Read Online Nothing Like the First Time by Keren Hughes - Free Book Online Page A

was a relative.
    “Oh , darling.” She placed her manicured hand on my arm “Grey is head over heels in love with you. He should be telling you himself, of course.”
    “But I’ve been ignoring him ,” I uttered, still in a state of shock.
    “Well, yes, there is that. It’s not my place to tell you what to do , of course, but if you love him, Carly, please tell him and put the poor guy out of his misery. He’s been moping around for weeks now. He thought after what happened that night after bumping into you at Sinners, well, I shouldn’t tell you what he thought, he should. Please call him.”
    “You know what happened?”
    “Yes, but only because he was moping round the house, drinking whiskey the next night and confessed what happened. Look, I know he regrets ever leaving you, do you think you could at least talk to him?”
    “I… yes… no… I don’t know ,” I said as I stood up. “I’m sorry, I’ll bring your desserts.”
    I walked away and placed their order. I stood at the bar and pondered over what Maggie had said. She was his cousin, she was engaged to someon e else—Grey still loved me, I’d hurt him. He was moping around missing me. What could I do to make things right?
    Once their order was up, I took the plates to their table.
    “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said all that, Carly,” Maggie said, sounding so sincere.
    “ It’s okay, Maggie. You’re only looking out for your cousin.”
    “I only want him to be happy. It’s none of my business wheth er you two work it out or not—though I do hope you do. I admit, when we first got back to town and I saw you… well, I wasn’t impressed. I mean sure, you’re gorgeous, but you looked like you didn’t want to give Grey the time of day—then you went and proved me right by ignoring him. So yeah, I was mad at you, even though I didn’t know you and it was none of my business. However, since Grey told me you two slept together, I thought maybe you did still love him, and I’m no fool—I’ve seen the way you look at him when you think no one is watching. Look, I’ll just say this, he loves you and wants to be with only you, and as his family, I want to protect him—but I know deep down you love him like crazy, it’s written on your face as plain as day.”
    “Thank you for your honesty, Maggie. I’ll leave you to your desserts. Your bill is here,” I said as I placed the folder with the bill on their table, “and you can pay whenever you’re ready to leave. I’ll bring over another round of drinks, on me.”
    I left before she could protest.
    I asked Jason for another wine and another beer, then went back to the table.
    Maggie and Ben came over to pay the bill and say goodnight a short while later. As I watched them leave, I knew a decision had to be made on my part. Did I love Grey? Of course I did. Did I want to be with him? Would he even want me now after weeks of not hearing from me?
    I went home that night with more questions than answers. This led to a fitful night’s sleep.
    The following mo rning, I met Jodie at the gym—I needed to work some of this out in the form of demanding exercise.
    “Good morning ,” Jodie said in her cheery tone. I needed some of her enthusiasm and good cheer this morning.
    “Morning ,” I replied in what came out as a less happy voice than I had tried for.
    “What’s got your knickers in a twist?” she asked as we entered the gym.
    “It’s a long story.”
    “We have time, it’s our day off, remember?”
    “Well, to cut a long story short, I royally fucked up.”
    Her gasp was audible. I hardly ever swear , so she knew something was wrong.
    I cut to the chase and told her the story of the previous evening, what Maggie had told me and how it had left me feeling.
    “Wow. Just FYI, you didn’t fuck up. You didn’t know. You might not have asked him, but he never told you, either—in his defense though, he probably didn’t realize you needed to be told she was his