Page 68 of Love, Academically
“You’re my boyfriend, Rhys,” she said, with a tight laugh. “Of course it’s okay.”
Rhys frowned. Okay, there was definitely something going on with her. Shit, he’d been too forward, all but dry humping her in the middle of this stupid hotel function room (no matter what his mother said, it wasnota ballroom). He went to move his arm, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable.
“No, no, Rhys,” she said, putting a hand on his thigh, causing a soft heat to build up in the pit of his stomach. “I’m sorry, it’s absolutely fine. Of course it is.”
“Is everything okay, Lila?” he asked. “Are you all right?”
If she wasn’t, he would take her home right now, family be damned.
She bumped him with her shoulder.
“I’m fine, Rhys.”
“Shit, you’ve got—” There was a piece of hair snagged under the one strap of her dress, “hang on.”
Rhys carefully pulled it out, his fingers gently grazing the curve of her shoulder, raising goosebumps on her skin.
“Pwy wyt ti?”Who are you?
Fuck.
The table went silent as Llewellyn Dallimore’s voice boomed across it. Rhys breathed an “I’m sorry” before straightening up to face his father. The rest of the table was silent, his mother picking at the tablecloth in front of her. Elin took a long drag of her drink.
“Dad, this is Lila,” Rhys said. “My girlfriend.”
His hand tightened around her shoulders.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” Lila said with a bright smile.
“Saesneg?”English.
“Dad,” Rhys said, a warning clear in his voice, at the same time as Lila spoke.
“I’m afraid I don’t know any Welsh except, now let me get this right,” she said, taking a breath. “Cymru yw gwlad y dreigiau a Tom Jones.”
Wales is the land of dragons and Tom Jones.
“You learned that?” Rhys asked, gobsmacked. Welsh washard, there were no rules, no vowels, lots of sounds that just weren’t there in English.
The table fell silent. This could go one of two ways. Either his father could laugh and all would be well with the world, or he would be upset at the absolute mangling of his beloved language.
“I’ve been practicing all week. Did I say it right?”
Those big blue eyes looked up at him, and even if she had saidWales is the land of sheep and shit, he would have been fucking impressed that she’d taken the time to learn it.
“We got the gist of it,” he said with a genuine, wide smile.
Llewellyn Dallimore threw back his head and laughed, a big, belly laugh that shook the table, shook the room. Fuck, it must have shaken the entire building.
“Well, shit,” Elin said. “Colour me impressed.”
“Language,” his mother chastised.
“Where did you learn that, my girl?” his father asked. “Lila, is it?”
Well. His father had managed to both call her a term of endearment,andher actual name in one breath.
She nodded.
