Six Month Rule (Kingston Ale House) (15 page)

Chapter Nineteen

“
What
are you doing?”

Brynn’s tone was more accusatory than inquisitive, and Holly was reconsidering letting her sister keep a key. Only because she
had
locked herself out more than once in the past year did she let it go for now, but sometimes a girl wasn’t up for an unannounced visit. Especially if she was about to get reprimanded.

Holly looked up from her laptop and winced at the crick in her neck. She did a slow roll of her head from shoulder to shoulder, trying to loosen it up, because she knew this only gave her sister more ammunition.

Brynn plopped down on the couch beside her, and Holly sighed.

“I’m working.”

She’d stayed at the party long past when it ended, helping Brynn and Jamie close up the bar. Holly had even let herself
have a lie-in
. Yes, she was thinking in Will’s Britishisms because she adored them, and they made her conjure up his voice. She missed that voice even though they’d spoken only hours ago. She missed the
voice
. That’s what she told herself. A voice could be missed independent of the man.

She was a terrible liar, even to herself. But the alternative was to try to rationalize what missing
him
would mean. It hadn’t been six months yet. Would she still miss him after the new year? Holly wished
she
was in England at the moment, in the
future
. Maybe then she’d know.

Brynn crossed her arms. “I thought you weren’t going to do this anymore—work straight through the weekends. You were sick for days last month because you’re pushing yourself too hard with this Fallulah Chan person’s account.”

Holly placed the laptop on the coffee table and stood up to stretch. When her gaze fell on the kitchen clock, she did a double take. How was it already four o’clock? Will was taking an early evening flight out of London. He’d be landing in three hours, and she still had to read a revised contract from the W that would allow the hotel and Trousseau to share the DJ that had already been hired for the New Year’s Eve party. That would take her at least another hour. Then she had to shower, because she’d collapsed in bed last night without even washing her face, and she’d slept in her Dorothy braids that now looked like two mangled nests. And he’d be hungry, right? She could make something quick or order in. He did like that Thai place around the corner. And since
today
was actually the thirty-first, trick-or-treating would be underway. Holly loved handing out the candy, but maybe tonight she should just place the bowl outside the door.

She grabbed Brynn by both wrists and pulled her up.

“It’s
Tallulah
Chan, and you need to go.”

“But I just got here,” she said, wrenching herself free from her sister’s grasp.

Holly nodded and tried this time to drag her sister toward the door. “I know. Thanks for stopping by, but I’m really swamped. Call you tomorrow?”

Again Brynn freed herself. She spun toward Holly and braced her hands on her sister’s shoulders.

“Chill the fuck out, lady.
What
is going on?”

Holly worried her lip between her teeth then blew her growing-out bangs from her forehead.

“I’ve been good the past several weeks,” she said. “I really have, balancing work and—outside of work
stuff
. But I don’t know. He’s coming home earlier tonight than he normally does, and I just got this new contract on Friday, and I
didn’t
work all weekend. I was at
your
party last night. If…if I get sick again, maybe I’ll blame it on you.”

Brynn let go of her, and Holly tugged her rogue bangs behind her ear.

“Sweetie, you
can
balance it all, work and a relationship.”

Holly laughed quietly. “It’s not a
real
relationship. I mean, it’s over in eight weeks, so I don’t have to balance anything. We just need to enjoy the time we have until Will rows himself back across the pond for good.”

Brynn’s mouth fell open. “I
knew
it! He’s a rower. God, that’s sexy.”

“I know, right?” Holly said.

Brynn waved the thought away. “Wait. That’s beside the point. The issue here is you taking on too much and not admitting that if you slowed down, eased up on the deadlines you create for yourself, you’d be happier, healthier, and have more time for the relationship you’re not really in. When does that contract need to be signed?”

Holly mumbled something, and Brynn raised her brows.

“I’m sorry. What was that?”

Holly huffed out a breath. “I have the week to review it.”

Brynn narrowed her gaze. “Then what’s the rush?”

“Because. I don’t have a job like you, where I can go into my best friend’s quiet little bookstore and hide in my office and add up debits and credits. I’m not perfect, organized Brynn, who always knows what’s coming next. I have
no
idea what new project will hit on Monday or what fire I’ll have to put out—
literally
. Once, one of the models tried to sneak a smoke in the breakroom. When Jackie from the front desk caught her, she thought it would be a good idea to dispose of her cigarette butt in the pot of a fake plant…before extinguishing it.”

Brynn shook her head.

“
Perfect
Brynn? You think all I do is calculate totals?” she asked.

“That’s not what I meant,” Holly said.

Brynn took the last several steps to the door.

“That’s exactly what you meant, Holly. God, you know, some days I’m so proud of you, and others—like today—I think you just don’t get it.”

She was standing in the open doorway now, and Holly wasn’t sure how this had gone from Brynn showing up uninvited to Holly hurting the person she loved most.

“What don’t I get?” she asked.

Brynn leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek.

“I really hope you figure it out,” she told her. “I hope Will has a nice flight
home
. Did you know you said that? That Will was coming
home
? He doesn’t live here, Holly. No matter what you think you’re going to feel in eight weeks, think about how you feel now and the fact that he really is leaving in January. You’re so good at playing pretend. What happens when what you feel is real? I’m not sure you’ll even know.”

Then she closed the door behind her.

What didn’t she get? What was she supposed to figure out? She loved her big sister, but sometimes she was just so…big sistery.

Pretend.
Holly didn’t pretend. If anything, she was the most up-front person she knew. She and Will had an agreement. Nothing more, because both of them knew that more was not a possibility. Which was a good thing. Holly Chandler’s life was full. There wasn’t room for
more
.

She went back to the coffee table and picked up her phone. At least she had her damn horoscope.

“You just don’t get it,” she mumbled, parroting her sister’s voice.

Gemini: No matter the question, you always have the answer. It’s just a matter of recognizing what that answer is. You can be headstrong, Gemini, your best and worst feature. Once you open yourself up to possibilities other than those you envision, you’ll have that which you seek.

She sank back onto the couch.
Great.
Her freaking app was suddenly more of an enigma than her sister, just like Glinda was to Dorothy. Well, she was still dressed like Dorothy if you counted the hair, so she knocked her bare heels together three times.
Nothing.

What possibilities were there other than saying good-bye to Will and hello to her career?

Holly had just finished setting the table when a knock sounded on the door. She’d decided to just keep things simple and order pizza. She’d given the delivery guy enough time to make it before Will arrived so she could keep the pizza warm in the oven, and they could eat first or do
other things
and then eat. She was flexible.

She glanced down at her attire, a British flag T-shirt and jeans, and laughed quietly to herself, not that the pizza guy would get her joke. Or maybe it was trick-or-treaters.

“Coming!” she called toward the door, grabbing the bowl of candy from the small table and, miscalculating the turn around the wall before the entryway, stubbing her toe on the baseboard. “Shit!” she yelped, hopping the last two steps and throwing the door open to see Will standing there, thirty minutes early, pizza box in his hand.

“Here I thought you fancied pizza,” he said, eyebrows raised, “yet you’re yelling profanities as if Lou Malnati himself has disappointed you by delivering this very hot, deep-dish pie.”

He shifted the box from one palm to another, shaking his free hand as if to ward off the heat. “Trick or treat?” he asked, a devilish smirk spreading across that gorgeous, clean-shaven face.

Holly lowered the candy bowl to the ground outside her door and grabbed the pizza from him, hobbling back a few steps to the kitchen counter.

“You’re hurt,” he said, observing her awkward gait as she spun back to face him, but she shook her head.

“Stubbed my toe rushing for the door.”

He nodded. “And I, perhaps, should have thought twice before paying the delivery chap and palming the pizza box fresh from its heat-preserving sleeve. I’m not sure, but I may have just lost all my fingerprints. Should we go commit a crime and test out my theory?”

Holly’s hand flew to her mouth, and she tried to suppress her giggles, but it was a worthless effort.

“We’re ridiculous,” she said.

“Pathetic,” he added.

“You’re early.” Holly crossed her arms in mock annoyance, but really she was trying to direct his attention anywhere but at her shirt. Yes, she’d worn it for him, but she hadn’t anticipated how seeing him just thirty minutes before he was supposed to arrive would affect her—or more specifically, affect her heart. If he looked too closely, would he see it beating beneath the thin cotton of the garment? Would he hear the thunder of activity beneath her rib cage? Funny, she’d always thought of the heart as that necessary organ that kept her alive and stuff, but its current behavior had nothing to do with maintaining her health. And it wasn’t as if today was anything out of the ordinary. This was a regular occurrence for them. Will went to England. Will returned from England. Holly and Will had sex. Repeat. Tonight he’d caught her off guard, before she was fully prepared. That was the logical explanation for what felt to her like an illogical reaction. Everything would go back to normal soon.

“Good tailwinds, I guess,” he said, shrugging.

Will Evans and his…his stupid nonchalance. What fazed him? Seriously, Holly wanted to know. He was always so even and unruffled. Sure, he could be surly and reserved, but she hadn’t seen that side of him in months. And what about him saying he missed her last night like it was nothing, like it was the most natural thing for him to do? They didn’t say things like that, things that involved that blood-pumping, keep-you-alive organ thingy.

This was Brynn’s fault.
She
made Holly think about things she didn’t want to think about. Fine. She liked Will. A lot. But that didn’t matter. How she felt now was nothing when she knew it would ebb, fading away like it always did.

The fading just hadn’t begun, yet. But it was on its way. She was sure of it.

Will skimmed his teeth across his bottom lip.

“I like your shirt,” he said, his gaze intent on hers.

She nodded. She’d prepared something naughty to say about it, something along the lines of wanting to climb his tower of London to hoist her flag, but she couldn’t seem to get beyond the nod.

“May I take it off you?” he asked, stepping forward.

Holly was keenly aware that he’d been in her apartment for several minutes now, and she still hadn’t kissed him. She also knew that the Lou’s pizza sitting on the counter was best eaten fresh from the box, that if she didn’t get it in the oven to keep warm, she would compromise the integrity of some of the best deep dish Chicago had to offer.

Sorry, Lou. But you’re going to have to take one for the team.

She nodded again and held her arms up in the air, watching Will hang on to the last of his restraint as he lifted the shirt over her head and let out a soft growl.

“
Holly.
” His voice was hoarse.

Right. She’d decided that if they weren’t leaving the apartment tonight, a bra was too much of a formality.

His palm was already on her left breast, and he dipped his head, swirling his tongue around her peaked nipple. She let out a moan. Her belly tightened, and she squeezed her legs together, trying to ease the ache building between them.

“The pizza?” she squeaked, a last-ditch effort to stick to how the evening’s plan was supposed to go.

“That’s not what I’m hungry for,” he said, and she arched her back, needing him closer.

He lifted her, and she yelped with laughter, wrapping her legs around his waist as he piloted them to her room and deposited her on the bed. He looked at her, his blue eyes so intense, and the words just tumbled from her lips.

“I missed you, too,” she said, eyes wide at the way she sounded to herself—how she must have sounded to him. Like she only now realized that she was happier when he was here.

Maybe there was more to be said, but Will didn’t give her the chance, because as soon as she’d spoken, he was kissing her, feverish and hungry, and she couldn’t get enough, needed him closer, wanted to taste only him.

He’d had a coffee on the plane, the flavor still on his tongue, and she knew he must be exhausted, the jet lag something he never seemed to get used to. Yet he was awake and full of need and
here
. And Holly hated that this past weekend he wasn’t.

He was unbuttoning her jeans and she his. They spoke only through urgent kisses and frenzied clothing removal so they could explore and touch what both seemed starved for. Will took her other nipple into his mouth while simultaneously reaching for the box of condoms in her nightstand drawer. Holly gasped and reached for his erection, bare and hard against her thigh. She spread his wetness over the tip, and Will groaned, leaving her breasts so he could tear the small package open with his teeth.