AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nodded and told myself to turn around and walk away. I told myself not to lower my head and press my lips to hers.
“What?” she asked as she lifted her hand to her lips. “Do I have something on my mouth?”
“Yeah,” I lied as I lifted my hand and ran the pad of my thumb across the corner of her mouth. Her skin felt so soft beneath my touch. Then, summoning every ounce of self-control I had, I lowered my arm back to my side. “Got it.”
As she lifted her hand and touched the corner of her lip where I had just wiped, she took in a shaky breath. “Thanks.”
When she turned and walked back into her room, I exhaled a breath I hadn’t even known I’d been holding.
I walked downstairs, and my heart was pounding heavily in my chest. Bandit met me at the bottom of the stairs and followed me down the hallway to check on Grandad. The TV was blasting when I opened the door and found him in his chair, resting his eyes and snoring. I turned down the volume and quietly walked out.
“You ready to go back to the park?” I asked Bandit, knowing what his answer would be.
I’d just hooked his leash on him when I heard Ruby’s footsteps on the stairs. I looked up and saw her as she reached the bottom. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt that might have looked plain on anyone else, but on her hourglass curves were effortlessly sexy. Then again, everything she wore was sexy. She was dangerous, even in oversized t-shirts and baggy sweats.
“Ready?” I asked over the lust that was clogging my throat.
“Yep.”
The walk back to the park took about ten minutes, and we spent most of it in silence... I’d decided not to drive back home because I didn’t want to lose my parking space.
“I was talking with Tay the other day, and she mentioned you guys weren’t sure what you were going to do for Harp’s birthday,” Ruby said, breaking the seal on our silence.
Since Ruby had moved in, she and Taylor had gotten close. They talked more than me and Tay most days. It began with Ruby sending texts and updates with photos of Harper during the day when she was watching her. But it quickly evolved into phone calls, which morphed into the two of them becoming fast friends.
“I had an idea.” Ruby smiled widely. “So, I did some research, and I found mermaids.”
“Mermaids?” I repeated.
“Yes.” Her eyes twinkled with excitement. “Mermaids for rent.”
She pulled out her phone and pressed play on a video. I watched as two women swam in a pool with very realistic-looking mermaid tails.
I’d never thought about having a pool party for Harper for two reasons. One, I didn’t have a pool, and two, the weather was usually too cold for swimming in the fall. “Her birthday’s in October.”
“I know. I checked with Melody, and she said the community center pool is available, and it's indoors, so it won’t matter what the weather is like.”
I stared at her, unable to come up with the right words to say. She wasn’t even planning on being in town in October, but she was helping plan my daughter’s birthday. Every day, it made it harder and harder for me not to fall in love with her.
“Do you think she’d like that?” she asked.
“She’d love it.” Almost as much as I love you, I thought to myself, which stopped me dead in my tracks.
My feet were cemented to the ground as I stood perfectly still, reeling from where my mind had just gone. I had no idea where it had come from. I couldn’t love Ruby. Could I?
When she noticed I’d stopped walking, she stilled and looked back at me over her shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I lied.
The truth was, I wasn’t okay. I was falling hard for Ruby Rhodes, and I feared no boundaries I put in place would soften the inevitable crash of reality.
21
RUBY
“Mistakes are always more fun the second time around.” ~ Miss Dottie
