Before You: Standalone Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

and really, if the dish in front of me was anything to go by, André was quite a good cook.
    “Thank you,” he said quickly, picking up his beer and taking a swig before placing it back on the table and focusing on his food.
    “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but by your accent, I’m assuming you’re German, correct?”
    “I’m American, actually. Have been since I was sixteen. But yes, I was originally born in Germany. Munich to be exact.”
    “How old were you when you moved to America – your accent isn’t as thick as I’d expect it to be?”
    “I’ve lived in this country since I was in high school.”
    “Why did you come here?”
    There was a pause before he answered. “My father’s company had him transferred, and my mother and I came with him. I stayed here, and my mother went back to Germany many years ago.”
    “What about your father? Is he still here?”
    He paused, smiled then took another swig of beer. If he was a cat, the hair on the back of his neck would be standing up. I could tell he wasn’t interested in continuing this conversation.
    “You’re asking all the questions. I think it’s my turn to get a few in. Exactly where is this house in LA?” he asked, simply changing the subject. I took the hint and filed ‘questions about father’ in the ‘do not talk about with André’ box.
    “Hi-Fi. It’s a little district wedged in between Silverlake, Echo Park, and Westlake. About a twenty minute drive in traffic to Downtown.”
    “Do you work in Downtown?”
    “Yeah. I’m Junior Editor at Vibe, it’s a fashion magazine aimed at twenty-somethings with enough disposable income to buy designer wear.”
    His eyes moved over me again, and again that shiver ran through my body. It was as if I was vibrating with a hunger that food wouldn’t be able to sate.
    “So you’re the one who puts all the commas and the full stops in the right place.”
    “Kind of. But, editing for a magazine is different to that. We’re fact checkers and content creators and...”He drained his beer and pushed back on his chair. And I stopped talking as I watched him take his empty into the kitchen. “It’s actually quite boring.” I let out an uneasy laugh, feeling strange that he walked away while I was still talking.
    He opened the fridge. “I don’t think so. It sounds quite interesting actually.” He spoke to me as he returned with two more beers and placed a new one in front of me, even though I was only half done with my first.
    “Are you trying to get me drunk?” I laughed, scooping the last of the food on my plate into my mouth.
    Giving me a shrug, he tilted his head to the side. “Well, I think we’ve done enough packing. And, we can’t really take them with us, might as well drink them.” He tapped the neck of his bottle against mine. “To new beginnings.” I felt myself blush until he clarified. “To a new start, and new friends.”
    I forced a smile, even though that word felt like a lead balloon in the pit of my stomach. Honestly, I didn’t even know why I felt that way. I’d only known the guy for twenty-four hours, and really, the only reason he was probably giving me the time of day was because I was stopping him and Dave from having to live on the streets. I felt like such an idiot. If he felt the need to clarify our boundaries then I’d probably been imagining everything and batting my eyelashes at him like a tool. God. I wanted to dig a hole to crawl inside and forget it ever happened. I wanted to stand up and go and hide out in Dave’s room at the very least.
    But, I didn’t do either of those. I simply smiled and took a sip of my drink. Then another. Then another. Until it was all gone, and I was reaching for the next...
    ***
    “H igher or lower?”
    André shuffled the deck of cards in his hands as I began to giggle uncontrollably. He had stuck a card to his forehead and was now asking me to bet whether the card on his forehead would be higher or lower than the card he