Page 24 of Only Ever Yours
The thought of a day with Hollis didn’t exactly fill me with dread. But being that close to her for several hours wasn’t going to help the increasing attraction I had towards her since she’d been back. “Can’t you go after you’ve finished your meeting?”
“Fuck’s sake, Jase. It’s driving up to London, picking up some stuff from Hollis’s place there, and coming back. It’s hardly brain surgery.”
I knew that. The tasks in question weren’t anything I hadn’t done before. But I hadn’t done them with Hollis. Since she’d moved in, I couldn’t stop thinking about her,and it drove me insane. Felicity had been pestering me to come over; however, I’d refused. Sleeping with her wouldn’t help, and I didn’t want to lead her on.
“What’s not brain surgery?” Hollis came into the kitchen dressed in the tightest of skinny dark blue jeans, a white T-shirt that clung to her curves, and a cropped red cardigan.
My dick twitched.Thatwas the exact reason I couldn’t be with her for any length of time.
“Jase is going to take you to pick up your stuff.” Finn nodded in my direction.
Her head swivelled towards me, then back to her brother. “He’s what? I thought you were coming with me?”
Finn walked towards the door. “Got a meeting I can’t miss. Have fun, kids.” Then he was gone, leaving me and Hollis alone, staring at each other.
Hollis rummaged in her handbag. “It’s okay. I can wait until Finn can take me. I don’tneedmy stuff.”
I hefted out a sigh. “He’s got me covered in the garage, so I have nothing to do today. I’ll take you.”
She tilted her head and stared at me for a few moments, an almost uncomfortably long time. “I guess I would like my clothes back.”
Appraising her outfit again, I grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. That’s a cute outfit.”
“Which I can’t wear seven days a week.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, we were already stuck in traffic.
“We should have waited until after rush hour to leave.” I leaned over and switched the radio on. Anything would be better than total silence for the ridiculously long journey.
“If we’d done that, we wouldn’t have got there until after lunch. Then we’d be leaving London during rush hourand wouldn’t get home until the evening.” Hollis stared out of the passenger window as I glanced over at her. “I’m sure you’ve got plans for tonight.”
I didn’t. Not to mention the unexpected day trip gave me the perfect opportunitynotto see Felicity tonight. I didn’t want to tell Hollis, though. “I can always rearrange,” I said, vaguely.
“Ugh. I’m keeping you from a hot date, aren’t I?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, I love this song!” Hollis reached over and abruptly turned up the volume, singing along, nodding her head and waving her hands in the air. I hadn’t seen her this animated since the night we’d gone to the Live Wire Lounge. It made me smile.
A further hour into the journey, Hollis turned to me. “Do you think we could make a pit stop?”
“I thought you didn’t want to be too late getting into London? We’re making good progress.”
She wriggled around in her seat. “I need to use the bathroom. I’ll buy you a coffee.”
We came up to a sign saying there was a service station a mile ahead. I pointed at it. “Do you think you can wait that long?”
Hollis nodded. “Thanks, Jase. I know this is the last thing you wanted to be doing today. I really do appreciate it.”
I indicated to come off the motorway and swung the van into one of the parking spaces. Hollis hopped out of the van straight away and practically ran across the car park into the building. I took my time, grabbing my phone from the pocket in the door.
Finn
How’s it going? Is Hollis driving you crazy yet?
She was but not in the way Finn thought, and I wasn’t prepared to contradict him.
We’ve just stopped for a coffee. Got a couple of hours to go yet.
