Page 114 of Rough Around the Hedges

“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.”

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