AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I smiled at her, my heart giving a little flutter that I didn’t dare look at too closely. Because if I was being honest with myself, there was another reason that I offered. One that had to do with it giving me more excuses to see her.
“Now get back to work,” she nodded her head toward the radiator, and I laughed, pushing myself off the couch and heading back over to where I was working on the replacement.
I didn’t dare look at her as I worked, knowing that I was balancing on a very dangerous edge, one that I could tip over at any moment.
CHAPTERNINE
NELL
The light comingthrough my curtains was slanted and dim, barely lighting the room, and I immediately knew it was early.
I rolled over, raking my hands over my eyes to try to clear the sleep out of them. Blake and I had stayed up last night exchanging numbers, ironing out the details of how we “re-met” and became engaged and why we’ve decided to keep it quiet. Even coming up with an explanation at the end for why he brought me up to Jourdan at all.
Not all of them were perfect explanations, and they definitely weren’t bulletproof. But they were the best we were going to get.
Now we just needed a time when we could be in front of my mother and Jourdan together, showcasing our engagement for everyone to see.
I blew out a breath and sat up, my mattress shifting with me as I turned to look at the clock. It was eight in the morning, and I didn’t have work. I would have loved to have slept in longer, but I was fully awake and knew that going back to sleep wouldn’t be happening.
I stumbled toward the kitchen and started making coffee, but I didn’t even have time to finish brewing when my phone let out a loud, hard bleat, and it began ringing.
My eyes fell to it, and I groaned, wondering who the hell would be calling me this early. But the apprehension faded when I picked it up and saw Blake’s name.
“Hello,” I said, raising the phone to my ear, my voice still thick with sleep.
“Hey sleepy head.”
He sounded way too chipper for this early on a Sunday, but I didn’t comment on it.
“What’s going on?” I asked, pulling down one of the mugs from my cabinet and getting everything ready for when I could finally pour myself a glass of the life-sustaining caffeine.
“You said last night that we needed an event to attend that your family was going to be at, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I found one.” His voice sounded excited, and it made me suspicious.
“What?” I demanded clarification.
“Actually, I should say your brother reminded me about it this morning. It’s a gala next Saturday. Both of them will be there, as it benefits the charity Jourdan is involved with. I had already promised to go. He and Justine will be pretty focused on greeting and talking to people with the foundation, and they won’t be able to berate you the entire time.”
I considered it, chewing on the inside of my cheek. I hadn’t thought we would find something so soon, and now that we had, it made me nervous.
“Ok, yeah.” I twirled a loose piece of strawberry blonde hair around my finger.
“It’s black tie,” he added almost hesitantly.
I let out a sigh, unsure if I felt relief or regret when I uttered, “I wouldn’t have anything to wear.”
“That’s fine. We can go shopping.”
“We?” My eyebrows flew up.
“Yes,we. You and me. We can find you something appropriate that you like. I’ll buy it.”
“What is this? Pretty Woman?”
He huffed out a laugh, and I found myself smiling. Quickly rearranging my features, I shook my head.
