“If you think I’m getting down on that floor you’re crazier than you look.” Ellis laughs, walking away and into the house, leaving the men to fend for themselves.

I follow behind her, needing to get myself a drink too. I shake my head at her in dismay, speaking low, “If you weren’t pregnant with my baby, Rook would absolutely be trying to date you.”

She tuts at me. “I wouldn’t date any of these idiots.” She holds her pinkie finger up to promise me, but instead of linking it back, I hold her hand in mine, close to my face.

“Does that include me?” I whisper against her knuckles.

“I’m not sure. If you had asked me when you told them about the baby. There would be no way but now – I get it. They are easy to talk to. I guess I forgive you, that’s what I am trying to say.” Her breath is heavy and I feel the pulse in her wrist thumping against my fingers. There is barely an inch between us, but it still isn’t close enough. Any distance would be too far when it comes to Ellis, so I can’t help it when my body sways even closer to hers.

Every one of my prayers are answered when her body sways towards me too. She lifts her chin so her lips graze against mine. Before I close the tiny gap between us, her phone rings from the counter. Snapping out of our haze, she darts past me to grab it.

“Lyndsey is outside, I’ll go let her in.” Her voice is a laboured gasp, but it’s enough to pull me back to the room.

After less than a minute, Ellis is ushering her friend out to the garden. The distance is a palpable thing pulling us away from each other again, but now I know she wants me too beside her hormones, I could see it in her face. Even if only for a second, she felt it. It had to mean something.