Irresistible Bachelors: Books 1-5 by Landish, Lauren (bts books to read TXT) 📕

reply. Of course I know, I tell myself. I’ve known it since . . . “What do I do? I mean, we have our own lives. My family is here, and hell, she probably just got a promotion.”

“Hmm,” Oli says, sipping at his drink before giving me a long, evaluating look. In his look, I see a question I’ve wanted to ask him for at least a year now, and for some reason, now is the time.

"How'd you know when you loved Mindy?” I ask. “Not when you thought. When you knew.”

“That’s easy. When you find the one who makes you feel like your heart isn’t in your chest anymore but in her hands. When you meet that person who makes you feel like you’d be happy sharing the fifth circle of hell if they were the one with you . . . when you meet her, and you’d be willing to do anything, be saint or sinner or angel in order to make her happy . . . that’s when you know.”

I can tell he’s speaking from experience. It’s like he went off a checklist of my feelings for Hannah, and I slow blink a couple of times to ease the burn in my eyes. You just can’t cry in front of your best friend and your brother. Totally not cool. “Oli . . . I don’t know what she wanted. Neither of us outright said anything. I mean, when it comes to the big four-letter word or if we were going to make an effort to see one another after . . . it was all about our dreams, how we wanted the other person to be happy, how they made us feel good. Maybe we just assumed we couldn’t be together.”

Oliver’s eyes are sad. “Never assume when it comes to love. I know I’ve asked you to do a lot for the family, but if it meant your being with Hannah, you don’t owe me a damn thing. The world’s a small place. You can still visit.”

His words hit me hard, and I struggle to keep up as Caleb tries to keep the rest of dinner conversation light and as far from the topic of my heartbreak as possible. I hear about how Mindy’s pregnancy is progressing, along with Roxy’s, although that’s sort of hard to hear since I know Roxy’s best friends with Hannah. I’m sure the burger is fine, though I barely taste it. It’s just mechanical chewing. They could have brought me a block of wet cardboard and I’d have eaten it.

When I get home, I lie in bed, realizing that I fucked up big time. How the fuck did I just leave and not say more? Call me when everything settles down? What a fucking douchebag. I close my eyes, remembering the spark in her eyes. That fiery spirit, her beautiful sense of humor. I’ve never known anyone like that, nor will I ever find someone like her again.

Reaching over, I grab my phone. Sure, I got the number for a prank, but it’s still in my phone, and I type out a message to Hannah. Hey, I’ve been really thinking about you. Wondered if you’d like to talk?

The question is, should I hit Send, or do I give her time?Hannah

Tuesday morning, it’s back to the fifth floor, and to be honest, I still feel a bit numb and tired. Last night, I couldn’t get any sleep, tossing and turning. I was up past two in the morning thinking about him, wanting him. I woke up at six thirty covered in sweat, remembering a fleeting dream about the time we spent together on the beach.

I was barely able to drag myself out of bed to come here. The only trick I used was by spending twenty minutes looking over photos of us together and trying not to cry. Now, I feel like shit, and I can only hope that it’s more jet lag than heartbreak.

“Hey, Han,” Cassie greets me. Her desk sits across from mine, right next to the small conference area that we use for group work, with Myra’s private office down at the end of the room. I look over, and Cassie looks like me, with bags under her eyes and her hair not looking her best. I doubt she’s gotten four hours of sleep. I sit down at my desk and open my laptop, typing in the password for my welcome screen.

“Hey.”

“How’d you sleep?” Cassie asks, stifling a yawn.

“Not good,” I admit. “You?”

Cassie chuckles sarcastically. “As you can tell, I got ten solid hours of pure beauty sleep.”

I nod, checking my emails and wondering what I can do to fake my way through being productive for the next eight hours.

“I miss it,” Cassie says quietly after a few minutes. She’s been typing on her laptop, and I bet she’s playing Minecraft or something. Neither of us is in the mood to work.

“I miss it, too,” I admit. “Cass—”

Right at that moment, Myra comes out of her office with a stack of files. Dressed sharply as usual, she definitely got all the rest she needs. “Hello, girls. How are my two treasure finders this morning?”

“Hello,” we both say in unexcited unison.

“What’s wrong?” she asks when she sees our attitudes. “Jet lagged still?”

“Nope,” I reply. “But to be honest, I was a little let down when you didn’t stick up for us in the meeting. I thought you would’ve had our backs.”

Myra waves off my being so direct. I guess I’ve earned a small outburst, at least. “I didn’t want to take the risk. What you ladies have to learn about the upper board is that they expect results. You’re not going to get much praise when you give them. You’re just doing your job is how they see it. You girls are heroes in my eyes. And I owe you big time.”

Her words are sincere, and Cassie and I exchange glances. I just wish she would’ve given us a little heads