“Yes.”
He runs his fingers lightly back and forth on my thigh. The man is such a tease. “Charlie said something about the timing not being great. And then Audrey told him she had other plans anyway and wouldn’t be waiting around for him. But she sounded angry and hurt.”
“Are you serious? He upset my grandma?” I ask. “Pistols at dawn it is.”
“I don’t know that dueling is the answer. Also, please don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not a morning person.”
“You may have a point.” I toy with the heavy silver watch around his wrist. Being still isn’t my strong suit. “Explain to me why you’d invite him here, given this information.”
“Are you kidding me?” he asks, incredulous. “There’s no way you didn’t catch their reactions to seeing each other. The expressions on their faces.”
“I saw surprise.”
“And a whole lot of longing. There so much yearning between those two. It’s the sort of thing I used to write songs about.”
“Hmm,” I say, refusing to commit. “It was good listening to you play tonight. But your friend better not hurt my grandma again.”
“I think he’d rather have you drive over his foot in your nice new car than deliberately harm her. Their lives are different now. His commitments have changed.”
I ponder this for a while. “So you invited him here purely to help get them back together. Out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Sort of. Partly. Yes.”
“Nash.”
“To be completely honest, the thought might have crossed my mind,” he says, “that with Audrey distracted, you and I could maybe see what this thing is between us.”
“You mean the kiss?”
“I do indeed.”
“Mm. You’re diabolical.”
“But was I wrong?”
“No,” I say. “I don’t know what to think about any of this. The ethics regarding our fakery are so off. Then there’s the chance I might be ever so slightly rebounding out of a bad relationship.”
“And yet you haven’t kicked me out of your bedroom or told the town my true identity. Which leads me to believe that maybe…just maybe…you like me.”
I tighten my hold on his hand. “Guess I do. And I like having you here. Does that sound needy?”
“No. I feel the same.” He presses a kiss to my shoulder. Swoon. “We can be codependent together.”
“How romantic.”
He shuffles his lower body back from my butt. Because there is definite activity happening in his pelvic region. And it feels sizeable, thank you very much.
“You know there are rumors circulating on the internet about you dying and the government hushing it up,” I say, just making conversation.
“Have you been stalking me online, my delight?”
“I didn’t mean to. It just came up in my feed.”
“It wouldn’t bother me if you were.” He chuckles. “Why the fuck would the government cover it up?”
“Yeah, I didn’t get that part either. But there are definitely more people wondering where you are.”
“They can just keep wondering,” he says. “I’m happy being incognito.”
