by Angel Devlin
Finn ordered a bottle of champagne and then told me he could only have a small sip because he was driving.
“Well, I’m only having one glass because I have my other date tonight—if they actually show up. Well, we’ll take the rest back with us.” He said.
Finn had steak and I had a burger. We chatted and laughed, and I realized that my disappointment at Gavin’s no show had lifted because I was enjoying myself anyway.
He insisted we had strawberries afterward and fed mine to me. He was such a dork. And then, he went into his pocket and took out a piece of paper. He knew everything Gavin had written to me as I had shown him. I wouldn’t show him what X had written, but he knew and had made puking noises about what Gavin had wrote.
Unfolding the paper, he started to read out Keats’ ‘Sleep and Poetry’.
It was beautiful and I realized as I sat there that the reason I didn’t care that Gavin was a no-show was because I’d fallen in love with my roommate.
IN LOVE.
I WAS IN LOVE WITH FINN.
SHIT. FUCK. HELL.
“What’s the matter?” Finn said, looking at my wide eyes. I felt like I was about to have a coronary alongside my realization.
“I just, I just—” I couldn’t do it. What could I say?
“I just… realized I don’t know if you have a middle name?” I blurted.
What the actual hell are you babbling on about woman? A middle name?
Finn looked at me strangely. He put the paper back in his pocket.
He cleared his throat. “I do.” He says. “It’s Gavin. Finn Gavin Edwards.”
“Oh my god, what a coincidence.” I told him. “Can we get the bill now please?”
Finn sighed but asked for the bill. I called Jodi. “My date was a no-show. Is it okay if I go home? I want to watch Bridget Jones or something before I try again tonight.”
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. Sure, you go on home. Get yourself a pizza or something.”
“Oh I’ve eaten. Finn took me to Grayson’s.”
There was a pause. “But that place books three months out when it isn’t Valentine’s. How’d he get you in?”
“He’s gorgeous and in a suit. He just smiled at a waitress and BOOM, best seats in the place.”
“Right.” Jodi replied.
As we got up to leave, I turned to Finn. “How much do I owe you?”
He shook his head. “You called me gorgeous. This is on me. My treat, okay?”
“Okay, thank you.” My face heated. I had. I’d told Jodi he looked gorgeous. It was better I didn’t speak unless necessary. I’d throw money on his bed later.
As I opened our apartment door, I heard a noise.
“Finn.” I stood stock still. “There’s someone in the apartment.”
Rather than be scared, Finn just yelled out, “That little shit” and stormed in.
I followed him, taking my boots off on the way through and holding one in each hand in case I needed to throw them at the intruder’s head. Instead, I found a guilty-faced guy who looked remarkably familiar, given that although he had a different hair color, his being dark blond, he had very similar features to the man I shared an apartment with. The blond-haired man had two shirts in his hand and two hangers lay abandoned on the floor.
“What have I told you about helping yourself to my clothes?”
“I’d have asked if you’d have been here. I have a hot date tonight, man. Help a guy out.”
I looked from one to the other.
“Ella, meet my brother, Kit.”
“And Kit has a key to our apartment?” I raised an eyebrow.
Finn looked guilty. “Yes, but only for emergency situations.” He glared at his brother.
“It is an emergency. I have a hot date and no clean shirts.”
Glaring at them both, I snarled. “Sort this out, and don’t come in uninvited again, Kit.” Then I softened my gaze. “Nice to meet you. But you call ahead in future. Okay?”
“Ooh, I can see why you stay here.” I heard Kit say followed by the words, “Oof, what was that for?” and a growl of, “Shut up, already.”
Finn
No sooner had I let Kit have a shirt and kicked him out did my phone ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Finn, it’s Jodi.”
“Oh, can you not get hold of Ella? She’s here, let me get her for—”
“NO.” She shouted to the point I had to hold my phone away from my ears. “It’s you I need to talk to. Gavin.”
Fuck.
“How do you know?” I asked her.
“You just told me.” She said with a triumphant tone.
“Fuck.” This time I actually said it out loud.
“I had my suspicions when you miraculously got a lunch reservation and her date was a no-show. Then I thought about the suit and the car and I decided to pursue my hunch. How did you do it?”
“I emailed Grace and told her I thought I was Ella’s perfect match. She agreed.”
“And then what? It went wrong and she ended up with two matches. So how are you going to deal with the other one?”
“Erm, well, I’m going to pick her up from her apartment and well…”
“What? Drive her in the opposite direction of the restaurant?”
“Erm, no. I’m going to kiss her. That’s the plan.”
There’s a stupefied silence from the other end and then the words, “Oh shit.”
I wait for her next words.
“You’re both of them, aren’t you?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“But why? Why two?”
“Because I wrote completely different things. She wanted romance, but I’m also a dirty bastard. So I gave her both. Then tonight my plan was to confess they’re both me.”
“She’ll kill you.”
“I have to take the risk. Being this near her all the time and not having her is killing me anyway. If it backfires, I’ll just have to look for someplace else to live. I can’t just be her roommate anymore.”
“For what it’s worth, Finn. I wish you all the best tonight.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll make sure you have a good send off after your death.”
She hung up and a feeling of dread pooled in my stomach. I decided it was better to confess now and actually ask Ella on the date, than end up with her dream becoming a nightmare when her second date didn’t turn out as she’d hoped.
Ella
I sat back against my headboard disappointed at the no show. And I had no address so it wasn’t like I could even write back and ask why. I could possibly ask Grace, but I couldn’t bring myself to find the motivation. I had this other date tonight, and anyway, I’d realized I was in love with my roommate. God, I didn’t even want this date anymore. I just wanted to do all those dirty things with Finn. It was his face in my fantasies while I got myself off anyway. It was time I totally admitted to myself that my roommate situation was ruined. I couldn’t stay around him while I wanted to do exactly what Jodi said and climb him like a tree. If he brought a girlfriend home, I might even punch them. It was no good. I was going to have to move.
Feeling maudlin, I decided to get the three letters out from Gavin and give them one last read before I ceremoniously burned them.
I picked up the first for the last time.
Dearest Future Wife
Thank you for your recent letter. I decided to wholeheartedly embrace your idea of conversing with you as a potential future partner! Why not?
I’m Gavin, I’m twenty-eight, and I work in a library. I adore literature. Poetry, fiction, biography. You name it, I’m a fan. I do also enjoy movies, but I’d rather read the book if it’s an adaptation.
Exercise wise, a stroll in the park sounds good. I do like to visit the gym a few times a week to keep myself in peak condition but also love fresh air.
I also have both my parents and I have an annoying younger brother who is the same size as me in clothes an
d calls around to my apartment when I’m not there and ‘borrows’ them.
My ideal date would be a meal somewhere very romantic, maybe with a scenic backdrop, soft music and candlelight.
Is it too forward to say that I hope one day to be a father? At least one child but as many as makes my future wife happy. I hope I’ve not scared you away with that comment, but we seem to be saying we’ll give these letters our all!
Music wise I like classical. If you play Taylor Swift, I shall forgive you (and wear noise cancelling headphones).
Hope to hear back from you soon.
Gavin.
I was smiling at finding out Finn’s middle name was coincidentally the same when I re-read the bit about the younger brother and I froze. I started again at the beginning of the letter.
I work in a library. Finley Gavin fucking conning bastard Edwards did work in a library on occasion when he took his laptop there. He also visited the gym a few times a week…
Never. How could this be? Was FINN Gavin???
I hurtled out of my room and smacked right into a very hard chest.
Looking up I saw an extremely guilty looking face.
“Are you Gavin?” I ask. “Not middle-name Gavin, but romantic letter writing Gavin?”
“Funnily enough I was just coming to tell you… erm, yes. Sorry, it’s me.”
I placed a hand on my hip. “And did you think this was an amusing joke?”
Finn vehemently shook his head from side to side. “No, I meant every word.”
“You… you like me?”
“Yes, Ella. I do. A lot.”
I held myself steady against the wall. “Fuck. I need some time to process this, okay? It’s a lot to think about.” My head was reeling.
“But do you like me too?”
I nodded. “Yes, I do. But I can’t do this right now, okay? I need to re-read the other two letters from you, and then get ready for this date tonight.”
His eyes searched mine. “You’re still going on it?”
“Yes, it’s not fair to cancel. At the very least I owe them a nice meal, even if I’m going to be turning them down. On Valentine’s Day. I’m evil. The poor person.”
He tilted my face up to his. “You’re not evil. You’re lovely. I will do my bodyguard bit and then later, we talk, okay?”
I nodded again. It was all I was capable of right at that moment. “Okay.”
We walked back to our own rooms. How the hell I managed to not run after him and beg him to take me to bed I had no idea, but I had principles and my manners said I need to be nice to X. Goddammit, I really loved his sexy words. He’d make a good writer. I was just sorry for him that I was in love with Finn.
Later, I stood at Finn’s door dressed in my gold dress. Part of me considered wearing something else, but then I realized I wanted Finn to see me in it. I knocked on his door but there was no response. Pushing the door open I found he wasn’t there.
He was supposed to be driving me to my date. Where was he?
A knock came at the front door. Sighing, I went to open it. To find Finn on the other side.
“Why are you knocking on our own door?”
He answered by pushing me back against the wall and capturing my lips with his.
Holy mother of God.
It couldn’t be?
Never.
Could it?
He broke off.
“Are you X as well?” I asked on a husky whisper.
“Could be.” He answered. “What would you say about it if I was?”
“I’d ask why you were talking when right now you were supposed to have your hand fisting in my hair and the material of my dress in your other hand.”
We never made it to the restaurant after all.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Date: February 15, 2019
Subject: Happy Valentine’s Day???
Dear Ella
I hope you can forgive me for the naughty subterfuge I engaged with, with Finn, in order to get you to your perfect match. I made him complete an application form and he was perfect for you, so I decided to go along with his dastardly plans! It was super fun, I have to admit.
Anyway, I wish you the very best and hope you’re very happy together. I’m sure you will be. I’m amazing at my job!
Love, Grace.
Ella
I woke up as Finn brought me a coffee to bed. His fingers trailed up my cheek just like his letter said they would.
“Did you mean everything you said in your letters?”
“Yes. You need a room for your dressmaking, so I don’t keep getting pins stuck in my feet. It’s highly annoying.”
I threw a cushion at him. “That’s not what I meant.”
He smiled. “I know, and yes, I meant every word. And I’m already halfway through writing my own book. It’s about a man who has to live with the most irritating roommate ever and how he plots to kill her.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “As long as it’s fiction.”
He took my mouth with his and we enjoyed a long leisurely kiss.
“So, what do we do next, dearest future wife?”
I laughed. “God, did it make you cringe that I wrote that?”
He lifted something out of his pajama pocket and dropped to his knees beside the bed.
“Ella Cassidy. I have lived with you for a while now. I know your faults and your dreams and I’m in love with them and with you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my dearest future wife?”
I had tears in my eyes and could barely speak.
“Seriously? This is not a joke?”
“It’s not a joke, Ella. We can take our time, but you’re mine. So what do you say?”
I nodded my head as tears rolled down my cheeks. “I say yes, Finn. I love you too. I say yes.”
He placed the ring on my finger. It was slightly too large, but I didn’t care. We could sort that later. Right now, I wanted the morning he promised in his letter.
Snuggles and sexy time with my dear future husband.
Who knew? He’d been right there all along.
THE END
To read the Keats’ poem click here
Harlow’s story is next, Together Forever, ready for St. Patrick’s Day in March.
Jodi’s story will follow soon!
Skip the chocolates, forget the roses. Who needs candlelit dinners when you can have fifteen Valentine’s Day romances set in a shared world?
Your favorite collaboration pack is back, this time with match-maker stories that put the man in roMANce… our heroes are all alpha, all swoon-worthy, and all for YOU!
Happy hearts day, sweetie!
Tracy Lorraine Dear All Star Player by Tracy Lorraine
Dear Baby Daddy by Alexis Adaire
Dear Double Team by Olivia Hawthorne
Dear Future Husband by Angel Devlin
Dear Hungry Wolf by Vivian Ward
Dear Lonely Heart by Fiona Starr
Dear Mr Firefighter by Kelli Callahan
Dear Mr. Heart On by Frankie Love
Dear Mr. Maybe by Dori Lavelle
Dear Mr. Right Now by Kim Loraine
Dear Mr. Temporary by Rebecca Gallo
Dear Phoney Finance by Alexx Andria
Dear Sexy Swimmer by Dee Ellis
Dear Shy Guy by Laney Powell
Dear Worst Enemy by Sher Dillard
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Acknowledgments
With thanks to my Halo and Horns Reader Group for assisting with coming up for a name for the coffee shop and to Emma Causer for the winning name HappBEANness.
It’s perfect.
About the Author
Angel Devlin is the sexy alter-ego o
f paranormal, rom com, and suspense writer, Andie M. Long. Check out Angel for stories of heart and heat.
She lives in Sheffield with her partner, son, and a gorgeous whippet called Bella.
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