Page 48 of Crossed Lines

“She’s. Spoken. For.”

His eyes go wide as the realization hits him. “Oh. Ok. I get it. Sorry, boss. Didn’t realize.”

I sigh, knowing I have to fix this. I can’t have him going around spreading rumors about Willow and me. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Willow is like family to us. I know she’s leaving soon, and she’s focusing all her attention on Jade and spending time with her brother.”

“Yeah, I get it. Forget I asked.” He walks away with a saddle, leaving me feeling like shit. I certainly didn’t mean to crush his hopes, but there’s no way I’d survive the rest of this summer having to watch Willow spend time with Ace. In reality, I know I’m right. She’s leaving in three weeks. There’s no sense in her getting tied down to anyone before she goes. That includes me, unfortunately.

Ace and I finish with the horses in silence. Once they’re all back in their stalls, I let Ace leave. Partly because I feel bad, but also because his presence here is just pissing me off at this point. I finish up the chores for the night and make sure the barn is prepped for the potential storms coming. I give the horses food and lock up anything that could blow away in the wind before I pull down the storm doors and lock them. If it passes quickly, I’ll come back out and check on them later tonight.

I get in my truck just as a streak of lightning cracks across the sky, followed by a loud boom of thunder. Yeah, this is gonna be a big storm. I’ve already gotten several notifications from my weather app and a text from Brooks telling me to let him know when I’m home. Harper also texted, telling me to get my ass inside quickly. She always overreacts, though, so there’s no telling how bad it’ll be.

When I pull up at my house, Willow’s car is missing, which makes me nervous. She texted me earlier saying they were going to town to get some things, but that was at least three hours ago. They should be back by now.

I stare out my front window, waiting for her car to appear in the drive. Almost five minutes pass, the five longest minutes of my life, it seems, before I get the first glimpse of headlights. I let out a relieved breath and open the front door. The girls scramble out of the car and run fast but still get soaked. The rain is coming down fast and hard now.

“Oh my gosh, that came out of nowhere!” Willow says once they’re both inside and I’ve closed the door behind them.

“Did you not see the clouds or get the warnings on your phone?” I ask.

She shrugs. “We were inside shopping. And I get those warnings all the time, and nothing ever happens.”

“What were you guys doing?”

“Well, we were at the library for craft time, and we read a few books, obviously. Then we decided we wanted tacos for dinner, so we stopped by the store to get the ingredients. We might have spent too much time in the ice cream aisle,” Willow explains.

“Last I checked, you don’t put ice cream on tacos.”

Jade laughs, but Willow just smirks at me. “You can’t have dinner without dessert. Everyone knows that.”

“What am I gonna do with you two?” I say, shaking my head. “Come on, let’s get you both out of those soaked clothes.”

“I didn’t bring anything extra,” Willow tells me as I’m walking down the hall with Jade. “And I should probably head home anyway.”

“You can borrow something of mine,” I tell her. “And you’re not going anywhere in this storm.”

I stop in Jade’s room and grab her a nightgown to change into before I head to my bedroom with Willow following behind me. I open a dresser drawer and find one of my smaller T-shirts that might fit her a little better. Then I grab her a pair of my boxers. Not the best option, but I don’t have anything else that would fit her. When I turn around to hand the clothes to her, she’s standing in the middle of my room with her top off.

I freeze. “What are you doing?” I ask barely above a whisper.

“You told me to get out of my wet clothes.”

Her bra is still on, but it’s pretty much soaked through, and I can clearly see the outline of her nipples.

Fuck. She’s trying to kill me.

“Willow…”

Instead of turning around to hide herself from me, she pushes her shorts down her legs, leaving her in just her bra and underwear. She steps completely out of her shorts and takes a few steps toward me, reaching for the clothes that are now hanging by my side.

“If you don’t want to see me completely naked, you should probably leave now.”

I swallow hard. I should leave. She deserves privacy. But…

She throws the clothes on my bed and steps back. She keeps eye contact with me as her hands slowly move behind her to unhook her bra.

Leave, Beck. Just turn and go. One foot after the other. You can do it, man.

But I don’t leave.