Share
Chapter 118
Related chapters
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 119
Welp, Cole was miserable. It was hard work for her to get over Aiden Crux. But at least being at home gave her time and space to do it. Endless amounts of both. She slept a lot, read every Georgette Heyer in the house in mad, weepy binges, and wandered the hills and shore in a fashion that would surely have made her Byronic locks and long black coat billow in the wind. If she’d had Byronic locks and a long black coat. Hazel must have said something to Cole's Mum and Rabbie because they didn’t bug her. Just let her come and go as she pleased. Talk when she felt like it. The days moved very slowly. It must have been a week later, Cole was sitting in the garden, on the swing Rabbie had strung from their gnarly old oak tree. It was the best spot because one could see all the way down to the sea. And if one went high enough and fast enough, it felt like they could drown in the sky. Cole had probably spent hours out there when growing
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 120
Cole was sufficiently overwhelmed that even when he moved his hand, she didn’t pull away. She just stood there quietly while he kissed her cheeks, her eyes, and the tip of her nose. “I know you don’t, but I think we could have something good together. If you could just accept its—my—limitations.” “We already tried it your way, and you made me feel like shit,” Cole replied. “It wasn’t exactly straightforward for me, either. Being constantly aware of letting you down.” Cole stared at him, shocked and a little bit horrified. He always seemed so controlled and unreachable that she hadn’t really imagined the possibility of, well, affecting him at all. “You won’t let me down, as long as you try.” “You have no idea what you’re asking.” And here they were: going round this mulberry bush again. “Stop treating me like I don’t understand my own desires. Or like I can’t handle yours.” Cole dragged herself out of his arms with a frust
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 121
"N-nothing.” He drew back, but it was only to stand and pull Cole from the swing and into the crook of his arm. He didn’t usually hold her like this, so there was a brief moment when he almost felt like a stranger. But his cologne swept over her like homecoming and Cole melted. Snuggled. Pressed her cheek into the soft, body-warmed cashmere of his jumper. And then burst into tears. “What did I do?” he asked, sounding kind of stricken. Cole made a grotesque gurgling noise. And finally managed, “You were missed. You were missed way too much.” “I missed you too. Enough to chase you to the ends of the earth, my Cole.” “Only on a technicality.” “It still counts and I’m taking it.” She sort of laughed and sort of sobbed. “You’re not going to lose me unless you push me away. Can’t you trust, just a little bit, that I like you?” “It’s hard to believe.” “Why? Haven’t you seen yourself?” “Yes, and you’re e
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 122
Introducing Aiden Crux to her family went pretty much the way she thought it would: which was to say, it was weird as hell, but everyone was super-committed to pretending it wasn’t. Especially considering she had to skirt around their actual relationship. And he probably wasn’t what they were expecting from Ardy’s First Proper Boyfriend. He was charming, though. Attentive and courteous. Perfect gentleman caller material. Not shy, exactly, because there was too much assurance in him for that, but careful. Like he’d come to pick her up for prom and was concerned his intentions might not be deemed honorable. And if her folks knew he was a wildly famous and important type person, they were too polite to make a big deal out of it. Rabbie did ask Aiden what he did and he replied mildly that he was in financial management. And it was only when she spotted a copy of TIME—which just happened to have Aiden right on the front, fierce and unassailable, all folded arms a
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 123
And Cole watched Aiden, who was both nothing like she had thought he would be and yet still, somehow, everything she wanted. He was stern and sweet, rough and gentle, invincible and vulnerable, wickedly sexy and unexpectedly kind. He missed his father, didn’t understand his sister, resented his own desires, and, occasionally, made Cole the center of his goddamn universe. Cole knew herself well enough to recognize that she was well and truly fished. All it would take was a twitch upon the line, and she would be arse-over-elbows in love with him. Once they had taken the edge off their hunger, conversation flowed pretty naturally. Cole noticed early on that Aiden was doing his thing again, asking lots of questions, discovering where someone’s passions lay and letting them talk. But he had already been way more forthcoming than he had to be—all that stuff about chess and his family—so Cole left him to it. She simply enjoyed the way he had of making people feel listened to and importan
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 124
By the time Cole had dealt with everything and shown him how to find the bathroom, being alone with Aiden felt incredibly significant somehow. Almost too much. Cole had always loved her mom’s room. It had been storage space when they first arrived, but her mother had done it up. It was right at the back of the house, in the pointy bit. The bed was tucked under the eaves, and her mother had strung up a bunch of fairy lights so it felt like lying under a canopy of electric stars. It was Cole’s favorite place to read, tucked under the handmade quilt and propped up on the jewel-colored throw pillows, the sea whispering to her just on the edge of hearing. It had seemed pretty magical at the time, but with Aiden standing there – hunching a little to avoid banging his head on the ceiling and looking as if he’d been airbrushed in from an issue of GQ – it seemed more kind of…shabby. Quaint, if one were feeling generous. And then he pulled his jumper over his head, and Cole stopped worrying
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 125
Laughing, Cole kicked out playfully with her foot, which made him laugh, too, and drag her down the bed. They tussled as quietly as they could, muffling giggles in each other’s skin, until they were just embracing, tangled up together. Aiden’s hands swept up her spine, bringing heat and a hint of possession. And Cole gasped, shamelessly eager to be touched and claimed. Full of this unexpected gratitude. She hadn’t realized just how empty he’d left her. How much she’d ached for roughness and for tenderness and for him. “Cole,” he whispered. “My Cole.” He brushed the back of her neck. She didn’t even know she was sensitive there but she half thought she could feel the whorls in his fingertips. Sensation spilled over her skin like a river breaking its banks, pretty much dissolving her into squirms and whimpers. “Please, oh please.” She hardly knew what she was begging for. But Aiden did, sitting up and gathering her into his lap, before covering her mouth with his. Such a good
Miss Goody Two Shoes Chapter 126
******Part II************* Cole had had a totally crazy dream. She dreamed that she met a billionaire called Aiden Crux and he kind of liked her. Well, liked her enough to put her up in a ludicrously expensive London flat but not enough to trust her, talk to her, or spend any time with her. It was a sufficiently self-esteem-tanking level of liking that Cole ended up running back to her family’s place in Scotland. But, it was also a sufficiently something level of liking that he wound up following her. And telling her a bunch of things which made her realize that not only did her level-of-liking scale need serious recalibration, but she liked him enough to give it another go. Except, oh wait, that wasn’t a dream. It had really happened. And there was Aiden himself, tucked into the corner where the bed met the window, watching the distant sea. He was pale in the cool, blue-tinted morning and a little tousled—that one wayward lock of his fallen free again. The
Latest chapter
