“Geez. It’s like you’ve been in my room or something.”
“Really?”
Sheridan shakes her head and takes a sip of water. “I have a bedspread, not a quilt. Bought from a thrift shop. And I don’t have a desk because there’s not enough space to fit a bed and a dresser in my room. I do have a lot of pictures, but not as many as you probably think. And all of my meaningless awards are kept in a plastic box on the top shelf of my closet.”
“Close enough.”
She shrugs, and then she places her water on the floor, fixes her ponytail, and checks the time. I can’t let her leave yet. It isn’t safe.
“Out of all the pools that night, why’d you pick mine?” I ask to stall her. Plus, I’m curious. “There must be hundreds of pools in this town.”
“Easy,” she says. “Yours is placed farther away from the house. Everyone else’s pools are basically right off their back patios. I guess I thought no one would see me if I took a swim in yours …”
Smart.
“Why’d you break that beer bottle?” she asks, her turn.
“I was angry.”
“Because I snuck in?”
“Because you ran from me when I was talking to you,” I say. “I knew exactly who you were the second I saw your face. And when you took off, you were just another Rose who disrespected a Monreaux and had the audacity to avoid the consequences.”
My jaw sets the way it did that night.
But I don’t want to be angry. I’m too fucking spent.
Rising, she gathers her things and saunters my way. “Pretty sure I’ve paid my penance now though. Don’t you think?”
Her sweet scent invades my lungs, and her mouth is so close I could kiss her.
“We should do this more often,” I say. “Maybe make it a regular thing …”
Her glassy eyes search mine. “I leave for school at the end of the month.”
“Same.”
We remain motionless in a thick silence, the space between us heavy with things neither of us are saying.
“As long as we’re on the same page,” she says after a minute of quiet contemplation. “It’s just hooking up.”
“I wouldn’t dream of anything more.” My chest tightens because I’m a lying bastard. I dreamt of her last night, and the night before. And there are daydreams too. I’ll be going about my day and suddenly catch myself thinking about the way she tastes, the way her body fits perfectly with mine, the sweet scent of her hair, or that coy face she makes when she’s trying not to smile at something I said.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Rose girl,” I say.
“Yeah?”
I hook my hands around the small of her waist and pull her against me. “I don’t think you should leave yet.”
She frowns. “I can’t stay all night …”
“You shouldn’t drive yet. It hasn’t been long enough.”
She begins to protest, but I crush her petal-soft lips with mine. “Get back in bed. I’ll make it worth your while.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sheridan
* * *
“You know it’s the strangest thing, I got up in the middle of the night last night to use the bathroom and the back door was wide open,” Mom says the next morning. “Then I checked on you and you were sound asleep. About scared me to death.”
Shit. I must have not latched it when I came home. The lock is loud, and I didn’t want to make too much noise. I thought I got it, but apparently not. I’ll have to be more careful next time—and there will be a next time because August and I are … hooking up now.
The sweet ache between my legs pulses, but I tamp down my ill-timed excitement.
Mom sips her coffee and cinches her terrycloth robe, gazing out the window above the kitchen sink like she might spot some kind of evidence in the back yard.
“So guess what?” I change the topic. “I just found out you were selected for that home nurse program.”
She turns to me, eyes wide with a grin so big it nearly stretches to her ears. “What?! Sweetheart, that’s amazing.” But in a flash, her expression darkens. “Are you sure it’s not some kind of scam? Why would they pick me?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they liked the essay I wrote?” I die a little on the inside every time I lie to her. But this is for a good cause. “Anyway, your nurse is Mona and she starts Monday. I’ll train her and everything the first few days. And by the time I’m off at school, she should have everything down.”
“Does your father know?”
“Not yet.” I didn’t want to say anything in case my arrangement didn’t pan out.
Her mouth twists at one side. “You know how he is about being left out of big decisions like that …”
“How could he say no to this? It’s going to make his life easier. And yours. And mine.”