Page 72 of Lovestrung

“I’m very serious. Always have been when it comes to this girl.”

Swoon!

He was so getting more than he asked for this morning when we got back to his place, but right now, I needed to leave, and do it fast, before I jumped him right then and there.

“All right, I’m going to go grab a coffee around the corner.” I squirmed underneath his smoldering look and forced my eyes to settle on the scrambling puppies instead. Gently, I nudged the female away from demolishing my really cute, white-with-pink-glitter, but also rather expensive, sneakers.

“I’ll text you when I’m done.”

I nodded and backed slowly away. “Cool. I’ll see you later.”

“Later, darlin’.”

A shiver coursed down my spine at the endearment. It wasn’t just the word in itself, though it made my heart soft and buttery like a marshmallow every time he said it to me. It was the fact that now I knew it meant that he was turned way the fuck on and wanted to have his wicked way with me. My back hit the front door and both men sent handsome grins my way as I fled the animal shelter.

Once outside in the burning sun, I took a deep breath and rummaged through my clutch to find my phone. I opened a group chat and sent a quick text to Eliza and Ella. I needed a couple of hours with my girls.

* * *

“So,” Ella sat down in front of me and Eliza, “how’s your week of sex going?”

I grinned at her.

“Crass, Ella. Cute, but crass.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “I prefer direct. Spill the beans, my friend.”

Ignoring her, I turned to Eliza. “I’m such a bad hostess, ditching you and Hugo like this. Forgive me?”

She waved off my apology. “Don’t be silly. We’re enjoying ourselves, exploring the town and the hiking we can do around here.” I felt more at ease at her reassuring smile. “Plus,” she continued, “it’s not a hardship staying at your grandfather’s while you’re off with the love of your life. Oh, but Frederik has started to ask me some very uncomfortable questions, so you’d better ring him and have a chat with him.”

I cringed. “All right, I’ll call him – and my mom – later.”

“Wait, hang on,” Ella squinted at me. “Let’s get back to the love of your life part. Really? I thought you’d gotten over your crush on Ethan while you were away? That’s what you wrote in your emails, anyway.” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “Or was that a lie?”

I took a sip of my latte, avoiding the scrutiny in her gaze. “It’s too early to talk about love,” I hedged. “We’re enjoying getting to know each other in a different way, that’s all.”

“Come on, Pen,” Eliza scoffed. “You know there’s a whole lot more to it than that.”

I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms. “All right, maybe there is, but I’m not about to confess my undying love to Ethan at this stage. I just want to spend time with him, and…”

“Fuck his brains out,” Ella teased.

“Ugh,” I groaned, embarrassed. “That’s not all we’re doing.”

She shook her head at me. “Maybe not, but don’t lie and tell me there isn’t a lot of that going on.”

I smiled at her and nodded. “Well, let’s just say that I never knew my butt had that many muscles. Until now.”

The girls looked at each other before they burst out in a fit of giggles that I couldn’t help but join. I’m certain we were quite a sight in the café, but I honestly didn’t care.

“All right, wait, wait,” Ella wiped away the tears of mirth from her eyes. “Are you really not going to give us any details? I’m like a nun these days, what with Luke and me being so unsteady and up in the air all the time.”

“I’m so sorry.” I hated to see the sadness in her eyes and wished I could help, but the truth was that Ella wouldn’t talk with me about their issues. Whenever she’d alluded to their rocky relationship in her emails, I’d tried to get her to open up to me, but emails weren’t the same as real conversations. She’d clammed up on me, but maybe that would change now that I was back home.

Home. It seemed so surreal that I was back…surreal but good.

“What can I say?” she grimaced. “My love life isn’t really that interesting. Not compared to yours, anyway.” She folded her hands underneath her chin and batted her eyes at me. “Come on, babe. Just one, tiny, little detail?”