Page 40 of The Wedding Pact
Flynn softened. Maybe it was only a big deal if he made it one. He knew he wasn’t going to do anything untoward to her, and she seemed confident he wouldn’t either. He was also certain she wasn’t about to try it on with him. ‘I think I’ll be far more comfortable with you than either of us will be sleeping on that armchair,’ he admitted.
‘Great,’ she dumped the bedding on his bed and went back to her room. ‘I’m going to put on my most nun-ly PJs now, and I think you should do the same. Then I’m going to wash this makeup off my face, so get mentally prepared for that. Then I’ll see you in bed. Darling.’ August walked off towards her bedroom, leaving Flynn to stand for a moment, wondering if he even had any PJs.
Remembering a long pair of joggers he owned, he pulled them on quickly, adding a clean T-shirt to cover his chest, and then made the bed. By the time August returned, he was already in, snuggled down in a state of bliss, his reading glasses on and a copy of an old Stephen King novel on his lap. He looked up as August entered, not taken aback at all by her makeup-free face. Not even a little bit.
She regarded him. ‘Hmm.’
‘What?’
‘I like your glasses.’
‘Thank you,’ Flynn felt himself blush, just a little. ‘Also, we appear to sleep on the same side.’
‘Oh I’m sorry,’ he said, gathering up his things. ‘I’ll move over.’
‘Stay where you are,’ she waved him back down and walked around the end of the bed before sliding under the covers. ‘I really don’t care where I sleep. Whoooooa, this bed is so comfortable.’
‘I like your jim-jams.’
‘Thank you,’ August replied, looking down towards her long white PJs, adorned with a hundred hot pink flamingos. ‘You can borrow them any time you like.’
August and Flynn bid each other goodnight, sleep rolling in towards them both as soon as the light was off.
‘By the way,’ August said. ‘I twitch just before I go to sleep. Don’t be alarmed.’
Flynn smiled into the darkness. ‘Okay, I won’t be.’
A few minutes later, August spoke again, her voice drowsy and light. ‘Flynn?’
‘Mmm-hmm?’ he replied.
‘Do you have a girlfriend, somewhere?’
Flynn’s eyes fluttered back open and he turned his head to face the window. Before he could answer she spoke again, saying, ‘I’m not hitting on you, I just want to know if I’m sharing a bed with another girl’s man, and I want her to know I’m sorry.’
‘No,’ he murmured after a moment, after Yui’s face had started to fade away from his mind again. ‘There’s no girlfriend.’
August didn’t reply, but before he could ask her about her situation in return she spasmed a huge twitch, snorted, rasped the words, ‘By the way, I also snore,’ and had rolled over into a deep slumber.
And with that, Flynn turned on his side, his back to August, and did the same.
Chapter 26
August
The following evening, Bel popped over for a post-work cuppa, to check out August’s new place, and new flatmate. Two cups, and half a packet of custard creams later, and Bel was just finishing off the latest gossip about her dental nurse, Kenny.
‘ … And so now, Kenny’s decided he is completely in love with the new receptionist, Mark, and is showering my patients with free toothpaste samples just so he has an excuse to keep going over and getting more.’
With that, the door opened: Flynn was home.
‘Is this him?’ Bel said, her eyes sparkling, and the two of them stood up and took a step towards the door.
In walked Flynn, dashing in his suit, his shirt untucked and his collar loose, his dark hair swept casually to the side.
‘Welcome home, hubby, I’d like you to meet someone,’ August chuckled.
Flynn scanned the two of them for a microsecond, appeared to assess the situation, and stepped forward with a big smile, sticking out one hand to shake Bel’s and throwing his other arm around August. ‘Hello, I’m Flynn, August’s husband.’ And to August he said warmly, ‘Hello, sweetheart.’
