Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83343 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“She’s really lovely,” Beau says. “Kind but also funny. And a charades champion.”
Kate has really thrown herself into the weekend. There haven’t been any outward signs she was nervous or felt uncomfortable. The third time I asked her if she was okay, she laughed at me and said she’d tell me if she wasn’t. It’s like she’s known my family for years. And it’s like I’ve known her my entire life. It feels so easy. So right.
“Do you think you’ll stay in the UK?” Jacob asks. “You’ll have the hotel, and now you’ve met Kate.”
“And us, don’t forget us,” Beau says.
I laugh and take a sip of my wine, to give myself a couple of beats to think about his question. “I don’t stay anywhere for long.”
“Maybe you’ve never had a reason to until now,” Jacobs says.
My chest tightens like someone has wrapped a rope around me and is pulling. “I don’t get attached to places. Or people.”
“That’s not true,” Jacob says. “You’re attached to us. We’re your family.”
“Attached? More like grudgingly tolerant.” It isn’t true and they know it. But it feels odd to admit I’m attached to them. The British Coves and the UK were the only light in a very dark time in my life and I can’t help being drawn back to that light, to their life force.
“You love us,” Jacob says, his voice serious, completely disregarding the banter baton I’d handed him. “We love you. We’re family. We’ve never let you down. We’ll never abandon you. You can be sure of us.”
It feels like a stone has lodged in my throat. I nod, unable to think of anything to say.
“You’ve always been more than a cousin,” Beau says. “It feels like you’re one of us. A brother.”
“Fuck, man, lay off will you?” I sit forward in my seat. “You’re going to have me bawling in front of the woman I’m trying to impress.”
“She’s impressed,” Sutton says from behind me.
I snap my head around, wondering if Kate is behind me too, but she’s not, thank god.
“I love her,” Sutton says. “She’s so funny. She’s completely unimpressed with the billionaire businessman part of who you are. She’s exactly who you need. You want me to subtly ask her what kind of rings she likes?”
Heat flashes up through my body and I glance back at the house. I don’t want Kate to overhear this. “Absolutely not. We’re just hanging out. You know what I’m like. I have a girl in every port.”
“Woman!” Sutton says. “And you’re supposedly a womanizer, but guess what? I’ve never met any of these women. I’m not saying they don’t exist, I’m just saying, no one has ever been to Norfolk. You’ve never brought any round to dinner. Kate isn’t just any woman. She’s the woman.”
I glance over at Jacob for support. But he’s just nodding, which doesn’t help at all.
“She’s great,” I say. “But we’re—” What are we doing? We aren’t talking about the future. I’m not even thinking about the future. Was I? I mean, I like Kate and I want it to continue, but…I don’t stay anywhere for long. “We’re just enjoying things as they are.”
“We found some!” Ellie calls. We all glance over at the two of them coming from the house.
“The brandy is in the drinks cupboard,” Beau says. “What took so long?”
“It wasn’t the brandy we couldn’t find. It was raisins.”
“Raisins?” I ask.
Ellie places a large white lasagna dish on the table behind the firepit and Kate pours brandy into it.
“Come on guys. Or are you too chicken?” Kate asks.
“What are you doing?” Beau asks.
We all gather around the table to see what’s going on. Kate hands me a small box of raisins. “Okay, sprinkle them in. They have to be spread out though.”
She’s grinning from ear to ear, and I can’t help but be infected with her enthusiasm.
“Is that an entire bottle of brandy?” Beau asks.
I sprinkle the raisins into the bowl and they bob to the surface.
“Okay, now light it,” Kate says to Ellie.
“Are we setting the house on fire?” Zach asks.
Ellie lights the bowl of brandy and the blue flames flicker and lap over the bowl.
“Now you have to pick out a raisin and pop it in your mouth to extinguish it.”
“What?” I ask. “Did you learn this at Cambridge?”
Kate shrugs. “My grandma taught me.”
“You have to be kidding me,” Sutton says. “Those flames are hot.”
“Just don’t knock the bowl by accident. We don’t actually want to cause a fire.”
“I’m not putting my hand in that bowl. I’ve seen burn injuries from doing shit like this,” Jacob says.
Kate shrugs. “I’ll go first.” Without hesitation, she reaches over the bowl and takes a raisin, the flames licking around her hand. She pulls it out quickly and puts it in her mouth. “There.”
She looks up at me and grins, and I bend down to press a kiss to her lips. “You are…surprising.”