Chapter 3 #4
“Was it the photo that got you down here? Caught the FOMO?” Leo asks, and really, I don’t know why his expression is so entertained and challenging, but it makes me squirm a little.
Eli gives him a long, even look. “Sure, Leo,” he drawls, “if you like.”
“I saw him come in,” Sadie explains, grinning, “so I thought I’d let him know where we were.”
“You got a good table,” Eli observes. He raises an eyebrow to Leo. “Though I wouldn’t have said it was so much in the sun that you needed to strip, Cuz.”
Leo stretches comfortably. “What do you mean? The weather’s pretty god damn fine.”
“For British people, perhaps,” Eli drawls, pulling on the long sleeve of his black Henley. “In NoLa, this would count as chilly.”
Leo makes a scoffing noise. “You delicate little flower. It’s sixteen degrees and downright balmy.”
I grin. I can’t help myself.
“Oh, Em, you have got to let me in on why you’re smiling like that,” Leo says, leaning forward and resting his chin on his fists.
Crap. God, he doesn’t miss a thing.
I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Um...it’s just...I love how you’re blood relatives, but your accents are so different…” I trail off.
Leo grins, and when I risk a look at him, Eli’s starting to do the same, though he looks away again.
He has the most incredible smile, white and even.
It completely changes his face, making him look.
..warmer. Less formidable and intimidating.
And it makes my stomach squirm even more.
Damnit, does he have to be quite so pulsatingly gorgeous?
At this rate, my vibrator is going to break through overuse, never mind needing new batteries.
“Leo’s ma used to be a Gastright. My dad’s and Dean’s dad’s sister,” Eli explains. “She married a Brit, and they settled here. But one of Leo’s sisters lives in Louisiana, so there’s a Mills-Gastright trade-off,” he jokes.
“And then these aaaaaaaahss-hawls immigrated, what was it, ten years ago?” Leo muses.
“Almost twelve, arrrrsehole,” Eli quips back.
So, that would have been, what, two or three years after Dean was…
My eyes flick over to him, and he smiles gently at me. His fingers on his right hand move slowly, spelling something out, and I focus hard so I can keep up.
B-E-S-T-D-E-C-I-S-I-O-N-I-E-V-E-R-M-A-D-E
I smile, and slowly spell back, S-A-M-E-H-E-R-E. I think for a moment, and then add, concentrating, N-O-R-E-G-R-E-T-S. I don’t think I made any mistakes. He smiles, showing teeth, and lifts his glass in our own private toast.
I notice Eli shift, and glance his way. For a brief second our eyes meet, and I can’t quite read the look on his face.
There’s a gleam in his eyes that seems to have just slipped out in spite of himself.
Then he looks away and clears his throat, and takes a drink.
His pint is nearly finished already. I inwardly moan as he licks his lips to clear them of the traces of foam.
It sends a flicker of heat straight to my clit with near pinpoint accuracy.
He doesn't look at me anymore.
I look away. Don’t get too lost in the fantasy, I tell myself sternly. He’ll never be interested in you. Just enjoy the crush and take it out on your vibrator later.
Leo
With the possible exception of Sadie’s arse in her low rise Wranglers, this is the cutest thing I have ever seen.
They’re into each other. They are so into each other that it’s tangible, an extra guest at the table.
And this is very unlike Eli. I’ve never seen my cousin this mesmerised by a woman in my life.
He’s trying to act normal, and that in itself is telling: he’s having to try.
Almost finished his pint already because he keeps sipping it for something to do.
He keeps looking around the beer garden, the plants, the fairy lights, the doorway to the bar, pretending he’s thinking about anything except the fact that Emily’s sitting next to him (nice work, Sadie!).
But someone who knows him as well as I do, and pays attention as much as me, will notice that his jaw is pitched ever so slightly to the right, in her direction, and that he keeps sneaking furtive looks at her when he’s fairly sure her attention is elsewhere, as though he can’t stop himself.
In spite of his actively affected Eli-style nonchalance, which is normally as natural as breathing to him, she has his undivided attention, even when he’s not directly looking at her, and he’s hanging on her every word.
You know what, this is great. I know he gave me shit when I hired her, and warned me not to pursue this receptionist, so in fairness I could give him shit right back for being hot for her himself, but I’m not gonna do that.
I’m not gonna piss all over something this awesome.
Eli’s ex-wife really screwed him over, leaving him with the cruellest, nastiest fucking words she could muster to justify her actions in her own mind, and it was completely unnecessary.
Plus, the damage she did is ongoing. She left scars rawer than if she’d physically cut his heart out.
Now, he just won’t entertain the idea of anything approaching a meaningful romantic life.
I know he has the odd extremely casual one night only fling here and there, because he’s still a red-blooded bloke with needs, but he makes damn sure it goes nowhere.
No sleepovers, no breakfasts together, no calls back, no exceptions.
He’s ethical about it, at least, and establishes his ground rules upfront - I’ve seen him refuse to kiss a woman until he’d made this clear and got her consent to his terms - but it’s still sad that he doesn’t allow for anything else to develop.
This is different, though. I’ve seen the way he looks at Emily in passing during the day.
It’s hungry. You have to know him well to catch it, but, in his own way, he lights up.
A lingering glance, a quickly smothered smile at something cute she says.
I can tell he likes her much more than he’s comfortable with.
She could never be one of his one-and-dones, and that must scare the shit out of him.
I study Emily as casually as I can. Sure, she hasn’t been with us that long, so I can’t claim to understand the inner workings of her mind, but I’m actually pretty good at reading people.
And that’s why I liked her so much straight away.
She’s one of life’s genuinely lovely people, always so considerate and eager to go above and beyond.
She’s pretty jumpy, though. I definitely get the impression that there’s a lot more to her relocating to Foxton than just fancying a change of scenery.
Sometimes she gets this look, like a veil coming down over her face, and she seems to go elsewhere in her mind, and to a rather unpleasant place at that.
She’s haunted by something, or someone. I wish I knew the score.
I don’t like the idea of her being afraid or upset.
I just know, with bone deep certainty, that if Emily and Eli ever got it together, I’d end up going to their wedding one day.
No doubt in my mind. They’d look after each other in their own ways; she’d soften his rough edges, and he’d protect her from life’s knocks, and have someone to coddle and love, which I know he secretly longs for.
They’re exactly what each other needs, a perfect dovetailing fit.
Because she definitely likes him, too. She went a little pink when he sat next to her, and it suited her.
If you ask me, and lord knows not enough people do, a pretty woman going pink in the face because of a crush is one of the most gorgeous sights life has to offer.
And right now, there’s a suggestion of a smile playing about the turned up corners of her lips.
She seems to be trying to repress it, but she can’t quite manage it.
She won’t look at him, and her shoulders are a little hunched, but.
..yup, she’s just turned ever so slightly towards him, too. Boom, there it is.
Ah, shit.
I know exactly what’s going to happen here.
They’re both going to stand well back from each other and let happiness slip through their fingers, Eli because he still believes his ex-wife’s bullshit, and Em because she’s too shy, or something.
Neither of them will make a move, and all that well-deserved happiness for them both is gonna go to waste because they’ll pretend it’s not there for nonsense reasons that mean fuck all in the long run.
Well, not on my watch, son.
I look up at Sadie, and she’s grinning into her beer. Yeah, she knows what’s up. Sensing my gaze, she looks up to meet it, and her eyes sparkle. I look at the star crossed lovers, and then back at her. She winks. I wink back. We understand each other.
I glance to my right at Dean. He and I can communicate very effectively with only facial expressions, so I know he’ll know exactly what I’m saying when I look at them, look back at him, and raise an eyebrow. He and Eli are like brothers, so he’ll have noticed what’s going on with him. Yeah?
One corner of his mouth quirks up in amusement. He nods, nearly imperceptibly, and masks it with a sip of his pint. Yeah.
I smile. They’re both on board.
Excellent. This is going to be fun...