Page 28 of Kiss Me Ever After
He smirked. “Well, I don’t think there’s much of that whisky left, is there?”
I winced. Thankfully, the hangover had lifted a little. “There’s not a great deal of choice either, I didn’t know I’d have dinner guests. Things have been a little, well, hand to mouth recently.”
Justin narrowed his eyes. “You never did say why you were back for the summer.”
I shrugged. “You never asked.”
“I’m asking now.”
To give myself some breathing space, I turned to check the oven, then went over to the fridge.
“The internship in New York fell through.” I pulled out a couple of bottles of beer. They were all I had left until I did another shop later in the week. I handed one to Justin.
“I call bullshit.”
“Sorry, what?” My hands froze as I opened my bottle.
“Come on, Lennon. You were crowing about that opportunity all last summer, wouldn’t stop talking about it, even if we didn’t want to hear it. But if it had fallen through, there would be little or no reason for you to come here. Least of all to work in a cafe.” He flipped the top off his beer and drained a good proportion of it in one go. “I seem to remember you telling me you’dnevercome back to Ealynn Sands.” He raised his eyebrows as he took another swig of his beer.
Fuck, he was perceptive. I chewed my bottom lip. Could I trust him with the truth? The truth I’d barely told anyone. On the other hand, telling someone else would share the burden.
“I need to make some money. For university,” I said after a long pause.
Justin laughed. “Bank of Mummy and Daddy finally go bust, did it?”
I screwed up my face. Too, too close to the actual facts to be funny. “Something like that,” I mumbled.
His expression grew serious. “What?”
Stalling for time, I took a sip of beer. “You know my dad works in banking and investments…”
“Yeah, something big in the City, right? Hence all the designer gear, second homes and New York summers.”
My mouth twitched. My life sounded so shallow when he put it like that.
“He, um, made some bad investments and basically we lost all our money.”
Justin scraped a hand through his hair and let out a long, low whistle. “Seriously?”
“As if I’m going to joke about it.” Annoyed, I turned back to the oven to see how much longer the pizzas needed to cook. “So, unless I come up with some cash of my own, I can’t go back to university in September because I won’t have anywhere to stay.”
I heard Justin’s chair being pushed back. Then, hands snaking their way around my waist made me squirm. “I’m sorry to hear that. But also, not sorry because it means I get to see you again. And do this.” Hot breath tickled the back of my neck, Justin’s lips grazing their way along my shoulder.
My stomach flipped, and I grabbed onto the counter to steady myself.
His fingers slid along the waistband of my jeans, before pulling me back against his body.
As I sank back into his strong chest, the timer on the oven went off and we jumped apart.
“Shit timing,” I managed. “Do you still want to eat?” I looked over my shoulder as I waited for him to answer.
“Oh, yes. I still want to eat.” He dragged his gaze down the full length of my body, and my core tightened.
Flustered, I crashed about getting the pizzas out and onto plates before cutting them into slices.
“You’re a pro at that. Anyone would think you worked in a cafe,” Justin joked.
“Eat your pizza, Justin,” I huffed, banging the plates down on the table.
