Page 42 of That Secret Something

Rebecca unfortunately had to work a few late shifts at the cinema, and then the one night she was free, she’d had field hockey practice. I tried not to take it personally, but it did make me wonder if I’d not been up to par with her previous lovers. But the conversations with her helped.

We’d texted here and there, including one particularly steamy conversation discussing our favourite parts of the weekend together. Hers claimed to be my ‘bossiness’—who knew?—and I told her mine was when her voice got all raspy—which wasn’t a lie. I did really enjoy how her voice deepened whenever she was turned on. She could ask me to do anything in that state, and I’d do it, like I’d been cast under a spell. If the woman narrated audiobooks, they’d all be out of stock.

Although Rebecca’s voice was sexy as hell, it wasn’t my favourite part of the weekend—but I could hardly tell her that my favourite part was the afterwards. Lying together with her, feeling her chest rise and fall, soaking up the heat from her naked body. For those moments, there wasn’t any guilt or any thinking, really. Just pure contentment as we slowly came back down to earth.

No, telling her that was much too embarrassing. I wouldn’t even share it with Sausage.

The front door swung open. Tyler stood in the doorway, his head of ginger curls longer and in more disarray than the last time I’d seen him. He was also slimmer; that diet Lily had him on must be doing its job. Poor guy. He was still dressed in his work clothes—a dark blue suit with a gnome tie. Fun.

“Jess! I thought I saw your car.” The smile on his face dropped. “You’d better come in. She’s on a rampage.”

Excellent.

I stepped into their hallway, and Tyler took my coat. I slipped my shoes off and lined them next to his impressive trainer collection. Lily had always complained about his love for bright colours, but I thought it was cute.

“Have the dresses come?” I asked quietly.

He nodded, gently scratching his stubble. “But the sizes are all wrong. They’re massive. You’d all look like tents going down the aisle.”

That wasn’t too bad. Fixable at least. “And how are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”

He hung my coat up beside the door and sighed. “I’m good. Things are just a little stressful. Work, weddings…” He lowered his voice. “Erica Lundwood.”

“Oh god. What now?”

He glanced behind him. “Apparently, she wants the same band we do. I said it doesn’t matter, but now Lily is hell-bent on finding another. Even though she doesn’t want to. I’ll never understand women.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I was about to say you have it easier…but you really don’t.”

“Nope. Unfortunately not. I have to deal with the lot of you.”

“Respect.” He laughed. “So how is the love life?”

My heart plummeted to my feet. Caught off guard by his question, I stood there, my mind trying to find the words, but I’d never been good at lying.

Luckily—or unluckily, depending how you chose to view it—a frustrated groan came from the living room, loud enough to make even Thor tremble.

Tyler shot me a glance that said ‘good luck’ and hurried back up the stairs.

I sucked in a deep breath before pushing through the door to the living room.

Lily was sitting on the floor, surrounded by a sea of peach. She looked up when I walked in, her mouth turned down in a frown and her cheeks red.

Had she been crying?

I dropped to her level and grabbed her hand. “Hey, Lilz…” I was hesitant to ask, but I had to. “Are you alright?”

“I…I… The dresses.” She spread out her arms and sighed. “I love the colour. It’s exactly the kind of peach I wanted, but…look!” She held one up and fanned out the material. It was at least four or five sizes too big.

“Can’t you send them back?”

She huffed, dropping the dress back to the floor. “No. It was part of a closing-down sale. I should’ve bloody known.”

“Come on.” I offered my hand to her again and pulled her from the tangle of material. She fell back onto the sofa, her head in her hands, and let out another deep groan.

I picked up a dress from the pile and ran my fingers over the seams, my mind searching for solutions. I smiled when I found one. “I think I know someone who could sort this.”

Lily snapped out of her trance. “Really?”

“I think so, but—”

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