Page 39 of Fundamentals in Flirting

Teddy’s eyes narrowed and he glanced between us, trying to work out what was going on.

In a cool, calm voice, he said, “Hi, I’m Ted Fraser. I live next door.”

I was mute.

Jonathan took Teddy’s outstretched hand and shook it belligerently, clearly feeling this was beneath him. “Hello. Since Hannah’s forgotten her manners, I’d better introduce myself,” he said with a tut. “I’m Professor Jonathan Pierce.” He paused, but when Teddy gave no indication that he was either impressed or awed at this declaration, Jonathan continued, “I’m Hannah’s significant other.”

Teddy’s eyebrows shot into his hairline and he turned to me with a quizzical expression.

“You are myex-boyfriend, Jonathan,” I answered in irritation.

“I’m here to take her back with me to Bristol.” Jonathan addressed Teddy directly, ignoring me, so utterly confident of himself, so completely sure that he had the winning hand here. It was the most infuriating kind of infuriating, the kind of fucking irritation that made my brain buzz with annoyance.

“Oh, that’s right, because hell has actually frozen over?” I pulled the soggy towel from my head, crumpling it forcefully in my hands and allowing my damp hair to fall free and untamed, the swirling golden-red strands tumbling across my face.

“I think you should leave.” Teddy said, laying a proprietary arm around my shoulders for the second time that day. The warmth of his body was oddly comforting and calming, and I felt some of the tension dissipate from my body.

“AndIthink Hannah needs to listen to me and stop wasting her time in this dead-end place.”

Teddy and Jonathan glared over the top of me. It was like two rams sizing each other up before they started butting heads.

“Not that anyone seems to care what I think,” I muttered, wondering how it had come to be that two men were making all the decisions about my life, in my home, without even considering my input. Crossing my arms, fingers biting into the flesh of my biceps, I stepped away from Teddy and directed a furious stare towards Jonathan, my anger back with a vengeance.

“It so happens thatIalso think you should leave, because there is not a single thing that you could possibly say to make me want to return with you.”

“You must know that your talents are being wasted here in this pitiful, backwater practice?”

“I like it here. The change of scenery is doing me good.” I paused, picking at the frayed edge of my denim shorts, busy fingers working out the tension I was feeling. “How’s Daisy, by the way?”

“I’ve told you, it was a mistake, and I finished things with her straight away,” he said petulantly.

Teddy reached out and brushed his fingers over the back of my hand, and Jonathan’s gaze zoomed in on the contact before he spoke again.

“I can see that you’re obviously partaking in some sort of relationship with this man, and I understand you’re probably doing this as a kind of rebound.”

“For fuck’s sake, Jonathan!”

He was unbelievable.

He held up a hand. “But, I want you back. I’ll even let you move in with me if that’s what it takes.”

Something rumbled in Teddy’s chest, something furious. It was an apex predator type of noise, and Jonathan blanched, his arrogance dissolving instantaneously. I briefly laced my fingers through Teddy’s, squeezing and silently asking him to step down; to let me fight this battle.

“Let’s get something straight here: nothing, NOTHING, will convince me to go back to you. Ever. And I’d rather eat my own eyeballs marinaded in bovine spongiform encephalopathy prions than have to have unsatisfactory sex with you ever again. So you can take your co-habitation offer and stick it up your arse. Sideways.”

Teddy stifled a snigger, but Jonathan was not finished yet.

“But I love you.” He thrust this into the air theatrically, as if delivering a Shakespearean monologue.

Did he honestly think I would swoon and fall into his arms, helpless with love and desire?

Yeah, no.

“The feeling is not mutual,” I replied in a flat, dead tone.

All the bluster and confidence seemed to deflate out of him, shrinking down before my eyes. He suddenly looked very tired. Beaten. A surge of pity erupted in my chest.

“I need you, Hannah.”

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