Bears in Mind by Sam Hall

Author:Sam Hall [Hall, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: KU2023
Amazon: B0BNY2XPTV
Published: 2023-01-14T05:00:00+00:00

23

Koda

"So how did you get involved in the restoration business?” Natalie asked me, breaking the spell.

Fuck, I’d said I wanted to be the one to take her on this date, but as soon as we sat down I realised what a fuck-up this was going to be. I didn’t want her sitting opposite me. I was shit at making small talk at the best of times and she was probably freaking out because I was just sitting there, staring. The waitress had brought our drinks but mine remained untouched because I didn’t want to eradicate the faint taste of her on my lips. That little kiss? It had sent explosions going off in my head, my dick almost punching a hole in my jeans, right as I heard choirs of angels singing in my head.

Well, I hadn’t really heard the choir. The rest was real.

But a heavenly choir celebrating the beauty that was my mate seemed plausible to me, because she was heaven-sent. Her long, elegant fingers played with the stem of her glass and I wanted to snatch it away and toss it over the balcony, and replace it with… any part of me she wanted to touch, I didn’t care what.

Instead of doing that, I answered her.

“Alaric’s family has always owned it, but my family has worked for the Burns family since we came out to Australia. Our great-grandfathers had been involved in the … restoration business before the war. And after? They were based here for a while, like a lot of GIs, and fell in love with the place.”

And by the place, I meant my great-grandmother. Apparently, Grandma Rosie’d had each one of our grandfathers wrapped around her little finger, right up until their deaths.

“My Dad worked for Alaric’s dad.” I was careful not to make that plural. “And when it came time for us to finish school, we decided to get apprenticeships in the trade as well.”

“So you’ve always worked for him?” I nodded. “And is rescuing damsels in distress something you regularly do?”

“Nope. Not regularly.” I couldn’t seem to stop staring at her hard, even though I was sure it was making her feel uncomfortable. I was wondering if her skin was as soft as it’d felt in her dream, or if she’d make the same sounds in real life when I was touching her. I wanted to… “We mostly deal with uptight old fucks who question our methods and our bills. Probably why we rushed to your defence. You’re a whole lot prettier and nicer than they are.” She snorted at that. “But any bloke worth his salt would’ve stepped up for you.”

Natalie shook her head. “Men are obviously a different breed in the city then, because I don’t know if I could’ve relied on anyone around here to shut Paul Bailey down.”

“Who he thinks he is doesn’t mean shit to us,” I replied. My hand slid over and took hers, removing it from the stem of the glass, conscious that we were being watched as closely as a footy grand final right now, but that wasn’t why I was touching her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.