AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her eyes jerk to mine, and she nearly spits out her ice cream as she laughs.
“I was supposed to bring ice cream and wine back, and you’re supposed to spill the beans,” Sam says louder than I think she meant to.
I let out an exasperated breath. “Fine,” I say before taking a huge bite of my ice cream to stall a few more seconds.
“Mmhm,” Sam says, leaning forward.
She’s hanging on by a thread here, but I can’t bring myself to utter the words “I was jealous” to SJ’s little sister.
I swallow my ice cream and hold my chin up. “It was just…uncomfortable. There were so many people I didn’t know. I felt…out of place.”
“Who was there?” She won’t let this go, and she won’t back down.
“Um, Dre, Cindy…and there was another woman…”
I trail my words off and act like I can’t remember Jennifer’s name. Like her name and face aren’t burned into my brain. The image of her throwing herself at SJ hits home. The churning in my stomach threatens to start again. I lean forward and stretch my arm to the max. My bowl makes it onto the table with a clatter.
“Jennifer.” Sam rolls her eyes so hard I’m sure she saw her own brain.
I chuckle at her reaction to Jennifer’s name because… Well, same.
“Jennifer has been after SJ since high school. They were good friends, but she always wanted more. SJ isn’t interested in her anymore.” She stares at me hard before her eyes light up.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she whispers, “You were jealous.” That queasy feeling must appear on my face, because Sam’s grin is back in full force. “Why don’t you just tell him?”
She asks that like it’s so simple. Like I should just tell this man who was hired to protect me that I have feelings for him. Feelings for him that I’m not even sure I fully understand. I haven’t even dated much in my life. I’ve spent the majority of my time training and perfecting my craft, dancing.
Sam hands me my glass of wine. I don’t hesitate to take a few sips.
“How?” I whisper. There’s no use in trying to hide it now, not from Sam. She read me like a book.
“Just say it. I know he feels the same way about you. I know my brother. He’s never brought a ‘client’ home before. He could have easily passed you off to one of the other guys at Dunn. He didn’t. It’s because he cares about you and wants you to be with him. Remember how he reacted to me at dinner? He got so defensive over you. My giant brother doesn’t do that for clients.”
Her words hit me like bricks, one after another. Could she be right?
“Maybe they were on assignments or something.” It’s a lame excuse. I know they weren’t. SJ told me he wanted me to come with him if I wanted to.
“They weren’t. One of the Dunn guys was parked up our street, watching us the day you two got here.” She motions towards the window in the direction Donovan had been parked.
“You knew he was here?” I didn’t realize she knew anything about Donovan or that he was here.
“Pfft, my brother isn’t the only observant person in this family. Clearly.” The sass in her voice cracks me up.
I hold my hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. I can definitely see that now. I didn’t realize you knew.”
“What is going on in here?” Camilla asks quietly as she walks into the living room. She ties her robe as she walks in.
“We didn’t mean to wake you, Momma,” Sam says, scrunching her nose.
“I heard giggling. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard two girls giggling in my living room.” Camilla has the softest, most soothing voice.
“We’ll keep it down, Mrs. Johnson. I’m sorry.” I feel bad for waking her up. I know they get up early every day to work at the hardware store.
“Oh, don’t worry, baby. I’m glad to see you two getting on so well.” She shoos my worry away in an instant.
The front door opens then closes quietly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoing through as SJ walks slowly into the living room.
“What are you doing up, Momma?” he asks Camilla.
