Perfect Match Enemies to lovers romance - Leia Stone Page 0,65

said.

“If a woman is capable of so much love and loyalty that she’d do what Millie did to be closer to Colin and get closure, now that’s a kind of woman you want loving you.”

She was right. I wanted that love now, I wanted that kind of devotion. I’d had it and now I’d never let it go. Yes it was new, but it was deep, and it hooked into me with a permanency that scared me a little.

Millie walked in from outside, wiped chalk on her pants and gave everyone hugs.

“How can we help?” Gran asked.

Millie rattled off the to do list of things as I watched her.

Something wasn’t right, there was a sadness just below the surface. When Gran and everyone dispersed and Millie turned to walk back to the kitchen, I yanked the belt loop of her pants and pulled her into me.

She smiled as I wrapped my arms around her and gave me a small peck.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

Her face darkened for the slightest moment before she gave me another fake smile.

“Fine. Just busy.” One more quick peck and then she disappeared into the kitchen.

With a sigh, I raked a hand through my hair. If this heart didn’t kill me, that woman would. No doubt.

Chapter 19

Millie

Fuck Fuck Fuck.

I mashed the avocado like a mad woman as my brain chewed on the phone call I’d received earlier today.

I was a perfect match for a liver transplantation to Ashton’s father.

The music blared into the kitchen as the open mic night raged on. It was a total fucking success. Like, we had to turn people away because someone called the fire department about it being too crowded. The Instagram page I’d made for the bar was blowing up with hashtags and pictures. Each band paid twenty dollars a head to be heard and most of them were actually really good. I’d made more food than I ever had in my life—vegan nachos with cashew cream, truffle mac and cheese, and BBQ chicken sliders were our top sellers. And of course avocado toast with sunny-side-up egg on top with a hint of sriracha mayo. I had to call a local grocery store and beg for them to deliver more produce! I was too busy to worry about the liver transplant or the fact that I’d said yes without telling Ashton.

Tomorrow, after the high of tonight wore off, I’d tell him. Just in time for the surgery Monday morning…

His dad was on borrowed time and something inside of me said that if I could save someone like Colin saved Ashton, it would make things right with the world. Make things right with me.

Maybe I was also hoping to repair some of Ashton and his father’s relationship, but honestly I wasn’t sure that was possible.

“Holy fucking shit!” Ashton jumped into the back kitchen and I startled.

“What?” I looked behind me as I flipped an egg, then three pieces of chicken, at the same time as I pulled six slices of bread out of the toaster.

Did he find out?

But when I looked back at him, I saw the grin stretched across his face and I sagged in relief.

“Papa’s gettin a new truck!” he stated, causing me to smile.

“We making money?”

He nodded. “Gave all the free beer away and now they’re buying top shelf liquor. Not to mention the food and the band fees. If we keep this up on weekends, we might actually turn a descent profit!”

He pulled me away from the stove and spun me around as the fan blew the sticky hair away from my face.

I leaned in and kissed him quickly. “I get a new fryer before you get a new truck.”

He pulled back, grinning. “Deal.”

Richie peeked his head in the window. “A little help out here!”

Ashton patted my butt and then walked for the door, looking over his shoulder as he fixed me with a curious gaze. “Oh, Millie?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Later you’re gonna tell me who called and got you in a weird mood, right?”

I swallowed hard, unable to keep the panic from my face. “Right.”

Shit.

I could lie, say Julie and John broke up and then a week later say they were back together. But … this was our fresh start and I didn’t want to start a relationship on lies.

I’d tell him after we closed and pray he understood.

The next two hours passed in a blur. Ashton was sitting in a barstool relaxing behind the bar and popping beer tops while his cousins did the harder