Rory (Coded for Love 1)

“Must have been a shock to the system.”

“Too right.” Rory sipped his coffee. “You have no idea.”

“So…?”

“So, I hadn’t seen the girls since I came to London, but Sky, the younger one, we…well, we bumped into each other a couple of days ago.”

George studied him for a while, and then chuckled. “I still remember what it felt like, bumping into a woman.”

Rory cringed. “I me

ant in the tube, we bumped into each other in the tube.”

Why was this so awkward, even now? They weren’t related, and it didn’t feel wrong when he’d been with her the night before, yet it felt wrong when he tried to talk about it. It was his dad’s fault, drumming into him—literally, with his fists—that it was wrong of him to want Sky.

“I can see it in your eyes, Rory.”

Rory stared at him in disbelief. “Is it that obvious?

“I can relate.”

“What, you had a stepsister?”

“No. But I had a cousin who took my fancy. It didn’t go down well with the family.”

Rory attempted to shrug it off. The urge to confess bit into him though. “I guess we always wanted each other, and I figured...well, I figured we could do it and that would be that.”

“Once not enough? You got a taste for her now?

Startled, Rory stared at his boss. Since he started working at the workshop Rory had been able to talk to George. Stuff he’d never opened up about before, including how it was with his dad and Sean, and how he’d felt when his dad married again so soon after their mother died. He’d also talked to him about going straight, giving up the hacking commissions. George had confided his own troubled teen years and encouraged Rory to invest in his skills as a mechanic to keep focused. If it hadn’t been for George, Rory may never have ditched the hacking, and it’d been a huge relief for him to do so—more than he’d even guessed before the event. Rory knew George was wise about a lot of things, but not stuff like this.

George grinned, flashing his gold tooth. “Don’t look so surprised. I was young once, just you remember that.”

Rory scrubbed at the back of his neck. “You’re not shocked?”

George shook his head. “If you two aren’t blood related, what makes you feel it’s wrong?”

Rory shrugged one shoulder “My dad used to tell me not to look at her the way I did, back in the day.”

“Back in the day.” George repeated, and laughed. “You sound like you’re forty already.”

Rory wasn’t sure how to feel about his boss’s reaction.

George winked, lightening the mood. “Your dad would’ve felt his responsibility was to draw a line for you. Besides, it would’ve been weird for the adults. But if the chemistry is there, and you’re sharing the same living space, it’s hard to ignore.”

“The only way was to leave.”

“That’s why you came to London?”

“Partly. We were headed here anyway, until my dad got sidetracked.”

“So, did she follow you?”

“No.” Even as he denied it, it made him wonder. He shook it off. “It was a coincidence. She didn’t know where I was.”

“But when you hooked up again, something happened.”

Rory nodded and stood up. “I figured it was something we had to do, to get past it. But I still want her. In fact, its worse.”