Naked.
“You’ll be there tomorrow,” I said instead.
It wasn’t a question, but she hesitated to answer. I gathered from the tagged photos that her, Maddie, and their other friend got together most Sundays, but I was pretty sure it was for breakfast. That left plenty of time.
“I have…” She hesitated, and I got the distinct impression she was about to tell me she had other plans. A twist of jealousy tightened my gut, but she eventually gave a reluctant nod. “I’ll be there.”
If I was a better man, I would’ve let her out of the commitment. Or at least double checked that she was sure.
But I wasn’t, so I didn’t.
Her phone ringing cut through the tense silence, and she looked down at it. Her eyes widened before she scrambled to silence the noise. At the redness that coated her cheeks and traveled down her chest, it wasn’t a twist of jealousy that hit me.
It was a fucking cyclone of it.
She kept her head down as she crouched to finish gathering her things. “Text me if something changes. And I’ll let you know if they reach out to me with anything.” Once she had it all in her bag, she stood and forced a smile. “Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I followed after her to the front door, wanting to ask who the fuck had called. Why it’d made her blush so pretty. And if she was rushing out because she was late meeting them.
Even if I was stupid enough to ask questions I had no right to ask—and risk her quitting after only a week—she didn’t give me the chance. She barely muttered a goodbye as she hauled ass down the porch to her waiting SUV.
Fuck, it looks like shit out here.
And where the hell are my seat cushions?
I righted the chairs, pulling one out from the bushes. I didn’t attempt to clean more than that since I wasn’t equipped with a hazmat suit.
No wonder Greer thought I’d been robbed.
Thank fuck the cleaning service will be here soon.
I went inside and flopped down on the couch to wait for them as I settled in for a chill night.
The night hadstarted chill.
The cleaning service came and went, putting shit in order. I’d scrolled furniture options before remembering why I never got far. Since I had no damn clue what I was doing, I’d texted Easton for his decorator’s info, but his lackluster review of her left me back at square one.
Alone.
In an empty house.
An empty house that was too fucking quiet.
Rather than having people over to trash all the hard work the cleaners had done, I’d decided to go out. I hadn’t wanted to see all the happy couples and throuples and whatever else at Gilded. I sure as shit hadn’t wanted to escape to one of the backrooms with anyone.
Not unless a pretty siren suddenly showed.
But she was likely busy with whoever had her blushing and racing away from me.
So I’d settled on my favorite nightclub.
It’d been a mistake.
The packed club was too loud.
Filled with too many people.
All of them with too many fucking cameras aimed my way.
