Page 11 of Begin Again Again

‘If you’re reading this, you should be getting laaaaaiiid! Love yooooouuuuuuuuu!!!!!!’

She sounded lit. She and Nathan were probably red wine wasted. They never got drunk while she was there. Maybe out of solidarity. Possibly because Lara felt guilty and Nathan thought she was a wino.

‘I’m having a fun night,’she wrote back. ‘The Guy is Byron and he’s nice…’

Beth deleted ‘nice’ and wrote,‘interesting.’She deleted‘interesting’and typed‘pretty drunk.’Then she deleted the entire message. She was twenty-nine, she didn’t need to give her friend a blow-by-blow of her date. She put her phone back in her pencil case and returned to the table. Fresh beers had arrived. A third pint sat beside her barely finished second, but Byron was almost done with both. Was he nervous? Did he have a problem? Or was she just reading into things because of her situation? The latter probably, but the idea niggled. Then Byron gently brushed a bug off the table. His shoulder muscles rippled like tanned waves and Beth decided she didn’t care about the backstory. She wasn’t here for a long time—just a good time.

“So, what’s your best holiday?” she asked, sitting across from him again.

Byron’s gaze lingered on her cleavage. “That’s private.”

“How dare you!” Beth said, arching her back slightly. “I told you mine!”

“I never said I’d pay you back.”

“That’s so unfair!”

A smirk spread across Byron’s face. Sweeter than the atomic smile, but sexier. It was the look a guy gave you when he was thinking about youthatway. Beth raised her fingers to her lips and rubbed. “So, you’re not going to tell me?”

“Seems that way. So, what’s your favourite sport?”

“Not saying. We’re supposed to be getting to know each other.”

Byron’s gaze flicked from her mouth to her tits and back again. “Is that what we’re supposed to be doing?”

Beth pressed her thighs together. “I have no idea what we’re doing. This might shock you, but I wasn’t thinking super clearly when I catcalled you.”

A grin. “I forgot you did that.”

“Because it happens all the time?”

He leaned closer, smirk spreading wider. “It’s okay, Bethany. I know what we’re doing.”

Unable to keep her gaze on his, Beth studied the exposed brick wall. She could feel his eyes on her, felt her cheeks flush in response. She licked her lips, needing to say something. “Do you?”

“Yeah. I do.”

Beth’s cunt contracted, sending sparks tingling along her thighs and neck. All of a sudden, she was incredibly glad she’d called out to this man. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here, now, with such excellent odds on fucking him.

She smiled at Byron, forcing herself to meet his gaze. “Would you care to elaborate on what we’re doing?”

He raised his bisected brow. “Not particularly. What’s your favourite sport?”

“If I tell you, will you tell me yours?”

He shrugged. “Do you like tennis?”

Beth was shocked. “Tennis? Is that what you think I look like? Someone who likestennis?”

“So, not tennis?”

“God, no! Touch rugby,please.”

He smirked, and Beth realised she’d given him exactly what he wanted. “Well done, Holmes.”

Byron raised his beer. “Elementary.”

She attempted a scowl and ended up grinning at him. Talking to him was like being led in a dance she’d never seen before but desperately wanted to learn. She was determined to follow Byron’s steps, hold her own, and eventually best him.

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