Page 175 of The Grand Duel

Can’t dance

Danced all night

Might fancy me a bit

Insufferable

BeautifulThe most beautiful

I swallow, my heart skipping a beat.

STUBBORN

Apparently has a grip and I do not

I sit back and stare at the laptop, my mind scrambling to figure out if he really sat across from me for the last month and wrote down all the things he noticed. And why? Why would he make a list like this?

This…Thisis what he’s been working on when we’re in the car?

From those first few days.

He said that he didn’t tell me about the club because he wasn’t ready to open up. I’m not sure any excuse was going to mean much to me in the moment, I was hurt, but this…this list shows me exactly how he felt about me. That I wasn’t just another girl who he slept with and then lied to. That he does actually care. Care to notice these things about me, and care to then write them down.

I roll my lips, trying to hide my smile as my chest warms, my heart feeling a little giddy.

I read over some of the words again, pausing at the sentences and smiling a little at how accurate they are.

Eventually, I close the laptop and leave his office, knowing if I want to make my eight o’clock appointment with the guy I might still fancy a little bit, I need to get home.

The flowers on my doorstep remind me of my dad, only the bouquet is so excessive, I know they’re not from him.

I bend and pick them up and then lean in, inhaling their scent. They smell amazing.