Page 103 of Try Hard

After a second, she breathed a gentle laugh. “I worked hard to keep you dry and now you’re getting drenched.”

“Worth it.”

She ran her hand ever so tenderly through my hair and down my back. “I’ll still hold you when we’re both dry, you know?”

Will you?The voice in my head that asked was desperate, more needy than I’d been for another person in a long time. “Just one more minute.”

She softened against me. “All the minutes you need.”

“Did I let you down tonight?”

“What? Ophelia, no. Not at all. You were perfect.”

I pressed my lips together sharply and nodded against her chest. I could hear the way her heart rate spiked at my question. I hadn’t meant to stress her out. “I’m glad.”

“You were worried? Why?”

I shrugged. “I’m not as… friendly as you are, not as chatty with people. My mum loved you within a second of you walking through the door. People aren’t like that with me.”

She laughed warmly. “I’m pretty sure my entire family was in love with you before tonight, and dinner only made it increase exponentially.”

“I don’t know if I want them all to be in love with me.” My heart was pounding faster than Eve’s. Relief that they actually liked me and a raging, desperate desire to have her love me swirled through me. The latter was unbelievably familiar. It was more now, real and concrete in a way it hadn’t been when we were kids, but it had always been her.

Eve held me tighter, breathing a laugh into my hair. “Yeah, that’s fair. Soph is really enough.”

“You know,” I said, trying to walk back the emotion that had taken over my voice despite knowing she’d heard andunderstood it all, “I actually heard something very interesting from her tonight.”

“Marriage proposal?” Eve deadpanned, but I could feel her concern in the very real way she stiffened under my touch.

“Not that. Thankfully. No, she’s seeing someone.”

Eve kept her arms around me but she pulled us apart just enough to look at my face. “What?”

“Mm. Someone from her studio, apparently. I’d guess she’s pretty into them. She said she’s better than you because she’s actually asked them out and you haven’t asked me out, but she couldn’t quite seem to label what they were.”

Eve laughed again and rolled her eyes, pulling me back into her damp chest. “She has no idea. But I guess that was the reason she was being oddly… cagey the other day. It really was a date she was going on.”

“Seems like it.”

“I’d be upset that she hadn’t told me but I’m delighted she’s not competing for your affections.”

I laughed easily. “It was never a competition, Archer.”

“Even better. But I still like the reassurance.” She paused, sounding more confused when she continued. “Is it an open relationship? She was still flirting with you pretty heavily tonight.”

“Extremely heavily. But I have no idea. She simply said they know the deal and are cool with it. Also, I think she’s only really flirting with me to annoy you.”

“Ugh. Siblings, huh?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Well, we can be glad of that.”

“Indeed. I have no interest in sharing you with anyone, and that includes any fictional siblings who would definitely be vying for your attention.”

“You think so?” she asked, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

I pulled back to look up at her. “I know so.”