Free The Bunk Up (The Village People Book 1) by D. H. Sidebottom, Andie M. Long Page A

leaving now then?”
    He stares at me for a moment, a sly smile just touching his lips. “Well, I was. But then I found something that might be worth sticking around for.”
    “Oh?” I bet it’s Botox Bitch. Either that or he really likes the taste of duck shit.
    “Hmm,” he murmurs, watching me closely. “So, you gonna let me take you out?”
    “Me?” I splutter.
    He appears confused for a moment but nods. “Yeah, you. Who did you think I meant?”
    “The Botox queen over there.”
    He follows my stare and rolls his eyes. “Ah, Tiffany.”
    Tiffany. Even her name is more upper-class than me.
    “Trust me. I have no intentions of ever taking Tiffany out. She’s an uptight bitch. Proper hard work.”
    I give a small nod, wishing those words had come out of Frazer’s mouth, but the way the pair are still engrossed in one another, I doubt I’d ever hear them from him.
    “So?” Liam asks, tipping his head to one side.
    Tiffany’s laugh – or rather squeal – filters across the square and I have to grit my teeth with the ear-piercing pitch of it.
    “Why not?” I grin at Liam when his face brightens and he genuinely looks thrilled with my answer.
    After saving my number to his phone, Liam tells me he’ll pick me up from the cottage at seven. I should be more excited than I am, but as I watch him walk away, my eyes shift from his cute, and very tight backside, to the pub.
    Frazer is now stood alone, but he’s watching Liam as he walks across the square. There’s an expression on his face I can’t interpret when his stare shifts to me. Eventually he blinks and waves. I return his acknowledgement but as our eyes lock together a shiver races up my spine. Why does just one heated look from him have me ready to drop my knickers?
    A duck quacking breaks my focus and I turn back to the water just as the duck pops his head under water and thrusts its ass in the air. “Quit showing off, Tiffany.”
    Grabbing my mug, I bid the duck farewell and head back towards the cafe.
    “Nice ass!” Frank shouts.
    “Cheers, Frank,” I shout back.
     
    Not ready to return to the cottage yet, I have a stroll around the village. I notice a sign on the village hall saying there’s a book sale today so I head inside to see if I can grab a few reads to take back with me to the cottage. The book sale is a small table in the entrance. I browse the titles, picking up anything with an interesting cover and reading the blurb on the back.
    “That’s a good one,” says the woman running the stall. She looks a similar age to Mrs Haversham but is dressed in a pair of black trousers and a smart blouse. To be honest, the fact a sixty odd year old has enjoyed it would usually put me off but there’s something about this woman, a cheeky twinkle in her eye, that leads me to believe she reads books beyond the latest People’s Friend.
    “So, are you part of the film crew?” she asks me.
    “No. I’m staying at Haversham House.”
    “Oh, you’re Daisy. Gosh, Sam was right. You are a pretty little thing.”
    I blush.
    “I’m Josie.” She holds out a hand. “I’m head of the Women’s Institute here. You must come along to our meetings. We’re arranging a village dance.”
    “Oh, erm.”
    “I insist. It will give you a chance to get to know the other ladies in the village. We’re meeting tomorrow night at seven-thirty.”
    I don’t get a chance to say yes or no before she launches straight into twenty questions.
    “So how is Mrs H? Still settled in Chesterfield?”
    “Yes.” I see an opportunity for gossip gathering. “I gather she doesn’t come back here very often?”
    “Only a few weeks a year and then she tends to stay up out of the way at the cottage. She used to come here to get a break from her husband, I think.”
    “Oh?”
    “He was a poorly chap, by all accounts, as he got older. Difficult to care for, but she stayed because she felt she owed him, I guess. When he had respite she’d come down here. Such a shame