Page 50 of The Wedding Pact
At home, August was sprawled on the sofa wearing a sheet face mask – which made him jump out of his skin – and re-readingPersuasion. As he stood there, looking at her, all thoughts of Poppy drifted away like petals on the wind.
Chapter 32
August
I would like to perform an inspection on your apartment in 24 hours’ time.
Oh, crap.
It was Saturday morning, and with August’s big audition next month still at the forefront of her mind, she’d been planning to spend the entire two days in character. Wasn’t Hilary Swank a method actress? And she had an Oscar. Really, it was the least August could do.
‘Flynn?’ August called out, the letter that had been slipped under their door in her hand. ‘Flynn?’ She knocked on his door – was he even home?
She heard a big, manly yawn, followed by a sleepy, ‘Come in, August.’
August cracked open the door, her eyes scrunched closed. ‘Are you sure? Are you alone?’ She wasn’t sure why she’d asked that.
‘Yes, of course I’m alone,’ he laughed, his voice husky, like he’d just woken up. Which he had. ‘What time is it?’
‘Ten. Did you have a late night?’
‘Yes, but only catching up on work,’ he yawned, gesturing to his work laptop, which lay closed on the other side of the bed. He was all messy hair, among the crumpled bedsheets. The room was dark and cool, though morning sun filtered through the closed curtains so it wasn’t pitch black. ‘Come and get into bed with me so I don’t feel like a lazy sod.’ Flynn rolled onto his front and closed his eyes again, the duvet down to his waist, and he patted the gap on the mattress beside him.
‘I’m not getting into bed with you,’ August said, taking a step forward.
‘Come on, baby, climb on in,’ he slurred, but one of his eyes opened and he peeped at her, and she could see he was playing.
Instead, Augustsaton the bed with him, propping the spare pillow up behind her back, and thwacked his back with the letter. ‘You’re such a tease.’
‘You’re a tease,’ he shot back, and slung an arm over her outstretched legs. Flynn’s skin was warm and his arm heavy, and she liked this familiarity between them. It felt light, like it always had with him from the start, and sometimes she felt it transfigured with the complications of … life … and their situation. But sometimes, on lazy mornings or long evenings, she liked to just forget everything else and just be like this. Enjoying each other.
‘We’ve had a letter,’ August stated.
Flynn yawned. ‘Post is nice.’
‘It’s from Mrs Haverley.’
He lifted his head to look at August. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Yes. At least, hopefully. She wants to do an inspection tomorrow morning.’
Flynn looked over his shoulder at his room, which was a bit of a state with piles of clothes, bigger piles of paperwork, coffee mugs scattered on surfaces. He really needed to cut back on his hours.
‘It’s part of the contract, just a standard thing during the first couple of months,’ August continued, skimming through the letter. ‘Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. She likes to do things on Sunday mornings, doesn’t she?’
‘Mmm,’ Flynn agreed, closing his eyes again.
August sighed and shuffled down in the bed, so she was lying next to him after all, moving his arm to rest across her stomach instead of her legs. She pulled the duvet over her, succeeding in not glancing down for a peek as she moved it, and tried to formulate a plan. She loved living here so much, so this needed to go well.
‘Hi, there,’ Flynn said, his face close to hers.
‘Hello.’ She gulped.
‘Nice of you to join me.’
She knew he was joking around, but … they were sure finding themselves in a lot of situations where they were ‘joking around’ since moving in together. August focussed on the present. ‘Don’t try anything. We need to have a house meeting is all, and you’re too lazy to get up for it so I guess we’re doing it in here.’
‘Don’tyoutry anything,’ stretched Flynn. ‘I’m the one not wearing any clothes.’
