Read Online Life In The Palace by Catherine Green - Free Book Online Page B

monotheistic, not much.” Apparently this was outside her area of expertise.
    I tried Googling the People, and got distracted by people.co.uk which turned out to be a British celebrity gossip site. I wasted some time looking at the latest B-list celebrity divorce scandal that being British I had missed in my previous session of voyeurism.
    I’d actually managed to go a good few minutes without thinking about Seth when Simone walked into my room. “You’ve got a visitor.”
    I tried to control my smile as I looked up from my computer.
    “Should I send him in?” Her eyes spoke volumes, most of which were ????!!!!???..
    “Sure,” I kept my tone as casual as possible.
    Seth brushed past her. He looked at me and smiled. I looked at him and smiled.
    A century later I realized that Simone was still standing at the door with her eyeballs nearly exiting her body. “Simone, this is Seth.” I paused.
    “Her boyfriend,” he added with a grin as he stepped over to my chair and touched my cheek lightly. It’s a good thing that I was sitting down. As it was I nearly slipped off the chair in waves of delight.
    Simone did a double take. Her lips tangled with surprise, her cheeks flushed, she finally croaked, “Oh, nice to meet you. I’ll get back to my dissertation. Do you need anything?”
    I kept my face very still. “No thanks. Good luck with the paper.”
    I don’t think the door had clicked shut before Seth swept me up into his arms.
    Whole species had evolved by the time I thought to speak. We were sitting on the edge of my bed as he stroked my face with the palm of his hand.
    “How did it go with Josh?” I murmured, as his hand came close to my lips and was rewarded with a kiss. The caressing stopped. I lifted my head from his chest.
    “It was alright,” he shrugged.
    “Could you flesh that out a bit more for me please? You said… then he said … ?”
    Seth nodded, “I went over to Frisbee. I said ‘Josh, can I have a word for a minute?’ He said ‘Yes.’ ”
    I rolled my eyes.
    “What? He knew it was coming. We walked a bit away from the others. He said ‘So Chloe’s with you? I guess I didn’t stand much of a chance.’ And I basically said to him, ‘Bro, you know I don’t just date any old girl, not after Emily. I haven’t so much as looked at anyone in over a year. But I’m sorry that when I finally found one that’s worth it, you had to like her, too. I did try to hold back a bit to see if you got anywhere with her but then I just couldn’t help myself.’ He asked where you were, and I said you’d gone home because we didn’t want to make him look like a dick by just turning up together without at least warning him.” He pulled me closer.
    “He wasn’t mad at all?”
    “Nah, it’s not like we’re going to stop being brothers over it. He wasn’t getting anywhere with you, anyway. I asked if he wanted us to lay low for a week or two so he didn’t lose face, but he said he didn’t care. So do you want to go out tonight?”
    “Go out?” It wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind.
    “I’m thinking of it as reverse dating. Usually you take the girl out get to know her a bit. Then when things seem to be working, you become an item. And then, when you’re really sure, you declare your undying love. We seem to have started at the end.”
    I sat back and looked at him, “You declared you undying love?” I asked suspiciously.
    He bit his lip and was uncharacteristically unsure of himself. “I might have,” he said slowly.
    “Very undying or just like until you’re thirty?” My mouth was on autopilot and this time not helping me out.
    I think I was having an out of body experience. How can one person stand such pleasure? I didn’t need his words to know what his eyes were telling me. He loves me. I’ve loved him since the first moment I saw him. Why else would I let down all my defenses and fall for a guy who represents all of the things that I usually run from in life? Because