Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Pick your poison,” I said to Hugh, gesturing to the selection. “Or I can rummage up anything else you want. Their fridge is the size of my cookie closet.”
“Cookie palace, you mean?”
“Mph. What do you want to drink, boyfriend?”
His cheeks flushed a little pink. “Mimosa. Thanks.”
As I handed him a glass, I saw his eyes roving over the place, taking in the many faces and facets of the Flower Family.
“I can’t believe this is your family,” he said softly. “You always seem like an only child.”
“Technically, I am an only child—”
Jasmine overheard and rolled her eyes. “Only because he refuses to acknowledge us,” she said, seemingly unperturbed by my dismissive attitude. “Like he thinks if he ignores us, we’ll go away. Or maybe he just thinks he’s better than us because of his big money and fancy penthouse apartment.”
It was clear she was teasing. Not only did she have a Cheshire grin, but her eyes were also dancing with clear intent to embarrass me in front of Hugh.
“Yes, that’s me. The evil villain in his fortress,” I murmured before taking two drinks, a mimosa in one hand and Bloody Mary in the other. Who said I had to decide? Why couldn’t I have both?
Hugh pretended to consider Jasmine’s words. “You know… he did call himself a rich man with an evil lair last night…”
I choked on my mimosa. “Oh my god, you ass.”
Hugh raised a brow at me. His innocent expression was a total lie. “Tell me I’m making it up. Tell your sister I’m a liar.”
He was so handsome, so undeniably sexy, I couldn’t help but lean in and kiss his teasing mouth. The crisp sweetness of the champagne doubled. “You’re using my words against me,” I said against his lips.
His laughter bubbled through me. When I pulled away from him, not only was Jasmine looking at us with baby bunny eyeballs, but so was my mother.
Shit.
I cleared my throat. “Hugh, this is Jasmine. One of the normal ones. Jasmine, Hugh Linzee. You’ve probably seen his HEA TikTok account.”
She gasped as I’d silently predicted and proceeded to ask him a million questions about it. Hugh learned quickly that both Jasmine and Hyacinth were romance junkies. Jasmine called Hyacinth over, and the two of them sat Hugh down and started scrolling through their phones with him. He looked like he was in heaven. I wandered down to the far end of the large counter to pick at the finger foods that were set out on various trays. I knew from experience the sit-down meal wouldn’t happen for at least another hour.
After a few moments, I realized my mom was staring at me. “Stop,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. “It’s not what you think.”
“It’s as plain as the look on your face, Oscar,” she said. “You’re in love.”
I hissed at her and snapped my head around to make sure no one had heard her, especially Hugh. “Not. Not in love,” I assured her. “It’s casual. The casual-est.”
She chuckled softly. “Sure, baby. Sure, it is. You say that like I don’t know my own son. Like I don’t know what real love looks like.”
I leaned in closer so I could speak more quietly. “I don’t know what real love looks like. But I do know I don’t want it, okay? So please don’t get excited and turn this into something it isn’t.”
She gave me one of those “mother” smiles, the kind that would be condescending and smug if it didn’t come from the person you were supposed to love and respect the most in the world. “Give it some time. There’s no rush. As you know, I didn’t marry Birch until we’d been together several years.”
Marigold was standing nearby listening to us. “Because you thought we weren’t ready to have a new mom.” She winked affectionately. “Ha. Joke’s on you, sucka. We were desperate for you to marry Dad. And we felt like we hit the family lottery when we got you and Oscar.”
Hugh had wandered back over in time to catch her comment. He glanced at me with a smile, so I tried to shoot him one back. His smile faltered, but before he had a chance to say anything, Birch thanked everyone for coming and announced it was time to sit down for the meal.
I grabbed Hugh’s hand and pulled him toward the dining room, explaining hurriedly that we needed to avoid the end of the table near the kids’ table at all costs.
“But I like kids,” he said.
“No, same. It’s not that, believe me. The problem is—”
“Uncle Oscar’s here!” a small voice said before someone cannonballed into the back of my legs. I grabbed for the wall to keep from tripping onto the person in front of me and turned to extricate myself from the little pair of arms acting like manacles around my thighs. “Uncle Oscar, did you bring Frank?”