Page 14 of Wallflower in Bloom

Be still her heart and her libido.

He glanced back at her, catching her staring. “So what’s the plan then? How do you like to recoup from the worst day ever?”

She couldn’t tell him what she really wanted. “I’ll just go to bed early.”

“Oh, fuck that,” he said with a snort. “Get rip-roaring drunk, or do something stupid, or eat a load of carbs, or watch the worst television you can find. Gotta do something to blow off steam.”

She’d heard about his reputation, but she was sure he wasn’t suggesting that kind of blowing off steam between the two of them.

I mean, I’m not exactly the kind of girl he’d go for. “Well, normally, I fix a cocktail.”

“Hell yeah, you do,” he said supportively, egging her on.

“And then I, um….” She scratched the back of her neck, forgetting her garden gloves were still on. “I like to watch one of my favorite shows to decompress.” With my vibrator.

“Which show decompresses your brains out?” He smiled at her.

“It’s…um…the one you’re on?” She couldn’t hide her grimace.

He threw his head back and laughed. “Far be it from me to interrupt your ritual. How about this,” he said, moved to his feet. “I fix the cocktails and give you a secret, off-the-record commentary on any episode you want of Beyond the Manor Walls.”

She gasped as her eyes went wide. “Really? You’d do that?”

“Of course. You had a rather bad go of it today. Plus, it’s the least I can do, given I couldn’t find a place for the next three weeks that would accept a geriatric cat.”

A glimmer of happiness sparked through Violet. She liked Jack, not just in the ‘star of her favorite series, had a gorgeous accent and was nice to look at’ kind of way, but because he was a genuinely nice human. She needed more of those in her life.

“You’re staying?” She bit her lip and tried to keep her hope at bay.

“Until Todd takes us on our next adventure, yes. We’ll stay in your perfect little cottage for the next few weeks.” He reached his hands out to pull her up to stand. A simple yank had her flying up to her feet.

Whoa. Her stomach did flip-flops as she realized he could toss her around.

“If I may.” His hand came to her cheek, slowly wiping dirt off it with his thumb. “Don’t want anything getting in those eyes,” he murmured.

Goosebumps flooded her arms. “Safety..uh..first.” She tapped her glasses as her brain blanked on how to be a normal human woman.

Oh my god, I am so weird.

“Right,” he sighed, making an action plan as he turned toward the cottage. “I’m going to start drinks, you’re to get cleaned up, and we’ll have a carb-laden, alcohol-filled night of all the seediest facts of Beyond the Manor Walls.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling with quiet excitement. He turned around to walk back through her orchard and into the cottage.

This was the best worst day ever.

Chapter

Four

JACK

“Don’t miss your moment, my sweet boy.” Jack’s mother yanked off her oversized Chanel sunglasses and glared at him through his phone screen.

She leaned toward the phone’s camera, making her appear comically close on Jack’s phone. “Capitalize on your name being top of mind. Run toward the attention, get meetings in LA. Come stay with me, and I will connect you with all the best people.”

The noise of Cannon’s Diner nearly drowned out his mother’s requests in his earbud. Hopefully, Gray would get here soon, and he’d have an excuse to hang up.

Jack didn’t want his mum’s life in LA. The constant auditioning, constant hustling. Being with the ‘best’ people.

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