Distracted By You: Book 1 in The Exeter Running Girls Series, стр. 25

humour to his eyes too. The cashier handed me his order.

“I’m sorry,” I looked away from him to make the coffee. “I just don’t want to go on a blind date. Plain. And. Simple.”

“Why not?” Leonora was really starting to get annoyed, practically stamping her foot like an irritated toddler. “You’re being a little bit ridiculous.”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” I reprimanded with a hard glance. “I don’t need any more reason other than not wanting to go.”

“Ivy, we’re not trying to force you into a relationship,” Ellie said with kindness, which at this point only seemed to grate more. Damn her for being so nice, could she just turn into a picture-perfect villain instead? Sadly, no luck. “We just thought it might be a bit of fun. You know, just a nice evening. If he’s weird, you can tell us afterwards and we’ll have a good laugh.”

I sent her my death glare and caught sight of Tye trying not to laugh at my angry eyes.

“Cappuccino!” I called, waiting for him to come forward as I held the coffee on the counter.

“Tye!” Leonora suddenly realised who it was and grabbed his arm as he stepped forward. “You’ll be on our side.”

“Leonora –” but my warning tone did nothing. Perceptive as ever, she sent me her own version of evil eyes and continued anyway.

Please shut up!

“We have set up a blind date for Ivy tonight,” she continued with Tye, “but she doesn’t want to go. We’re trying to persuade her to have a little fun.”

“Is it surprising she doesn’t want to go?” Tye asked, astonishing them all with the strange question. He reached for the cappuccino, brushing his hand against mine. I quickly snatched my hand away, trying to ignore the excitement it caused.

“I’m sorry? I don’t follow?” Leonora asked with a snap, feeling she had missed something important.

“Look at her,” Tye gestured to me, and three pairs of eyes turned to my face. I jolted back from the counter as if I had experienced an electric shock. Tye now turned his own eyes to me with a smirk. “That beautiful, I’d wager she’s already seeing someone.”

Oh my, I was seriously tempted to melt into a puddle. Not quite wicked witch of the west style, but just weak at the knees.

Ellie turned to me with scrutiny and observed my lack of objection that was actually stunned silence.

“Oh my god, is he right? How could you not tell us?”

“Ellie-”

Yet I now couldn’t stop the flow of questions.

Tye winked at me, the twinkle evident as he tried not to laugh and slipped away, leaving me to what felt like a pack of hyenas.

Damn him. He was mischievous.

It wasn’t until ten minutes later after the girls had left that I finally could text him with heartfelt gratitude. Not.

 THANKS FOR THAT. IT’S LIKE I’VE BECOME THE NEW FAVOURITE MEAT AT A BANQUET FOR CARNIVORES. I

JUST RETURNING THE FAVOUR IN KIND FOR GETTING ELLIE OFF MY BACK. WOULD YOU RATHER GO ON A BLIND DATE? T

NO… I

SO YOU SHOULD THANK ME. AN ELABORATE THANK YOU WITH SUGAR ON TOP. T

THANK YOU. DO ME A FAVOUR AND IMAGINE ME DOING MY ANGRY EYES. I

I’M SHAKING WITH FEAR, PRINCESS. T

Chapter 9

I was more than a little surprised when Tye invited me over for brunch the following Saturday morning, yet I was never going to say no. After the morning run with the girls and having drawn a fresh smattering of ladybugs on my hand prompted by a phone conversation with my mother, I headed to the shop to pick up some food for us.

I was hovering over some discounted bagels when my eyes caught sight of a face I didn’t want to see. It was Kyle, though he hadn’t seen me. I ducked down behind the bread counter, cartoon style to hide from him. The old lady next to me tilted her vision over her thin glasses, as though she were my head teacher, questioning the strange manoeuvre.

“Ex,” I lied with a gesture of my head to the other side, this made her giggle. She raised her eyes and watched him head down another aisle.

“You’re safe, lass. He’s heading for the chilled section.”

“Thank you!” I jumped up and grabbed the bagels before hurrying to the counter. Seeing huge queues, I dived to the self-service.

The first one in line, I found a machine easily, but kept looking over my shoulder, wary of where Kyle had gone.

“Unexpected item in the bagging area,” my eyes shot back to the machine. I checked the bagging area. I hadn’t even put anything down yet! I tapped the screen a couple of times and wiped the surface of the bagging space, checking nothing was there, but… “Unexpected item in the bagging area.”

I think this was a good example of sod’s law. Whoever sod was to have a law named after him, he must have been one unlucky fellow.

“What is wrong with you,” I muttered as I lifted off my basket from the machine. The screen went white, completely confused and malfunctioning. “It’s like a robot having a teenage tantrum.”

“They tend to do that.”

Oh crap.

Kyle slid into view beside me, the bearer of these words. I winced, realising just what he was wearing – the uniform of the supermarket. Seemed I had been unlucky enough to choose the one supermarket in town he worked at.

“It’s broken,” I gestured to it with annoyance and plonked my basket back down loudly. “Shouldn’t you be fixing it?”

“That’s what I’m here for, darling.” He stepped nearer, reaching behind me and blocking my exit from standing in front of the machine as he re-adjusted the basket so that it was completely on the shelf.

“You’re standing too close.” I muttered angrily as he leaned over my other