Page 40 of Only Ever Yours
I turned my back on him, already thinking of what I’d like to happen and knowing full well nothing should.
“Who kept you up last night?” Ella asked as I yawned for about the millionth time. She’d come over to the house to get ready for the hen party, so we could arrive together.
It was on the tip of my tongue to confide in her about Jase, but I stopped myself. If I told her, she might tell Finn, and then, who knew what would kick off? Strictly speaking, nothing had gone on between Jase and me although, no matter how hard we’d tried to deny it, there was definitely something brewing.
“Oh, nothing. I was thinking about a work thing andtrying to figure out where I’d put this week’s invoices.” I waved a hand to put her off the scent.
“Wow, sounds like an interesting Friday evening.” She chuckled. “Did you know your brother messaged me last night?”
“He what?” My jaw dropped. Finn was always adamant no one mention him and Ella getting back together, and I’d almost given up trying.
She fumbled in her tiny bag for her phone and showed me the screen.
Finn
Hey, Ells, what u up 2? Looking 4ward to seeing you tmrw nite xxx
“Ells?” I raised my eyebrows. “I don’t want to piss on your bonfire, but they were all pretty wasted last night. And that’s a totally un-Finn-like message. You know how he likes to get all the spelling and punctuation right, even in a text.”
Her face fell. “Oh, really? I thought he might have meant it.”
Realising all too late that I had dashed her hopes, I tried to make amends. “I mean, I’m sure he is looking forward to seeing you. Don’t read too much into it, yeah?”
She sighed. “I guess.”
Getting up, I headed for my bedroom door. “I’ll get us a glass of fizz to get us in the mood for tonight, okay?”
“Sure.” Ella stared down at her phone, and I felt bad again.
The house seemed quiet, and I guessed Finn and Jase had already headed off to the club. Going into the kitchen, I went to the fridge and popped open the bottle of champagne I’d bought for the occasion. Then I reached up to the cupboard to get the flute glassesI wanted.
“Trying for a repeat performance of last night?” Jase’s voice surprised me, and I gasped, one of the glasses falling out of my hand and shattering on the floor around my bare feet.
“Shit!” My hand flew to my mouth. “You scared me.”
“Be careful,” Jase warned. “You don’t want to cut yourself on the broken glass. Here, don’t move. I’ll get the dustpan.”
Doing what he said, I stood motionless while he worked around me, all the time acutely aware of how close his face was to my bare legs. I wore shorts and a bra top, not expecting anyone else to be around while Ella and I got ready. His breath tickled across my right thigh as he brushed up the last of the glass, and my nipples hardened. Jase stood, his gaze locked on the sight.
“My work here is done,” he said, dumping the contents of the dustpan in the bin, a wide grin crossing his face. “I’ll probably see you later.”
Once he’d left, I blew out a breath.Seriously, the effect this guy has on me is…I grabbed a fresh glass from the cupboard and headed back upstairs with the bottle.
“Is everything okay? I heard a crash.” Ella barely looked at me from where she applied her mascara.
“Thanks for rushing to my rescue.” I set the bottle and two glasses down on the chest of drawers we were using as a dressing table. “At least, Jase was there to help.”
“Haha, of course he was,” Ella commented around putting on her lip gloss. “He’s come to your rescue a lot lately.”
I ignored her comment and passed her a glass instead. “To us finding a couple of eligible bachelors tonight.”
And not being hung up on the people we can’t have,I added silently.
Ella laughed. “To be fair, I’d take an ineligible one right now.”
An hour later, we were at the club with Lenora, her two sisters who were also going to be bridesmaids, and a few of her friends from work. Despite the hen and stag parties being a joint effort, we weren’t actually hanging out with the guys, which meant I didn’t see Jase until a while after we’d arrived—when the two groups merged.
He stood beside me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Hey, are you okay after earlier? You didn’t find any glass shards at all?”
