The Bookworm's Guide to Dating

by Hart, Emma

  Where I could pretend like this wasn’t all a secret, like we weren’t hiding our relationship from everyone else.

  By hiding up here, we didn’t have to hide us.

  “That’s how I feel,” I said softly, tucking her hair away again. “With you. Nothing else exists when I’m with you.”

  She dipped her head, briefly breaking eye contact, and I knew she was blushing. I reached out and cupped her chin, drawing her attention back to me. Even though it was dark, almost pitch-black, I could still see the shine in her eyes.

  Kinsley covered my hand with hers. “We can do this, can’t we?”

  “We’re not going there again, are we?”

  “No, I mean… We can do this. No matter what my brother says or what anyone else thinks. We can make this work.”

  The rain had stopped, so I took the umbrella from her and closed it before I put it down on the other side of the log that we’d all long used as a bench.

  Then, leaning down, I rested my hands either side of her face and looked down at her. “Kins, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make this work. No matter what your brother says. No matter what anyone says. I don’t give a fuck about anyone else. I only care about you.”

  “It’s going to be really hard, isn’t it? Like, being up here, it’s just reminded me how easy it should be, but it’s not like that normally.”

  “Yeah, it’s gonna be hard, but all relationships are. It doesn’t mean they’re not worth it. The things that matter the most to you are always the hardest.” I brushed my thumbs over her soft, cold cheeks, and lowered my face to hers so our noses brushed. “And you have no idea how long I’ve wanted this. To be here with you. Like this. How hard it’s been to never do anything about how I felt. But now I have, and there isn’t a damn thing in this world that feels more worth it than this moment right here.”

  I felt the bob as her throat swallowed.

  “Do you love me?”

  They were the quietest words I’d ever heard her speak. Like she was more terrified of asking than she was of me answering.

  Impossible. There was no right answer to that question.

  Not yet.

  “I don’t know,” I lied, tilting my head so my nose brushed her cheek and my hand cupped the back of her neck. “Maybe. Maybe not.” I kissed her cheek. “Not yet.”

  Lies. Lies. Lies.

  I am so in love with her it fucking hurts.

  But she didn’t need to hear that right now.

  She needed to hear what she wanted to hear.

  I moved and my lips grazed her ear. “I don’t have to be in love with you right now to know that you’re the only person I want to be with.” My lips ghosted along her jaw until they hovered above her parted ones. “But I know that I will. One day. When you’ve let down the last wall you’ve got built up, that’ll be it for me.”

  “I don’t have a wall.”

  “You do. A little one. And that’s okay.” I gently kissed her.

  “Oh, God. It’s the shape of my brother, isn’t it?”

  I laughed and touched my forehead to hers. “Way to ruin the moment.”

  She sat back with a grimace. “Sorry. Shall we go now or stay a little longer?”

  “It’s quiet. It’s not raining. The clouds have cleared. I think we should ignore the world a little longer.”

  She dropped her head back and looked up at the sky. “Wow. I forgot how beautiful it was up here.”

  Wow indeed. The wonder that stretched across her face was more beautiful than the sparkling of the stars in the sky as the clouds cleared, and I did the only thing I wanted to do right in that moment.

  I lay down on my back, using my duffel bag as a pillow, and patted my chest. She jerked around to look at me, and her face lit up when she realized what I was telling her to do.

  Kinsley crawled over and lay down next to me. The blanket was on the wetter side, but so were we. It didn’t matter a bit as she curled into my side, rested her head on my shoulder, and we looked up at the night sky as the clouds really moved to unfurl its beauty.

  I wrapped my arm around her and rested my cheek against the top of her head. I reveled in the sensation of her against me. I wasn’t sure this was a feeling that would ever get old, and if it did…

  Well, I needed a slap upside the head.

  I just hoped this feeling would never, ever go away.

  ***

  I watched as the sign at the end of the street was changed from ‘FOR SALE’ to ‘SOLD,’ and a smile crept across my face.

  The house really was Colton’s, then.

  It was a bittersweet sight. I knew that meant he’d done two things: called the realtor and confirmed he was going ahead with the purchase… And broken up with Amber.

  I hadn’t seen him all day at work. He’d been gone before I’d left this morning, and I assumed that had been so he could go home, shower, and get ready for work. He’d never showed, so he’d likely called in sick while he sorted his personal life out.

  Or, you know.

  His hangover.

  I let myself into my house and tossed my jacket to the side. It slumped over the shoe rack and onto the floor, but I groaned and ignored it as I turned to the kitchen. I was starving and exhausted from a full day on site, and all I wanted was a coffee, some good food, and a hot shower.

  I doubted any of those three things would come easily, because that was just the kind of day I’d had.

  I fired up the coffee machine and pulled my phone from my pocket. I had to stifle a yawn as I struggled to get my thumb on the right spot on my screen to unlock it. Three new texts showed up—one from my sister, checking in to make sure Grandma hadn’t killed any of the ducks, one from Colton asking if they’d changed the sign on his new house, and one from Kinsley that was a whole bunch of fucking gobbledegook.

  I put the mug under the spout, hit the button, and leaned against the island. I started with my sister, replying that Grandma had not killed any ducks to my knowledge but it was a possibility. I told Colton they’d changed it as I’d gotten home and I’d send a picture when I took the trash out in a bit, then texted Kinsley back a very adult, “What the fuck?”

  Her reply came first.

  KINSLEY: FUCKS. TOMORROW.

  I raised my eyebrows. Oh, yeah?

  ME: I’m listening.

  KINSLEY: Stupid autocorrect.

  KINSLEY: I meant ducks.

  Maybe not.

  Fucking ducks.

  ME: Thanks for getting my hopes up.

  KINSLEY: LOL, but seriously. The duck parade is tomorrow.

  ME: I am not going to the duck parade.

  KINSLEY: Yes, you are. If I have to go, you’re going.

  ME: That only works when everyone knows about us.

  KINSLEY: Fine, your grandma said you had to go or she’s telling Colton.

  ME: Low blow.

  KINSLEY: I know. So you have to come.

  ME: Not the kind of coming I was hoping for.

  KINSLEY: Joshua.

  ME: What?

  KINSLEY: We have to figure out how to handle this because Colt will be there and Mabel runs her mouth faster than Usain Bolt after a world record.

  ME: Fuck.

  KINSLEY: EXACTLY. Are you at home?

  ME: Yes.

  KINSLEY: Have you eaten yet?

  ME: No. I just walked through the door like five minutes ago.

  KINSLEY: I’m bringing dinner. I’ll be there in half an hour.

  ME: You know your brother brought the house right? He could show up at any moment to see it and probably come by.

  KINSLEY: Then I’ll have to keep my pants on this time, won’t I?

  ME: Whoa. Don’t go that far.

  KINSLEY: Go away. I’m going to get food.

  I laughed and grabbed my coffee to take it upstairs. If she was coming over, I desperately needed to shower since I was covered in grime from work, but I was glad I didn’t have to cook.

  Or order my own food
.

  This having a girlfriend thing was really working in my favor.

  I downed half the coffee before I got in the shower. After a hot rinse and a hard scrub, I shut off the water, wrapped a towel around my waist, and headed downstairs to the laundry room for some clean sweats.

  I was almost entirely dry by the time the rumble of Kinsley’s car filled the air. I looked out of the window to see her pull up behind my truck. She got out of the car and walked around the front of it to the passenger side where she opened the door and bent forward, offering me a full look of her ass clad in dark gray yoga pants.

  I groaned. If yoga pants were my fucking kryptonite, and Kinsley in yoga pants was a walking wet dream.

  I adjusted my boxers over my now half-hard cock and walked to the door to let her in. “Did you have to wear yoga pants?”

  “I’m sorry,” she drawled. “Was I supposed to pick up dinner in my underwear?”

  “No, but feel free to eat in it.” I grinned and stepped aside to let her in, then closed the door behind her.

  “But if my brother stops by, I can’t talk myself out of that one.” She returned the smile as she put the bag of food on the kitchen island. “Get some plates.”

  I pulled two dinner plates from the cupboard and set them down. “Tell me about this damn duck thing.”

  Kinsley’s groan reverberated through the entire kitchen. “I picked the last of Grandpa’s tomatoes from the garden this morning and dropped them off when I had my lunch break. Mabel has organized the duck parade to be marched through the gardens of the retirement home tomorrow lunchtime. Apparently, they’re even putting on food.”

  “Do they know how insane this is?”

  She shrugged one shoulder and reached up to tie up her hair into a loose bun. “I have no idea, but it’s absolute carnage over there. Rosie and Agatha have both tried to appoint themselves as ‘Chairwoman of the Parade,’ much to Mabel’s irritation, and your grandmother has just been drinking gin and tonic and leaving them to it.”

  My lips pulled to one side. Rosie and Agatha’s rivalry was somewhat legendary, and I wasn’t surprised to hear that they were now arguing with each other over something they thought was completely stupid.

  Nor was I surprised to learn that my grandmother was drinking her way through the process.

  If you asked me, she had it right.

  “Isn’t this Mabel’s thing?” I asked, emptying mushroom ravioli onto my plate. “Why wouldn’t she be the… chairwhatever is it.”

  “That’s the point.” Kinsley said, opening her own takeout container of spaghetti bolognese. “She believes she should be, so nothing is really getting done. Or at least it wasn’t an hour ago when Amanda called me and passed on a request from my grandpa to get balloons.”

  “Balloons?”

  “Yeah, and not little ones either.” She picked up her fork and sat on the stool nearest to her. “Those big ass helium things. They found a store in Creek Hill that sells duck and chicken-shaped balloons and want me to go and pick up twenty of them.”

  “Twenty of them?” My eyes bugged. “How the hell are you supposed to get twenty of them in your car?”

  “That’s what I said!” She paused.

  I didn’t like that.

  “What did you do?” I asked, staring at her with my fork paused mid-way to my mouth.

  “Um.” She scratched the back of her neck and looked away as she shrugged off her sweater. “I volunteered you.”

  “Kinsley, I am not going to drive to Creek Hill to pick up twenty balloons that are shaped like chickens and ducks.”

  “I kind of promised I would make you.”

  “You’re coming with me.”

  “I can’t! I have to open the store!”

  “I have a job.”

  “It’s Saturday. You’re not working this weekend.” Kins folded her arms across her chest. “You have to. They already called the store and bought them.”

  “Jesus Christ.” I rubbed my temples. “Why am I always getting dragged into this shit?”

  “Because our grandparents are ridiculous,” she said without batting an eyelid. “You should be thankful you didn’t have to see the argument about which duck was going to wear the bow tie.”

  “Wouldn’t it be the male?”

  “You’d think.” She picked her fork back up and twisted it in the spaghetti. “Mabel still insists it’s a girl. Problem is, ducks can be hard to sex. It’s usually when they start quacking or laying, and they’re too young to lay yet.”

  “Why do you know so much about ducks?”

  She blinked at me. “Our grandparents are insane, Josh. And I have access to Google. I was settling an argument.”

  “Didn’t they already have that?”

  “What part of them being insane don’t you understand?”

  That was a very good point. I also had no doubt they would still be arguing about the gender of the damn duck for the next six months. Mabel would probably set a camera up in their duck house and make sure it laid to be right, and even then she’d still argue it.

  “So what is happening tomorrow?”

  “You have to drive to Creek Hill at nine to pick up the balloons at nine-thirty and drop them off at the retirement home. Then we have to show up again at eleven-thirty to be ready for the parade at midday.”

  This was so fucking ridiculous, and I said as much.

  Sighing, Kinsley set down her fork. “I know that, but what can we do? We have to go and pretend like we care so they’ll move onto something else.”

  “Do you really believe they’ll do that?”

  “Absolutely not,” she replied. “But it’s all I have left to hold onto, Josh. Don’t ruin this for me.”

  She looked so forlorn all I could do was laugh at her. She pouted for a moment before she laughed right along with me, and we ate the rest of our meal in an amicable silence that was broken only by the clinking of our forks against our plates.

  When we were done, I collected them both and put them in the sink while she disposed of our trash in the can. We moved through to the living room where we unanimously agreed on putting the next episode of Schitt’s Creek on. We were on episode three of season five, and Kinsley nestled in next to me so we could watch.

  “I can’t believe you signed me up to buy a ton of balloons,” I muttered, trailing little circles on her forearm with my fingertip.

  “I want to say I’m sorry, but I’m really not.” She choked back a laugh and tilted her head back to look up at me. “I am not doing it. I don’t care.”

  I sighed. “You’re really lucky I like you, you know that?”

  “Oh, yeah? And what would you do if you didn’t?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t be getting twenty poultry-shaped balloons in my truck tomorrow,” I said dryly. “But here we are.”

  She jabbed her elbow into my thigh, making me wince. “Shut up.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.” She scrambled to sit up and faced me. “You’re very argumentative today.”

  “So would you be if you had to pick up twenty—”

  “Oh, my God. They’re just balloons and they won’t fit in my car. Stop being a baby.”

  “Make me.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – JOSH

  rule twenty-one: there’s only so long you can hide before you get found.

  “Make you shut up?” Kinsley raised her eyebrows. “What? By like stuffing a sock in your mouth?”

  “Not exactly.” My lips twitched, and I pulled her onto my lap so she was straddling me.

  She pouted, flattening her hands against my chest. She barely needed to wriggle before I felt my cock hardening against her, and that made her pause.

  “Don’t say it,” I groaned, dropping my head back against the back of the sofa. “If you wore those yoga pants over here, and I can’t rip them off you, I’m gonna need another shower.”

  Laughing, Kinsley pressed her forehead
against my shoulder for a moment, then sat back up again. “I’d prefer if you didn’t rip them. These were pretty expensive, and I like them a lot. You can… peel… them off.”

  I jerked my head up. “Peel them off? Does that mean—”

  Another laugh came, and she slid her hands up my chest to cup my jaw. She dipped her head and kissed me, answering my question without words.

  I groaned into her mouth, moving my hands up her thighs until I grabbed her ass. My fingers dug into the soft material of her yoga pants, and my cock hardened against her as she nestled right in against me.

  Kinsley deepened the kiss, using her tongue to part my lips. Every part of my body was alive, and my heart hammered against my ribs when she wrapped her arms around my neck, pressing her body entirely against me.

  Her hips ground against mine, and my cock throbbed as it fought against the constraints of my sweats. I palmed her ass cheeks as she moved her hands across my shoulders and down my biceps, her entire body flexing and moving against me needily.

  All I wanted to do was tear off her clothes and push my cock inside her. Keep her on me, like this, grinding against me while she rode me. With my fingers digging into her ass cheeks and her nails in my neck and her moans on my mouth.

  Fuck.

  I let go of her ass and grabbed the bottom of her shirt, lifting it up her body. The movement broke our kiss, and as she lifted her arms for me to pull it off, it revealed her bare breasts.

  She had no damn bra on.

  Fuuuck.

  Groaning again, I cupped the back of her neck and drew her mouth to mine. I kissed her hungrily, reveling in every sweep of my tongue against hers. Already my skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat, and Kinsley’s skin was just as hot under my touch.