Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“I know, right? Meanwhile, she’s clueless.”
“What’s he going to do when she eventually goes home with Dudley?”
“Good question. I imagine there will be a lot of pining. Maybe he’ll taunt another poet or something. Prompt him to create some awesome new art.”
“Something to look forward to. OK. Now, show me the next flat,” Lucy said, holding out gimme hands until Pandora passed her the tablet. “This is the one you like best?”
“One look at all of the bookcases and you will see why. And all of the windows for my plants.”
Lucy spent the next few minutes reading the description and scrolling through the fifty-plus images that Pandora had looked at so often that she was seeing them behind her lids when she closed her eyes. Some nights, she would even imagine walking through the house, looking at her and Victor’s books on the shelves, their art on the walls, their toothbrushes in the holders. Though, in those fantasies, she went ahead and imagined them in the same bed.
“Can I ask you a question?” Lucy said when she finally set the tablet back down.
“Sure.” Pandora cradled her chamomile tea between her hands.
“What is the plan after the divorce?”
“What?” Pandora’s stomach dropped at the mention of divorce from Victor. Even though their relationship was a sham and that had literally been the plan from the very beginning.
“You know, with the flat,” Lucy said, but Pandora was almost certain that wasn’t the only thing her friend was talking about. “When you divorce, what happens to the flat?”
Pandora’s heart ached at the idea of a home she’d once shared with Victor suddenly featuring the shadows of his absence all around.
“I guess I would keep it if I really fell in love with it. Victor wouldn’t fight me on it. Why?”
“Because you were watching me with hearts in your eyes as I flipped through the images. I hate the idea of you losing a place you clearly love already. Without even going to see it.”
“What are you doing?” Pandora asked when Lucy reached for her mobile, tapping something in, then lifting it to her ear.
“Hi! This is Pandora Von Ashmore,” she said, making Pandora’s brows shoot up. “I was wondering if I could do a viewing …” She rattled off the address, then listened to the estate agent. “That would be great! Can’t wait to see it.”
“You don’t even know my schedule,” Pandora said once Lucy hung up.
“And that’s why you are going in half an hour,” Lucy said, looking proud of herself. “Since I know you’re free. Now … let’s see what Victor is up to.” She scrolled through her contacts, then shot off a text. “Guess he’s not busy,” she said when her phone pinged just a moment or two later. “He’s in. You guys have a date.”
“I was supposed to be having a date with you.”
“You did. Now you’re having time with Victor. Alone time.”
“With the estate agent.”
“Still. Time to walk around, plan your future, that sort of thing. Without your family involved.”
Pandora knew what Lucy’s romance-novel-loving heart was trying to do. The same thing authors had been doing for ages. Pushing the main characters together as much as possible until the sparks flew.
But this was real life, not a book.
So Pandora was going to learn to keep her expectations firmly planted in reality. And the reality was, she and Victor had simply shared a couple of heated moments that, clearly, meant more to her than they did to him. She was just going to need to accept that and move on.
“It would be nice to cross this off my list,” Pandora said, pointedly ignoring Lucy’s eye roll as she shot off another text. “Victor will be meeting us here in ten. Then you two can head out.”
“I was supposed to be spending time with you.”
“Yeah, but you see me all the time.”
Pandora couldn’t argue with that. On top of working with her most nights at Luna Bean, she also had Lucy hang out with her and her family when they were making arrangements.
By the time the two women brought their cups up to the service station, Pandora spotted Victor crossing the road toward the shop. A gust of wind made leaves kick up around him and blew the hood back off of his head.
Unbidden, memories of the feel of his soft hair on her thighs flooded her mind.
Desire bloomed through her too quickly to tamp down, leaving her feeling achy and overly sensitive as Victor ran a hand through his hair to brush it back out of his face.
Despite knowing it would only make matters worse, Pandora let herself entertain the idea of her fingers sinking into all that soft hair as his bodyweight pressed her into the mattress, as his body moved with hers …
“You’re eye-banging him again,” Lucy said with a gentle nudge to Pandora’s side as Victor made his way into the coffee shop. She smiled at him. “You got here fast.”