I smile. "You are quite impartial to lemon, aren't you?"
"Yep. Okay, my turn. What is the one possession you treasure the most and why?"
My fingers automatically go to my bare wrist. "My watch." I don't even have to think about it. "My nan gave it to me for my twenty-first birthday. She had it engraved. It's priceless."
He dips his head, his eyes scanning the tan line where my watch usually sits. Before he can question it, I take his glass and put it down next to mine. Gripping him by his shirt, I pull him until we’re inches apart. "Kiss me?"
Without a word, he obliges, and I’m lost in his embrace, giddy from his touch. I've never wanted to be kissed by someone so badly before.
Chapter Twenty-Four
OLLY
Meghan followed through with her request to spar with Rachel, and I think this will be a good confidence builder, too.
Henry stops lifting to sidle up to Rachel when I reach the bottom of the stairs to greet her before her session with Meg. He teases her; she doesn’t miss a beat. “I don’t think you could handle me,” Rachel drawls.
I whip my head in their direction. He’s clutching his chest as though she’s wounded his ego. Meghan stops next to me, her eyes fixated on them, her jaw set. “You okay?”
“Of course, I’m fine,” she replies, turning to me with a smile, her palm going to my arm.
I catch Henry staring from the corner of my eye. He shakes his head before turning his attention back to Rachel—full-on flirting. I’d be concerned if I thought she was taking him seriously, however from the expression on her face, it’s obvious she’s not interested. “Listen, Megs, you know I’m here if you ever need to talk.”
“I know, but it’s complicated.” She continues to stare over at Henry with a longing I’ve never seen from her before. I’ve seen her flirt with him, that’s nothing new, but this is…something else.
“Hold on a sec, rewind. You and H?”
Her gaze travels back to me. “There is no me and Henry, and you know that. I mean, how could there be?”
I always thought they’d eventually get together, but I guess fate had other plans. And she’s right, there’s a tether that ties them, and I can see why she would think that.
“We should hang out. You could come over for nachos,” I say, nudging her. But her attention is back on Henry and Rachel.
“Maybe,” she mumbles under her breath.
I clear my throat loudly and clap my hands together. “Okay, Rachel, you ready?” I call out.
She slaps Henry on the bicep and comes over. “I’m ready,” she says, smiling but I hear the apprehension in her voice.
“Okay, it’s only light sparring, so no headgear today.” She visibly swallows.
“It’ll be fine,” Henry says, touching her shoulder, his signature smile on display.
“Are we doing this or what?” asks Meg, bouncing on the balls of feet.
“Easy, Rocky,” I reply, giving her what I hope is a warning look. The whole point is to build Rachel’s confidence—not scare her into submission.
I help Rachel with her gloves, and then Henry and I move off the mat, giving the girls space. “Okay, so today you’ll be working on technique.” I signal my hand to Meg for emphasis. “Meg will show you a couple of moves, and then you copy them.”
Rachel nods and Meghan gets to work, throwing light punches and kicks. Rachel mirrors her, and the light sparring continues. Henry and I call out a few instructions; Meg obliges.
“Olly, Henry?”
We both turn as Melissa approaches us; it’s hard to ignore the way she pokes out her chest.
“What’s up,” I say.
“Just been to my yoga class,” she says, eyes fixated on Henry.
