Chapter 24: Table Nine, On Purpose

Holbrook was at table nine by half past three.

Bryony watched him from the lobby, through the glass doors of the coffee lounge, before he saw her.

He sat by the window with a laptop he wasn't using and an espresso he hadn't touched.

He checked his watch.

A moment later, he checked it again.

She stood still in the lobby with her bag over her shoulder and flour under her nails, and she loved him so much it was ridiculous.

At ten to four, she walked in.

The hostess saw her, put a finger to her lips, and looked the other way.

Holbrook's head came up.

He didn't smile right away.

He looked at her the way he had the first time, when she walked up to his table.

"You're late," he said.

"I'm exactly on time. I said don't leave before four."

"I wasn't leaving."

"I know."

She pulled out the chair across from him and sat, in her cream blouse, with her hands folded on the table.

The lounge was nearly empty, and the afternoon light fell across the white cloth.

"Who set this up?" he said.

"I did."

"Nobody told you to?"

"No one. My mother doesn't know. Your grandmother doesn't know. I wrote the text on my own phone, with my own thumbs."

"The table."

"I wanted to sit here once on purpose."

He smiled then, slowly, and rubbed his jaw.

"It's a good table."

"It's a terrible table. The sun gets in your eyes at half past four."

Keep reading free with an account. Start One Kiss, the Billionaire's Bride from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.