“Ethan.” I nudged his thigh with my foot. “Seriously, talk to me.”
He threw me a questioning side look. “You don’t see it? Really?”
He was exasperating with his half-words and subtle allusions to something that I was missing.
I crossed my arms over my chest with a huff. “Would I be asking if I did?”
“Hugo hates classical music, and he hates the Golden box.”
“Okay…” I trailed off. My heart started to beat faster at what his words were implying.
“Why did you feel guilty? Technically, you were not doing anything wrong, but somehow, I don’t think you felt guilty over Hardings.”
I felt my stomach dip at what he was almost saying, which was the same thing I refused to acknowledge.
“Say what you want to say,” I replied, a little more harshly than I intended.
“You’re four months pregnant, Ava.” He jerked his head toward my stomach, covered by my oversized sweater and thick wooly blanket. “You’re starting to show, and yet despite saying that you are planning to go back to Yorkshire and leave all of this behind, I don’t see you taking any steps toward it.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he added quickly. “I would know, I am the master avoider, but I also know that it’s out of character for you.”
“I’m not avoiding anything.”Liar!
He arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t you?” He nodded. “Have you told Ms. Agnes you were moving out? Have you told your parents you were moving back? Have you even told them you were pregnant? What about the agency guy—have you even told him to arrange an interview?”
I didn’t know what to answer. I knew I was stalling. “My parents are leaving for their cruise tomorrow. I’ll talk to them when they come back. I don’t want them to worry for no reason. As for the job…” I grabbed my phone to reply to Jeff's latest email and ask him to set up interviews. “See, I’m doing things. What about you, huh?” I jerked my head toward him. “You said you wanted to move with me and yet…”
He turned toward me with a grin. “Ah, joke’s on you! I’ve already contacted a few of my colleagues in town to sell them my list of clients, and I’ve contacted an estate agent in Sheffield to help me find an office.”
“You did?”
He nodded. “I have not pressed the button yet, but I’m ready when you are. It just—” He reached for my leg under the blanket and squeezed my knee. “Would it cost you that much to admit that your lack of interest in the billionaire stud Hardings or the slow moving is not due to apprehension but to the way you feel about Hugo?”
It would cost me a broken heart. I shook my head mutedly.
“He hates classical music, Ava. He truly does, and he showed up there last night.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
He sighed, leaning his head back on the sofa, looking at the ceiling. “Because no matter how much it gives me the creeps to just imagine it, I’m thinking that maybe Hugo and you…” He stopped talking and I just stared at his face, hanging on to the next words that would come from his mouth as if they were gospel.
He muttered something about ‘abomination’ before shaking his head. “Hugo never does anything that makes him uncomfortable or that is not for his own enjoyment. Hugo cares for no one but himself, but he asked me about you and the baby.” He stopped talking again and looked at me. “If you want to be with him, Ava, it’s okay. I will not be mad or feel betrayed. I will be grossed out that you let him touch you, but I will still love you and you will still be my best friend.”
I felt tears prick my eyes and I blinked them away. I was too tired to lie—to him or to myself. “I am crazy, I know I am, but sometimes I see a different side of him, and when I’m with him I feel things that—”
As if on cue, my phone rang and his name appeared on the screen. I grabbed it so fast I almost fell off the couch. I answered breathlessly as Ethan laughed like a madman.
“Hello?”
“How is my little brother doing?” he asked, his tone taunting.
I glanced toward Ethan as he helped me back up onto the sofa. “Why don’t you call him and ask?”
Hugo laughed. “As if he would answer. I need you to be at my penthouse tonight at 7.”
“It’s Sunday,” I replied slowly.
“I don’t need a calendar. I need an assistant.”
It was like the universe was trying to remind me how much of an ass Hugo really was.