Page 99 of Rough Around the Hedges

“That’s the first sign you need therapy. Although, given that you’ve admitted it out loud, perhaps it’s already too late for you.”I released the trolley and wandered around one of the displays. “What size pots does she need?”

“No idea.”

“All right, what plants are they for?”

“Not a clue.”

“Do you not think that’s information you should have obtained before driving out here?”

Oliver cocked his head to the side. “She never offered it.”

So he didn’t bother to ask.

“This is why you’re a bad son,” I retorted.

“Hang on.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapped the screen, and held it to his ear.

Five minutes later, Eleanor had handed over the names of her plants and sizes of the pots, I selected two I thought she would like, and we paid for them on our way out.

“Let’s never do this again,” I muttered, strapping the pots into the backseat of his car.

“Why not? I had fun,” he replied from the other side of the car.

Yeah.

So, did I.

That was the problem.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, his eyes hardening. “I was watching you in there, you know. You enjoyed yourself.”

I sniffed, adjusting the belt around the pot. “I’m a gardener. Of course I’m going to enjoy myself at the garden centre. It’s like taking a bookworm to the bookstore and being surprised when you lose them for three hours.”

“Rose.” He reached over the backseat and cupped my chin, forcing my gaze to meet his. “It won’t hurt you if you admit that you had fun with me, you know.”

“It might. I’m not willing to take the risk,” I murmured.

“I had fun. Because of you.”

He leant in closer, and everything else melted away. There was only the warmth of his hand on my jaw, the softness of his breath as it fluttered across my lips, and the hypnotising heat in his eyes—eyes that were solely focused on me.

He was sweeping me up into his orbit, sucking me in, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Then he leant in and kissed me softly.

Oh, so softly.

Just the barest touch of his lips to mine, but it felt as though all my nerve endings came alive, singing to a song I didn’t know the lyrics of.

Never had a kiss so gentle felt like so much.

He pulled back, the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. “Come on, princess. Let’s get going.”

22

OLIVER

Change of Heart

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