“Sheneededa vintage Bronco?”
I set down the weight and sigh, “That was the romantic bit.”
“Acarwas the romantic bit? And you flat-out asked her to dinner and she said no,” he repeats. We’ve been over it already, though he’s having quite a laugh. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Yes, well, shewantedto say yes,” I grab the weight with my other hand.
“Did she now? You think that based on what?” Ben asks.
“Based on the way she talked to my bare chest earlier today, for one thing,” I grunt.
And how she would fight a smile when I would come in every morning. She hung on every word I’d share with the townsfolk. Memorized all my favorite pastries and coffee blends, based on my reaction, since I never told her which I preferred.
“Not the same and you know it. She can want your knob and not the rest of you attached to it,” he says as he makes his way into his apartment.
“Don’t forget she also defended my honor with the water pitcher,” I remind him.
He scoffs, “That was about calming down a drunk kid, not standing up for your grumpy arse.”
“Two things can be true at once,” I say.
I hear him place his keys and wallet on an entry table as he says, “But they’re not. You’re a handsome bloke, but a prickly one. Maybe just let it go? Starting with her dog?”
I make a show of opening the side garage door. “Stuart, go home,” I say. The dog raises his head off the giant dog bed I put up in the gym area for him, snorts, and flops back down to sleep. “You see? Tried. Bloody menace, that one. She’ll have to come get him.”
“And let’s say this dog-napping finally gets her to cave, then what, Aid?”
“Then I finally get to take her out for a decent meal. That isn’t reheated,” I say.
I hear Janie call to him in the background, “Coming love,” he says to her. He lowers his voice and looks down at his phone, “And then?” I open my mouth to say then I hopefully get to kiss that shy little mouth, see if she’s as sweet as I imagine. Maybe hold her, touch her, help her to escape, to relax, if only for a few minutes. I’ve always had…good reviews in that regard. Women usually come back for more. Maybe Harper would too.
But I shut my mouth right up again because I’m not about to say all of that to Ben. But he shoots a knowing glare through the little glass, anyway, since he is also a red-blooded man in his thirties. He knows exactly what I’m thinking. “And after that bit? Then? And then? And then you bloody go back to London. I’m telling you, Aiden. Leave it.”
“Hmph,” is all I say in reply.
“Got to go, email me those confirmations for the bachelor party, yeah?”
“Already did. Quite a while ago,” I say.
He rolls his eyes, “Wank—” I cut the call.
At the same moment, a text comes through.
Harper: Do you have Stuart?
Aiden: At this point, who really has who?
Harper: Omw
Aiden: Don’t
This was indeed my plan. And it worked like a charm. Still, I feel like a right twat, making her come get her dog after a long day working in the sun.
Aiden: I’ll bring him to you.
Harper: ty
Aiden: Actually, would it help if I kept him here?
