Page 63 of The Wedding Pact
They approached the house and he scanned the area for neighbours, but the coast was clear. Poppy stopped outside the front door. ‘Is this your humble abode?’ she asked.
‘This is the one,’ he answered, reaching for his keys. ‘How did you know?’
‘You said it was at the top of the hill with a great view, and here we are.’ Poppy gestured around her. ‘Must be nice to live here.’
‘It is,’ he paused to follow her gaze, keeping his hands in his pockets to avoid any sudden and unexpected PDA from Poppy.
Poppy turned away from the outlook quicker than he would have expected, considering they’d just traipsed all the way up here. Facing the house she asked, ‘Which floor is yours?’
‘We’re on the first floor, so the middle, if you don’t count the top level – the one with the windows slightly set back. That’s where the landlady lives.’
‘What’s she like?’
Flynn shrugged. ‘Strict, but actually quite welcoming. We don’t know her that well.’
‘ … We?’
‘My flatmate and I. I told you about her – August.’
‘Ah yes, your flatmate August.’ Poppy walked up to the front door and then looked back at Flynn. ‘You’re going to show me the inside, aren’t you?’
Flynn barely said a word as they ascended the stairs to the first floor, for fear of alerting the other residents. Only when he and Poppy were in the apartment and the door closed did he speak again, offering her a drink.
‘Sure,’ she said, and began moving through the flat, looking along the shelves.
The wedding photos. Flynn jumped into action, striding over to stand beside Poppy and turning her towards him. ‘I have to show you this view,’ he said, and quick as a flash while her back was turned, he managed to spin two picture frames to face the back.
‘The same view I just saw from outside?’ Poppy asked, her eyebrows raised.
‘Yep, but it’s just … wow … ’ Flynn gazed out of the window in wonder.
‘I’ll tell you what view I do like,’ Poppy purred, and before he could say another word she was in front of him, pressing her lips against his for the first time.
It took Flynn a moment to appreciate what was happening. Poppy’s kiss was soft yet insistent. He let himself enjoy Poppy, who was here with him now, and it was nice to get lost in the moment. Because, for now at least, he could forget about Yui. He could even forget about August, for just a few seconds.
Chapter 44
August
Inside her cupboard-slash-recording booth, August removed her headphones, rolled her neck and was about to let out a satisfied ‘Mmmmm’, cooling down her voice after a job well done, when she heard from behind the door somebody else beat her to it.
‘Mmmmm,’ said the distinctly female voice, and August froze. The voice then spoke again, purring, ‘That was nice.’
Who the HELL is in my apartment? August thought, and was about to kick open the door of her booth and wallop them one when she heard Flynn. She pressed her ear against the door.
‘Can I get you that drink?’ he asked.
She stopped breathing. Did Flynn have a girlfriend? How did she not know about this? Memories of their kiss came flooding back and she couldn’t make sense of it all, of how while she’d been reliving the moment and thinking of him as somebody who could be more than a friend, he’d been having that with someone new.
Also, Flynn was never home at this time of the day, what was going on? But then, to be fair, she would usually still be at work too, if they hadn’t let her cut her day short at lunchtime to practise her lines for the audition tomorrow. August suspected it was because she kept talking to everyone like she was a Regency lady, walking about with her hands clasped in front of her, and it was getting infuriating for the rest of the team. So she had come home, and had been in the booth ever since, recording herself going through her audition piece and then listening to it back, critiquing every word.
August knew she should come out of hiding, let them know she was there. It would be so awkward because they’d assume she’d been in there listening to them kissing, but she couldn’t stay in there in case they started to do more …
She heard the female voice closer now, like she was standing right to the side of the door, looking at the objects on their shelf, and put her hand against the door to push it open just as the voice said, ‘So what’s your flatmate like?’
August couldn’t leave now. She tried to make out what Flynn was saying, though he was clearly over in the kitchen.
‘She sounds like a good person to live with,’ the woman said, sliding to her right. August felt her directly on the other side of the door now, they were face to face, and August wondered if she was scrutinising the door-shaped slits in the wall, wondering what was behind it.
