The One We Fell in Love With
Read The One We Fell in Love With Online
Authors: Paige Toon
Ten books in ten years, Paige is consistently one of the highest rated women’s fiction authors on Goodreads. Here’s what some of her reviewers have said over
the years:
Lucy in the Sky
, 2007
‘I loved it – I couldn’t put it down!’ –
Marian Keyes
‘A fab debut and a great summer read’ –
Elle
Johnny Be Good
, 2008
‘Pacy, highly enjoyable insight into life in La-La Land!’ –
Closer
‘All the warmth and fun that I’ve grown to expect from the talented Ms Toon’ –
Freya North
Chasing Daisy
, 2009
‘A fast-paced and funny read... Superior chick-lit with great jokes and a thoughtful heart’ –
Daily Express
‘Laugh-out-loud funny and touchingly honest. This summer’s poolside reading sorted!’ –
Company
Pictures of Lily
, 2010
‘An absorbing and emotional narrative – brilliant!’ –
Heat
‘Another perfect summer page-turner from Paige Toon’ –
Mirror
Baby Be Mine
, 2011
‘Fun, summery, chick-lit with bite, if you want escapism, this is perfect’ –
Cosmopolitan
‘Heart-warming and gut-wrenching (yet funny and addictive), will warm the cockles of your heart’ –
Giovanna Fletcher
One Perfect Summer
, 2012
‘Drama, heartache and tears aplenty – a refreshing take on the happy-ever-after tale’ –
Marie Claire
Sweet, charming and true to life... had us reminiscing about summer loves... amazing’ –
Cosmopolitan
The Longest Holiday
, 2013
‘Unashamedly girly, will bring a smile to the face of anyone who has been unlucky in love... Chick-lit at its very best’ –
Daily
Express
‘Pure, sun-drenched escapism... the perfect summer holiday read’ –
Heat
Thirteen Weddings
, 2014
‘Witty, fun and impossible to put down!’ –
Closer
‘A brilliant piece of chick-lit’ –
Fabulous Magazine
The Sun in Her Eyes
, 2015
‘Paige really ratchets up the tension. You’ll be in a reading frenzy by the end’ –
Lisa Jewell
‘Paige Toon’s epic bestseller shows how life can change in a heartbeat’ –
Glamour
Also by Paige Toon
Lucy in the Sky
Johnny Be Good
Chasing Daisy
Pictures of Lily
Baby Be Mine
One Perfect Summer
One Perfect Christmas
(eBook Short Story)
The Longest Holiday
Johnny’s Girl
(eBook Short Story)
Thirteen Weddings
The Sun in Her Eyes
Young Adult
The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson
I Knew You Were Trouble
All About the Hype
First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2016
A CBS COMPANY
Copyright © Paige Toon 2016
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.
The right of Paige Toon to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
1st Floor
222 Gray’s Inn Road
London WC1X 8HB
Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-3843-0
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-5514-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-3844-7
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Typeset by M Rules
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Simon & Schuster UK Ltd are committed to sourcing paper that is made from wood grown in sustainable forests and support the Forest Stewardship Council, the leading
international forest certification organisation. Our books displaying the FSC logo are printed on FSC certified paper.
For my beautiful editor, Suzanne Baboneau and for my lovely readers, old and new.
Thank you for making my childhood dream of becoming an author even better than I could have imagined.
(And I imagine for a living, so that’s saying something.)
Prologue
Angus
She’s here. I’m instantly tense. The people around here are mistaken. They
don’t
all look alike. She’s special. She’s different.
She’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.
I watch her in a daze through the crowded, smoky air as she gets herself a beer from the makeshift bar. I want to go over to her, but I stay where I am, leaning against the doorframe. After what
happened last night, she has to come to me. But I don’t know if she will. I’ve been worried she wouldn’t even turn up.
She swigs from her bottle, then looks around the packed living room, taking everything in. She’s late and everyone else is well on their way to oblivion. Turning up at a party alone at
this hour is brave. It wouldn’t surprise me if she walked right back out again. That thought messes with my head, and it’s already messed up enough. I can’t believe I’ve let
her get to me like this.
I watch, fixated, as she puts the bottle back to her lips and then suddenly her eyes lock with mine. I force myself to stare back at her.
She smiles at me and the relief is instant. I jerk my head backwards, willing her to come over. Still smiling, she slowly makes her way through the packed space, squeezing through bodies until
she’s right in front of me.
‘Hey,’ I say, reaching down to touch my fingertips to hers.
‘Hi.’ She closes her hand into a fist.
Okay, so we’re not cool. Her gorgeous eyes are wide as she stares up at me. My gaze drops to her lips. They’re shiny, like she’s just applied lip gloss. I want to lick it off
her.
Bloody hell, I’m drunk.
‘How was dinner?’ I ask.
‘It was fine!’ She shouts. I can’t hear her next words because the music is too loud.
‘What did you say?’ I shout back, cupping her head with my hand and pulling her closer.
‘I said it’s noisy!’
‘Yeah,’ I reply with a grin. ‘Sorry, I’m a bit pissed.’ I speak right into her ear.
‘Lucky you.’
She is so sexy. Her hair is soft under my fingers. I run my thumb across her temple and she puts her hand on my chest. I think she’s trying to keep me at bay, but it’s not working.
Her touch almost does me in.
I take her hands and pull her closer.
‘Angus?’ She sounds uncertain as I touch my forehead to hers. I know I’m making her uncomfortable in front of all these people, but I need to be with her. I want her so much.
Too
much.
Determination surges through me. ‘Come with me,’ I say firmly, putting our beers on a nearby table. I grab her hand and tug her out of the living room. My head is spinning as I push
open the door to the cloakroom under the stairs. I pull her inside and hear her gasp as I slam the door shut behind her. Then my mouth is on hers. I hear her sharp intake of breath as my tongue
pushes her lips apart. She hesitates only a little before kissing me back. I could kiss her forever.
‘I want you,’ I murmur into her mouth, pressing myself up against her so she can feel how much.
Her breath quickens as I slide my hand up inside her T-shirt.
‘I want you,’ I say again, and then she silences me with fast, hungry kisses and I know that I’ve got her. She’s mine.
Someone turns the doorknob and I whip my hand out from under her T-shirt and slam my palm against the door, keeping it shut.
‘Go upstairs,’ I shout, locking the door. ‘Whoops.’ I laugh under my breath as I pull her body flush to mine. But she’s tensed again. ‘It’s
alright,’ I tell her, my hand returning to the hem of her shirt. But this time she catches it, stopping me in my tracks.
‘What... We... What are you doing?’ she asks, even more breathless than before.
‘What do you think I’m doing?’ I ask in a low voice, kissing her neck. We’re picking up from where we left off last night. She needs to know what she does to me.
‘Angus, stop!’ she says loudly.
Oh fuck. Ice freezes my stomach and I jerk away from her, reaching for the pull cord to flood the room with light. She flinches at the brightness, instinctively lifting her hands up to block it.
She squints at me from under the shade of her fingers and I stare back at her with horror.
Same greeny-gold eyes...
Same light-blonde hair...
Not
the same girl.
‘Oh...’ I say. ‘I thought you were—’
Rose
Phoebe
Eliza
You could say we’re freaks of nature.
We look exactly the same with our blonde hair and green eyes, and we all carry the same genetic material. One of us could literally commit murder and blame it on the others without our DNA
giving us away.
Identical triplets are formed when a single fertilised egg splits into two, and one of the resulting two eggs splits again. The odds of this happening could be anything from 1 in 60,000 to 1 in
200 million, but one thing’s for certain: identical triplets are very, very rare.
When our parents brought us home from the hospital, they were
terrified
about mixing us up. Apparently we wore our hospital armbands until they grew too tight, and even after Mum
snipped the bands off, she painted each of our little fingernails a different colour. Sometimes she’s still baffled about who’s who in our baby photographs.