Page 7 of Blindsided
Call me. Xoxo Jav
I blink back my shock and stare at the phone number scrawled beneath.
Javier gave me his number?
Bleddy hell!
Walking up to Tanner and Belle Harris’ flat for the party feels a bit like walking into a member of the royal family’s flat. Don’t get me wrong, I know they’re not truly royal. And since Sloan is married to Gareth, and Allie is a cousin of theirs, I’m aware they’re normal blokes with families. But the Harris family story as a whole is extraordinary and reads like it’s straight out of a movie.
There are four painfully attractive brothers who all play professional football for England, and a sister who’s literally one of the coolest women I’ve ever met. They were all raised by their father after their mother passed away when they were very young. Their family is so packed full of talent. The four brothers even won the World Cup for England a couple of years ago.
Now everyone is married and having photographs published in the papers with stunning toddlers on their shoulders and smiling at their brilliant wives like they’re all in a bleddy Hallmark film. It’s properly mental! You don’t even have to like football to consider their family more interesting than the royals. Even their cousin, Allie, who moved here from America last year, found herself a footballer to marry. Talk about a family that has all the luck!
And somehow, someway, little old Fingerling Freya has found herself entrenched in this world of power couples. It’s no wonder Mac and I became mates. We’re the only single people left!
“Have I told you how nice you look tonight, Cookie?” Mac asks, stepping aside to let me climb the stairs to the building entrance first.
“Don’t call me Cookie in front of these people,” I hiss as the noise of the party increases the closer we get. “I doubt any of them has ever eaten a cookie in all their perfectly attractive, wildly successful lives.”
Mac laughs at my remark, and replies, “Well, you’re looking rather bonnie yourself tonight. I know you wear dresses a lot, but that one suits you differently.”
“Thanks,” I murmur half-heartedly and tug at the sweetheart neckline of the dress where I’ve stuffed Javier’s number for some ridiculous reason. I swear I’ll lose it if I put it down, so I’ve been gripping it in my hands for the past twenty-four hours like a lunatic.
Mac joins me on the top step and brushes back his red hair that’s flopped over his forehead, to scan the call buttons on the panel. He looks quite fit himself tonight wearing faded jeans and a green T-shirt. It’s so easy for men to look effortlessly handsome. Meanwhile, I have to scrutinise whether my cleavage is too much or not enough and if these shoes make my ankles look fat.
He finds the proper button and presses it before turning his charming boy-next-door smile at me. His eyes do a sweep of my body. “Are your wee ears on fire yet?”
He touches one, and the contact of his warm finger on my hot ear sends a wave of shivers down my body, so much so that I begin to totter in my strappy black heels.
I slap his hand away. “Don’t do that!”
His head drops back as he laughs. “It’s cute how your ears get hot whenever you’re nervous.”
“It’s notyoumaking my ears hot, I can promise you that.”
“Believe me, I’m aware,” Mac replies, a knowing set to his taut jaw. “I could say you’re a beaut of a lass tonight, and I wonder what it would be like to shag you senseless, and it would have absolutely no effect on your ears.”
I roll my eyes and steel myself to ignore his remark. The thought of Mac wanting to shag me is like a Great Dane having the hots for an overweight Shih Tzu. Just not going to happen.
And, objectively, I know I look nice tonight, so he’s just stating a fact. Leslie was right—this black wrap dress was made for me. With the minor alterations I did, it hugs my figure perfectly as well.
I didn’t always know how to dress for my body type. I grew up with large hips and bustier breasts than all my friends at school. My mother was always on the bigger side as well, and since plus-size fashion didn’t exist in her days, she taught me how to sew at a young age. So I altered my clothes to help conceal my less-attractive bits. Full, flirty skirts, A-line seams, and sweetheart necklines were always flattering on me. When I went to textile design school in Manchester, I really embraced the 50s era for my own style. Now I’ve come to actually like my hourglass shape and double-Ebreasts, even if they venture well beyond Kardashian sizes.
Regardless of my larger size, I enjoy transforming clothing for any body type. I take great pleasure in the simple act of altering something to work with what the good Lord gave people. The world can often feel like a one-size-fits-all place, but applying a few alterations can make life a perfect fit.
That and Spanx.
God bless the creator of Spanx.
The buzzer goes off, indicating we can go through the door, and my ears swell with heat. “I feel like I could shit out three kittens right now.”
Mac bursts out laughing. “What the hell does that mean?”
I turn an accusing glare at my friend. “I’m nervous, that’s what it means. My ears are on fire because this isn’t my scene. My scene is fuzzy pyjamas, a sewing machine, my cat, and Netflix. You are the cause of my gastrointestinal issues at the moment. Therefore, it’s important for you to know that you and I are in a fight.”
He shakes his head as he leads me up the single flight of stairs to the flat entrance. “That’s the fourth fight we’ve been in this week. I must be trying to break my record.”
The door opens to Tanner and Belle’s two-story flat, and I glance around the crowd full of attractive Londoners packed inside. We step in, and as I hand my bag to the security man at the door, I see the party is already in full swing. Tanner is standing on a sofa table in the living room with his fist thrust in the air while his brothers and several other men cheer him on to, “Chug, chug, chug, chug!” The scene looks straight out of an American college party instead of a party full of adult couples having a laugh.
