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“Like?”
“I read all the time, fiction and nonfiction. I paint a bit. I play the guitar, and listen to a lot of music. I love astronomy.”
That makes me sit up. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. You too?”
I nod. “I’ve been working with the Royal Astronomical Society, using artificial intelligence to search for exoplanets by studying the variation of a star’s brightness over time.”
“Jesus. I look at the moon through a very cheap telescope. It’s not quite the same thing.”
I chuckle. “Even so, it’s cool to know you’re interested in it.”
“I’ll show you my observatory in a minute.” Her eyes twinkle. “So, can you take a few days off?”
I study her, slightly taken aback. There’s no reason I can’t cancel the meetings—I’ve already attended the most important ones, and the conference was something I signed up for to fill in time. But is that what I want? To stay here, in Heidi’s tiny cottage, and spend a few days doing nothing but pottering around Devon, looking at the sites?
I discover that actually, yes, it sounds like something I very much want to do. But there is a problem.
Asking her to go with me for the weekend was one thing—I’d have asked the same of Huxley’s other sisters if they were the only person I knew in another country. But staying in her house… spending time alone…
The thing is, I like her. A lot. She’s young and sexy, and I have a sneaky feeling she likes me too. I think we could have had a lot of fun together. If she wasn’t related to my best mate.
“I don’t know,” I say softly. “You’re Huxley’s kid sister, and you’re recovering from a bad breakup. The last thing you need is… complications.”
She meets my eyes, and we study each other for a moment.
“Just to make things clear,” she says, “sex isn’t on the table.”
My eyebrows rise. “Right.”
“Or on the bed or the floor or anywhere else in this extremely small cottage.”
That makes me laugh. “Okay.”
“We aren’t going to do anything that involves removal of clothing.”
“Got it.”
“We’re friends, aren’t we?” she adds.
“Of course.”
“And I’d like it to stay that way.”
“Definitely.”
“I didn’t want you worrying,” she says. “It’s always best to be direct.”
“Absolutely.”
“We’re grownups, right? We can spend time together without getting involved. Even though we’re attracted to one another.”
“You’re attracted to me?”
“Um… no…?”
We both laugh. “You’re right,” I tell her, trying not to think about her admission. “Best to be open.”
