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“Do you want me to sort out the thorns for you?”
His question brings me snapping out of my thoughts and a plume of heat rises to my cheeks, echoing the trickle of heat pooling between my legs. I need my plan to go well tonight, even if it just means I get laid.
Because I must be hornier than I realised if my brain is coming up with this kind of scenario and my body is actually responding to it.
“Pardon?” I ask, a little thrown, realising I barely registered his question.
“The thorns. Do you want me to remove them for you?”
I actually know how to get thorns off rose stems—there’s no art to it, you just push on the side of the thorns and they snap clean off—but I’m a little shaky in the legs. I nod automatically. “Yes, please.”
He heads over to a large wooden table, sets the roses down, and gets to work without another word. I perch myself on the wooden table, facing him. As I do, the lapels of my coat part and fall aside, revealing my thighs. I bite my lip, wondering if Mystery Manual Labourer will sneak a forbidden look.
He doesn’t—he’s too busy concentrating on the roses.
“Do you work here every weekend?” I ask suddenly, desperate to fill the stifling silence.
“Yeah.”
He volunteers no more information, so I have no choice but to go full CIA interrogation on him.
“Well, what do you do the rest of the time, then? Are you in university?”
“No.” He doesn’t even look up. He snaps the thorns off my roses with his gloved hands, his expression blank. “I have another job.”
“What job?”
“I do deliveries for the local grocers and farmers. Sometimes I do some kitchen work.”
I can’t help the grimace of disgust on my face. “Why so many jobs?”
He shrugs. “My mum’s getting married in the summer. Just helping her with wedding costs.”
This sends a burst of warmth like an explosion of confetti inside my chest. I didn’t expect such a…well—wholesomeanswer. It makes his attractiveness go from a soft five to a hard seven almost instantly. Now I really want him to check me out.
Instead, he gathers the pile of roses and hands it to me.
“There,” he says. “All done.”
“Oh, uh,” I hop down from the table—my thighs have truly let me down—and grab the bouquet. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem.”
I take the roses and he turns and walks away without another word. A strange sense of disappointment fills me as he disappears into the darkness of the greenhouse.
I don’t even know why I’m disappointed; I got exactly what I came here for. I have enough roses to make my outfit for tonight’s party look like Persephone herself brought springtime to it. Enough roses to make it impossible for anybody at that party not to notice me.
But as I leave the greenhouse, a new fear nibbles at my mind.
How can I possibly get Evan Knight to notice me when I couldn’t even get the dirty gardener to check me out?
Chapter 3
Torn Tulle
Ifnothingelse,I’mthe most beautiful girl at this party.
This isn’t an easy achievement. This is a Young Kings party, so the most popular girls in Spearcrest are in attendance.
