Page 81 of Only Ever You

Out of nowhere, he stilled.

“The others know, don’t they?” His voice was unsteady and searching in a way that made Faye want to shed tears all over again. She swallowed, though the lump in her throat made it difficult.

“Not right away. Maisie guessed that something was going on, and then Sienna overheard us. I don’t think Freddy knows because we knew he’d tell you and I’d wanted to tell you myself. I’ve tried, Bash, but the words just kept on getting stuck. And then the days kept on coming and then they ran away from me.”

She was so stupid for waiting. Holding back had only made everything worse.

Tender fingers passed over her spine. “It’s alright. I know how terrifying it is.”

“I’m not scared of going. Iwantto open the new bakery. I just … I think I’m in denial that everything will be fine. We’ll still be friends, but some part of me thought that everything would end completely.”

Bash manoeuvred her until he gripped her upper arms, his fingers skimming the tight sleeves of her dress. The sensation lit matches in alignment down Faye’s spine to her centre. Now was the completely wrong time to feel jolts of electricity like that.

“Faye.” He bent his knees and widened his stance to bow down to her level. “We’re stuck with each other. There’s no changing that, not for anything. And when we’re old, my room at the care home is going to be right next to yours.”

She barked with a still teary laughter.

A rakish smile worked onto Bash’s lips. “I wasn’t just saying that. I already reserved the rooms.” His fingers darted and started tickling her waist –the traitor!

Faye squealed and squirmed in circles to try and get away.

“You’ve got no choice, Faye. I’m never leaving you!”

Protesting to this torture, Faye grabbed onto the very low neckline of her dress before it slid down her chest and bared her breasts again. A very tiny, very stupid part of her brain wanted to let it happen just to see what would occur. She might not be embarrassed this time since,hell, Bash had already seen everything anyway. And she only just then remembered as her laughter slowed how he’d called her “stunning”.In French.

Ugh. Bash could charm the pants right off of her sometimes, which half explained why she’d loved him for a decade.

So much had happened tonight that the day seemed surreal. She’d gone from baking to almost being a victim of idiotic driving. Pressed up against Bash to flashing him her entire nakedness, to arguing and nowlaughing again. Whoever was in charge of writing her story had had a field day when they decided to turn her Christmas Eve into a rollercoaster.

If she had to partake in more flirting today, then Faye would pass out with her tiredness.

Bash still tickled her. She begged for mercy, her body somehow twisting and contorting against him so distractingly that she didn’t realise how close they’d gotten to the bed until he let her go and she was at the edge of it. With her back turned, she checked both her breasts had stayed in place before spinning to face him again.

A pair of blue eyes snapped up from wherever he’d been looking somewhere in the region below her waist.

Had he been checking her out? The view from the front earlier hadn’t been enough, clearly. So maybe he wasn’t so indifferent to her after all?

No, it was just her imagination again.

Normally she’d have wanted to cover up, becausefriends-do-not-check-out-friends… but that feeling never came. Her body, instead, warmed under Bash’s attention. Faye reminded herself that he’d already seen her stark naked only hours ago, which brought a flush straight to her ears.

The sheepish smile pulling on his lips was his normal self.Cheeky.Animated. There was a smudge of her make-up upon his pale blue shirt but he hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Seriously though,” he said, taking one long, slow step nearer as he continued, “howIfeel about your news, that’s on me. You don’t need to worry about telling me anything because even if I don’t agree, I’ll support you.”

Like when she’d wanted to startBaked By The Dozen, Faye realised, thawing inside. Like with so many other things in the last decade. He was always there for her without question. If she ever needed to bury a body in the middle of the night, he’d be there, and probably take the fall for it too.

How could she ever have doubted her faith in the strength of Bash’s friendship? Of course they would be fine whilst she was away; they were never going to not be.

“I’m sorry this is how you found out,” she said, adjusting her sleeve. “It was never supposed to be like this.”

There’d been enough touching between them in the last half an hour, so Faye didn’t reach out for him, lest she find herself doing something silly like brushing her fingers down that gap in his shirt and finding out how much her touch might make his heart beat faster.

“I’m glad at least that I found out before the day you move, which is … when exactly?” Bash winced.

“January Sixteenth.” Faye winced too as the maths swam in his eyes. “The property is completely bare and we’ve got a lot of decorating and installations to do, so it’ll take weeks.”

“That’s … soon.”

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