“Sure.” I nod. “I’ll pick up the check.”
“You did last time.” She fumbles in her bag for her wallet. “It’s my turn. We split all expenses, remember?”
I don’t need a reminder of what I said. I want to pay for the meal, and hold her hand as we go to Kate’s shop. I want to take her home and back to my bed for the rest of the day. For all the days, and nights. Maybe forever.
“I’ll be home in a couple of hours.” She stands and leans toward me, but stops herself.
I watch her walk over to Jo, push a few bills into her hand and then leave without looking back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Tilly
“I didn’t thinkyou’d show up,” Kate says when I arrive at her store. “I’ve asked you to help me sort through deliveries how many times?”
At least a half dozen since we met.
It’s become a running joke between us.
She’ll tell me that she’s expecting a delivery and could use a hand in exchange for pizza and sodas and I’ll tell her that I just ate.
“I’m here because I don’t want to be a liar,” I blurt out.
Her eyes widen. “You’re going to need to explain that. What’s going on?”
I close the space between us with a few steps. “I was having breakfast with Sebastian and needed some air. I told him I had to come here to help you.”
“Breakfast with Sebastian?” Her hands reach out to grab my shoulders. “Are we talking about a morning after breakfast, Tilly?”
I inch up my brows.
Her gaze darts around the store and the customers who are perusing the dresses. She lowers her voice to a whisper. “Did you two fuck last night?”
“Yes,” I say quietly.
She slides one of her hands into mine, tugging me forward. “This way. We’re going to my office. I want all the details.”
I follow closely behind her as she stops to talk to customers on our way to the back of the store.
Once we’re there, she slams the door of her office behind us before she turns to face me. “You’re glowing.”
I run my hand over my forehead. “I’m overheated. I walked here from Crispy Biscuit.”
“That’s twenty blocks.” She pushes me toward the chair behind her desk. “Sit down before you pass out.”
I take a seat in the chair, grateful for the reprieve for my aching muscles.
She settles on the edge of the desk, smoothing the skirt of the pale pink dress she’s wearing. “So tell me how it happened.”
I’m not about to run through every small detail of last night. It’s not just that it will take too long, but I want to cherish those memories as my own. I don’t want them to become tarnished with her opinion of them.
They belong to me.
“He invited me to take a shower with him and I did.”
Her gaze slides over my face. “Was he good to you? You’re not here because he hurt you or upset you, are you?”
The level of compassion in her tone surprises me. I reach for her hand and squeeze it. “He’s a good man. He was so good to me.”
