What Matters
Page 17
“I’d miss you, if you weren’t around. Is that enough?”
Eddie honestly didn’t know, but for now it would have to be.
They got up and meandered, bleary eyed, downstairs to the café for breakfast. A carnival atmosphere greeted them, as it seemed that every Polish immigrant in London had turned out to wish Mr. Nowak well.
“We should give them a hand,” Sam said, gesturing to Mr. Nowak and Dylan, who were rushed off their feet.
But Mr. Nowak wouldn’t hear of it. “Not today, Sammy. Today, I cook for you, and you watch. Be your last chance to learn something, eh?”
And apparently that included Eddie too. Mr. Nowak hustled them to the last free table and plied them with enough breakfast to see them through the week. They were just finishing up when Dylan stopped by the table and dropped a kiss on Eddie’s cheek. “Want me to kiss him too?”
“Piss off.” Eddie shoved him away. “You two are never going to let me forget that night, are you?”
Dylan laughed. “Not if we can help it. But what’s so bad about that? Sam loves you. I love fucking you. Winners all round, if you ask me.”
Eddie choked on the dregs of her tea. “Sam doesn’t love me.”
“Says who?” Sam snapped.
She looked at him. “Says you…or, at least, you’ve never told me otherwise, which is the same thing.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“On that note…” Dylan got up from where he’d stooped to kiss Eddie. “I’m gonna leave you to it, but Sam?”
“What?”
Dylan ignored the growl in Sam’s voice and flashed a winning smile. “Just tell her, man. Don’t be a dick about it.”
He sauntered away, leaving Eddie to glare at Sam, eyebrow raised, fists clenched. “That’s how I get to find out that you love me? You couldn’t just fucking tell me?”
Sam’s scowl faded. “Where would be the fun in that?”
“This isn’t a bloody game.” Eddie pushed back her chair, elation and hurt warring in the pit of her stomach. She loved Sam too, more than she could ever say, but she didn’t want to live like this—playing games over a plate of egg on toast. She wanted Sam to love her, to respect her, and to be proud for the world to know it. She wanted—
Sam grabbed her hands and yanked her out of her seat. “I know it’s not a game. I’m just shit at saying stuff, okay? You know this, and if you love me back, we’re gonna have to learn to work with it. And that’s a big if, Eddie, ’cause the last time I checked, you weren’t throwing around the proclamations either. So what’s it gonna be? Do you love me, or not? Because I love you, and if you don’t feel the same, we’re wasting our fucking time anyway.”
“I love you, Sam.”
“Yeah? Then why the fuck didn’t you say—”
It was the second time that day that Eddie had silenced him with an earth-moving kiss, but the difference this time was that they weren’t alone—they weren’t holed up in his flat, naked in bed. They were in the café, yards away from where their story had begun, and as the crowd of Polish regulars catcalled and whistled, Eddie knew that whatever happened from this moment on, she’d found her home.
Gracie Leigh
Gracie Leigh is a pseudonym of award winning romance author Garrett Leigh. The best way to keep up to date with Gracie is to like and follow her brand new Facebook page facebook.com/thegracieleigh
Garrett Leigh
For updates on Garrett, join her Facebook fan group, Garrett's Den... facebook.com/groups/garrettsden
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press. Her debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.
When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.
Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com
Links to reach Garrett:
Main Web page: garrettleigh.com
Twitter: twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh
Facebook: facebook.com/garrettleighbooks
Instagram: instagram.com/garrett_leigh
Cover Art: blackjazzdesign.com
Titles by Garrett Leigh
The BLUE BOY Series
Bullet
Bones
Bold
Coming soon: Brave
Also by GARRETT LEIGH
Slide
Marked
Rare
Freed
Misfits
Strays
My Mate Jack
Lucky Man
Only Love
Heart
Between Ghosts
Rented Heart