Page 102 of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

‘Hmm…’ He circles me, stopping between me and the room Hollyn now stands in. ‘I’d bet money you’re not closing down your business. The only other thing that could possibly be off the market is maybe your sweet, sweet loins?’

I grunt a laugh, shaking my head like it’s not true. As a guy who doesn’t love getting too deep into his personal life, I’m doing far too much of that lately.

‘Hollyn?’ Jake asks, glancing into the other room.

‘You need to keep your big mouth shut until I say you no longer have to. I haven’t talked to River yet. Tonight.’

Jake rubs his hands together as if he’s hatching an evil plan. ‘He’s going to punch you right in the mouth.’

‘No, he’s not.’ I roll my eyes. ‘He’ll be fine. If he’s not, he’s going to learn real quick to deal with it because it’s out of my control.’

‘How’s it out of your control?’

I look past him at her, now climbing down the ladder and inspecting her work from ground level. She adjusts a few stems as she walks around the arrangement. Her eye for this is getting better and better.

‘I’m in love with her.’

‘Ho-ly.Shit,’ he says, way too loud, causing Hols to glance our way.

She cocks her head, a confused look on her face. After a moment, she turns back to her arrangement.

‘Are you serious?’ Jake lowers his voice. ‘Youloveher? You’ve never loved any woman. Did you tell her?’

He’s not wrong. I’ve never said those words to anyone. Anyone but her, now. ‘Yes, yes, and yes.’

‘Who’s in love with whom?’ Brynn asks.

Why didn’t I just take out an ad in the newspaper or maybe announce it on Facebook this morning?Hollyn and I had sex; leave your questions in the comments.

‘If it’s you’ – she points at Jake – ‘you better be talking about me.’

He throws his hands in the air. ‘It ain’t me.’

‘Well, well,well,’ she says in a tone I know I don’t want to deal with right now. ‘You’re the only other person here.’ She raises a single eyebrow, suddenly leaning around me and glancing at Hollyn, flicking her line of sight back to me quickly. She waves a finger between Hollyn and I. ‘You two?’

‘He just dumped Sydney for her,’ Jake says between fake coughs.

‘You’re as good as dead,’ I threaten.

He rolls his eyes.

‘Youdid?’ Brynn looks from Jake to me, her curiosity to know everything about everyone growing into a vast grin. ‘Are you serious?’

I nod, sighing deeply as I do. ‘Firstly, Sydney and I weren’t an item, so I didn’tdumpher. Just called things off. Secondly, I didn’t know I’d need to explain myself personally to every person I know one by one. That said,yes, I’m serious. Lines have been crossed.’ I move a hand in front of me, drawing an imaginary line I now step over.

‘Doessheknow?’ Brynn asks.

‘Seriously?’ I ask, rolling my eyes. ‘Yes, she knows. But we haven’t exactly announced it, so if you two could shut up before Mercy gets here, that’d be much appreciated. We’ve hardly had a chance to process it ourselves. All of it’s against River’s stupid bro code, so please, let me have a few days with her so we can figure things out.’

‘Wow! Well, when you get married—’

I hold up a hand, shutting her up. ‘We’re far from there, so just keep it in your pants, ya wedding whore.’

She laughs, pinching her lips together tightly, pretending like what I said isn’t true.

‘We’ve got thirty minutes left to get these arrangements done before McKenzie calls to either praise or reprimand us, so please save all your ridiculously invasive questions until after my deadline. Keep your trap shut.’ I point right at Jake. ‘You especially. If River gets wind of this before I tell him, it’syouwho will receive a fist to the mouth. Got it?’

He crosses his arms over his chest with a huff. ‘You know how often you’ve threatened that and never followed through?’

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