Andlit candles.
Fia’s voice floated up the stairs.Angelic. Too close.
Fuck.
I pulled the plug of the bath, rushing back to the bed to scoop up yet more petals before she came up and saw that I was trying to seduce her again.
I fully intended to respect her boundaries and follow rule number four — no flirting. To the best of my ability, anyway.
But why could I smell burning?
I stood straight, dropped the petals on the bed, sniffed, and went into a full meltdown, because the room wason fire.
I checked the bed, the balcony, the bedside tables, and the wardrobe.Nothing.
Bodri huffed down in the doorway, uncaring of my fear that the whole house was going to burn down because it was made of wood.
In the bathroom, the smell was stronger. The drain gurgled behind me as I strained to hear if Fia was coming up. But my focus also had to be onthe fire.
I blew out each candle, only to find that I’d dropped some petals in one of the candles, and that was what had been burning.
I sat on the side of the bath and sighed in relief. I was surprised I didn’t pass out.
Now that the adrenaline had passed, my head was reeling.
And there were still a hundred petalsleft to bin.
Bodri was the best wingman and heaved himself up to go and find his new best friend, Fia.Good. Hopefully, he’d distract her.
I managed to bin the rest of the petals, empty the bin bag, and hide the candles in record-breaking time.
With how stressed I’d been, I put on some more deodorant and patted my forehead with a towel to make sure I still looked and smelled my best for her because I had been sweating, thinking that before I could make her fall in love with me, I might accidentally kill her.
Downstairs, she paced by the tall, panelled windows, her phone pressed so tightly to her ear that her knuckles were pale.
I’d been practicing my English more and more so that I could better understand Fia — I was even doing online classes — but I couldn’t understand everything she said.
“Well, I don’t mean to upset anyone,” she pressed. “I’m allowed to have a relationship with whoever I want.” A pause where I felt euphoric. She was defending us to the person whose opinion mattered most to her. And then she continued. “He’s my father, Ever. I shouldn’t feel guilty about reaching out. We work together. A few days getting to know him will help my team— and then I’m staying with friends.” Another pause. Fia’s hands tightened into fists. “I do have friends, thank you.”
They continued, Fia shaking her head with fury.
I didn’t know much about Fia’s social life. I knew she lived mostly with her sister and Livie and then her mum and the man she called Dad in England, but… I didn’t know much about her relationships outside of that.
I made sure to creak the stairs as I walked down them toher. She gave me the weakest smile.
“Ever, Dad will be fine. Mum will be fine. I can’t live my entire life for them and not even give him a chance.”
So she was lying to them. But I wondered how much of that last sentence was truthful and whether she meant me or not.
I really hoped she meant me.
We had two days to get through the report before I planned for us to travel to Serbia. There, I would try and woo her.Respectfully.
Fia sat at my side on the sofa with another huff and pulled out a clipboard from her rucksack, opening up a folder and revealing some very messed-up paperwork. There were scribbles and arrows all over the shot. Not all of her markings were in English. Some Hungarian. Some Portuguese. But the written report was all in Hungarian.
Interesting.
What I would give to be in her head for even a minute.
