Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117740 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 589(@200wpm)___ 471(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Of course I did.
I was not built for all-nighters.
And I had to operate heavy machinery tomorrow.
“Otherwise, you’d keep me up all night, you insatiable potato.”
He laughed, his whole body shaking. “Insatiable potato? That’s a new one.”
“I’m tired. Leave me alone.” I yawned, shifting slightly. “Although, I’m tempted to put that on a t-shirt for you.”
“I’ll accept it if there’s a cartoon potato on it.”
“What, with a carrot boner?”
“If you make it, I’ll wear it.”
Laughter tickled in my chest. “You’re insane.”
He pressed his lips to the top of my head, and I felt him smile. “You’re rubbing off on me, princess.”
“A truly terrifying thought.”
“It really does give me nightmares.”
“Exactly the type of horror I hoped to bring to your life,” I quipped, yawning again.
Oliver laughed and traced feather-light circles on my side with his fingertip. “Oh, if you only knew.”
Well, that sentence sounded oddly intimate.
I shifted in his arms and closed my eyes. He continued the gentle circles, and each brush of his fingertip against my skin sent tiny, happy shivers skittering across my skin. This was the kind of thing I could get used to, and that was very dangerous.
But for now, I didn’t want it to be.
I just wanted to… be. Be with him. Forget everything else. I wanted to let the rational side of my brain be the traitor to me instead of my aching heart.
I didn’t want my heart to ache tonight.
“Were you really engaged once?”
Ah.
Yes, Rose. That’s how you stop your heart aching. Ask about someone he almost married.
I was a fucking clown.
“Wait, never mind,” I said, burying my face in his chest as he laughed. “I don’t care.”
He turned his face into my hair, his whole body shaking. “Where did that come from?”
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t care.”
“I won’t tell anyone that you do.”
“Cheater,” I muttered. “It’s just… When you first came, I asked Isa if she knew anything about you and she mentioned you were engaged once.”
Oliver toyed with the end of my plait, tickling my back with the end of my hair every now and then. “You were looking for information to blackmail me with, weren’t you?”
“Me? Noooo.”
“Rose.”
“Fine, fine. I was hoping you had a dirty little secret I could hold over you.”
“I do have a dirty little secret.” He tilted my chin up, and my gaze met his sleepy blue one in the darkness. “Because I know you’d hate it if anyone saw us like this.”
I pouted. “Yes, but I wasn’t expecting me to be the dirty little secret. If I blackmail you with me, I’m just blackmailing myself, aren’t I?”
“And you’re far too smart for that.” He rubbed his thumb across my lower lip then leant his head down to kiss me softly. “To answer your question, yes, but it’s not nearly as romantic as it sounds.”
“What does that mean?”
“It wasn’t an engagement as such,” he said, laying his head back and hugging me into him. “It was my dad’s best friend’s daughter. She’s a couple of years younger than me, and we grew up together, so our parents always joked that we’d get married one day. We just kind of accepted it when we were kids—as kids do and all that. When I was leaving for university, she asked if she could visit me, and I said yes. We went on a few dates, but she actually ended up falling for one of my friends.” He chuckled. “They broke up a year or so later, but it was never on the cards for us.”
My heart squeezed a little at his words. “Do you wish it had been?”
“No. I just see her as a little sister more than anything. That was pretty much how we grew up. We only ever really went out on a couple of dates to humour our parents. Both of us knew from the start that it would never work.” He rolled onto his side and readjusted me in his arms, nuzzling into my hair. “How could I ever regret the rocky, chaotic path that brought me into your weird little world?”
“Hey, I resent you calling my world weird.”
“You use your chicken as your therapist.”
“He’s the only man in my life who doesn’t answer back.”
Oliver tilted his head down, brushing his nose against mine. “If I promise to stop answering back, will you use me instead?”
Was this man jealous of a chicken?
“No,” I said firmly. “How can I complain about you to you?”
“How else will I know what to fix about myself if you don’t complain to me? That’s the only way to make you like me.”
I poked his side, making him flinch. “You know exactly how to make me like you, but you insist on me hating you, so…”
“I see.” He flipped me over, pinning me beneath him. My skin tingled as he slid his hands up my arms, coming to interlace our fingers before he held my hands above my head. “And how exactly do I make you like me?”