The Girl Next Door - Emma Hart Page 0,61
from tucking my chair under the table.
He grinned, his eyes sparkling. “Done.”
“When you two are done eye-fucking each other,” Holley said. “We need to get back to work. Have you figured out her name?”
“I like Tegan Rose,” Kai agreed. “I think it suits her, and your grandma can’t complain too much.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” I bit into my sandwich.
Kinsley glanced at me, fighting a smile. “Hey, where’s Tori?”
“Meeting with a new client.” Holley wiped her fingers with the napkin. “Some big website redesign or something like that. She said she’d stop by later with the mockups for our new logo.”
“Thank God.” Saylor mirrored Holley’s movements. “I was starting to think she’d forgotten.”
“My fault.” Kai held up his hands. “I had to pay her a hundred bucks to doctor some stock video clips to show Rosie our so-called wedding video. She was about to riot on the imaginary videographer Ivy made up.”
I grimaced.
“I still can’t believe you haven’t told her,” Kinsley said, gathering the trash from her lunch. “Is she really never going to find out?”
I shrugged. “My mom still believes it, too.”
“Does she?”
“Yep,” Holley said. “It’s kinda sad, really.”
Well, we could both agree on that. “I don’t see that they need to find out. We already played the narrative that we’d have a party when the baby’s born, so we figure we’ll just go off, get married quietly somewhere, then actually celebrate with everyone.”
Kai shuffled uncomfortably. “We were going to tell them, but we just never did. It’s been six months and it seems unfair to tell them the truth when we know we’re going to get married for real eventually.”
Saylor frowned and looked between us. “Have you actually asked her for real? Or are you both just assuming this is going to happen?”
We looked at each other. “Assuming,” we both said at the same time.
“We never considered that it wouldn’t,” I said. “After a few wobbly conversations and a Fred Flintstone moment.”
“A Fred Flintstone moment?” Kinsley questioned.
Holley shook her head. “Please do—”
“I made her bed rock,” Kai replied with a grin, like he did every single time I brought up the Flintstone thing.
Kinsley and Holley both shook their heads in despair while Saylor roared with laughter. She didn’t even say goodbye as she once again disappeared between the rows of bookshelves, but we could hear her laughing for ages.
“Awful,” Holley said, getting up and grabbing a pile of books. “So bad.”
Kinsley sighed. “You two are a match made in a romance novel, aren’t you?”
Kai winked at me, and I blushed.
“Maybe. Now we all know Tori’s against dating, but which one of you three is next?”
“Nope!” Holley shouted, echoed somewhere by Saylor.
“That leaves you, Kins,” Kai said.
“Oh, please.” She rearranged some books. “I’m not a big dater. I can’t stand the online stuff where nobody looks like their profile pictures. Besides, I am the worst at small talk, so unless one of you can find me a romance-loving, muscular man with a great smile, I’m shit out of luck.”
“Seems reasonable,” Kai assured her. “I’ll see what I can do.”
He said as if he had a catalog of men stashed away just to pull out for random dating purposes for my friends.
“Put those books on the counter when you’re done, Ives, I’ll put them away.”
“Thanks, Kins.” I watched as she disappeared.
Kai scooted his chair over to me. “So. Tegan Rose, huh?”
“Tegan Rose.” I smiled, letting him take my hands in his.
“That’s pretty perfect.”
“I agree.”
He grinned, then leaned forward and kissed me.
And it was.
Somehow, everything was perfect.
Who would have thought that the guy next door would turn out to be my happily ever after?
Certainly not me.
But I was sure as hell glad that he was.
THE END
Want to read more from the town of White Peak, Montana? Welcome to Bookworm’s Books, where three bookworms are about to trial the ups and downs of dating… And all the unexpected bumps in the road.
Read on for more information.
THE BOOKWORM’S GUIDE TO DATING
What I wanted for my birthday: Books.
What I got for my birthday: my brother’s best friend playing matchmaker.
Let it be known that I, Kinsley Lane, am one hundred percent against being set up with somebody.
And I’m one thousand percent sure that Josh Carter is not the man to find me a boyfriend.
I mean, if I’m so great, why isn’t he the one dating me? (For the record, I don’t know the answer. That’s just what the guy on the internet asked.)
Still, I’ll humor him. If I go on his little dates, he’ll teach