions in the past to his casual intimacy hadn’t always been great. But I couldn’t help feeling the desire to be close to him, toneedhim. Thinking of that kind of dependency still caused my chest toconstrict in fear. Like I’d been doing for the past few weeks, I shoved that feeling away, pressing it back in its dark hole—a totally healthy coping mechanism.
‘You okay, sweetheart?’ His hands flexed on my waist and suddenly, despite the chilly night air, I felt like we were both wearing far too many clothes.
Tilting my head back to look him in the eye, my breath caught at the warmth in his gaze. The layers I wore felt totally uncalled for when I was wrapped in his heat. His hand cupped my cheek, thumb tracing light circles on my skin.
My eyes closed for a split second, fingers itching to curl into the material of his shirt. ‘Mmhmm.’
‘I know what I’m doing,’ Fallon cried. We both glanced over to see her with both hands on her hips, shooting daggers at Oliver, who had taken possession of the matches and was holding them over his head, out of her reach.
‘Beg to differ, Pooh. You guys forgot the logsandthe fire starters.’ Amusement tugged on his lips.
