Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119548 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 598(@200wpm)___ 478(@250wpm)___ 398(@300wpm)
Deli would be finishing work in twenty minutes, and I had to figure out how to approach the topic of her kissing me.
More specifically, how I hadn’t frozen because I didn’t want her.
I wanted her. I wanted her more than she could ever fathom, but what I’d told her before still stood.
A physical relationship wasn’t something that could happen just because. It was still a line I was reluctant to cross, especially without properly discussing it first.
And, honestly, if I’d given in and kissed her back the other day, I probably would have lost it. I don’t think I would have been able to restrain myself, and the thought of it terrified me.
For that to happen, I would truly have to be pushed over the edge.
And given that kiss and the way she’d disappeared, I wasn’t sure Delilah would stop me.
I made a cup of tea and took it to the living room. I was virtually alone in the place—Granny was in bed, Mum was having dinner with friends, and none of the household staff who lived at the estate would come anywhere near the private living space at this time.
I sighed and lay down on the sofa. Would she actually come home tonight? I was certain Lucy would back me up, but there was always her old house. Aunt Bonnie would never turn her away.
Was I waiting up for something futile?
The thought that I was waiting for her to never come back made my stomach roll. What had happened to our relationship? Had this marriage really fucked our friendship up? We were on borrowed time, after all. We’d agreed to annul the marriage after Nana’s death, and that was four months ago now.
What if this hiccup made Deli realise that she wanted to go back to how things were?
Could I cope with that?
Could I ever look her in the eye and just see her as my best friend?
No.
Fuck, no.
She was my wife. My wife.
My wife.
My. Fucking. Wife.
And I wanted her to stay that way.
This couldn’t end before I could tell her how I truly felt.
“Agh.” I rubbed my hands down my face, squeezing my eyes shut. “What the fuck do I do?”
As if the universe was giving me an answer to my question, my phone rang.
I was answering my phone. That’s what I was doing.
I frowned at the sight of ‘The Blue Tit’ on the screen and hit the green circle. “Hello?”
“My lord,” Si replied dramatically. “The countess is drunk and passed out in the staff room.”
Oh, good.
“Please come and retrieve your wife.”
Then the line went dead.
I sighed.
She really did not want to talk about this.
30
* * *
FRED
“You weren’t in bed, were you?”
“Like you give a shit,” I said to Si, staring at Deli passed out on the sofa in the staff room. “How the hell did she end up like this? Did she start drinking the second I left?”
“No, but the moment she finished her shift, she insisted on pouring her own drinks while unloading onto me,” he replied, shuddering. “So, God knows how strong they were. You fucked up, by the way.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m aware.” I ran my hand through my hair. “It’s just… it’s complicated.”
He clapped his hand onto my shoulder and gently squeezed it. “Yeah. I get it. Unfortunately, I don’t think you’re gonna get much of a coherent conversation out of her tonight.”
As if his words had summoned her consciousness, Delilah peeled her eyes open and stared at me. “Freddieeeee? Freddie!” She jumped up far too quickly for someone who’d just been asleep and launched herself at me.
She stumbled, and I instinctively stepped into her path and caught her.
“Whoops.” She giggled, grabbing my arms. “The floor is wobbly.”
“You’re the one who’s wobbly,” Si said dryly.
“Nooo. It’s this floor. Fix it, Simon!”
“Fine, I’ll fix it,” he replied. “You can go home now.”
“No.” Deli’s eyes widened, and she scrambled to stand up straight, still clinging to me. She looked at Si and lowered her voice. “If I go home, I have to talk to Fred about me kissing him.”
“You do realise you’re clinging to him right now, don’t you?”
She slowly lifted her face to look at mine, and I smirked down at her. “Hi.”
“Oh, hi,” she said. “Did I do anything silly?”
“That remains to be seen,” I replied. “Come here. I’ll take you home.”
“Nooo, Fred’s at home.”
I stared at Si. “You can’t even have an incoherent conversation with her, never mind one that makes sense. Seriously, how much did she drink?”
“All of it!” Deli threw her arms out and giggled, throwing her head back in glee.
She almost toppled backwards, and I tightened my grip on her, then swept my arms around her and lifted her up.
“Eeek!” She wrapped her arms tightly around my neck. “What are you doing?”
“Carrying you to the car.” I followed Si out of the staff room. “And the whole pub is going to see me carting my wife about like some kind of Disney princess because she’s too drunk to walk.”