Page 52 of Keeping Kara

Lately, she’d even thought she’d seen longing in his gaze when he looked at her. And that longing even transformed into lust a time or two, when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Even something as simple as sharing the one full bathroom in his home was getting more difficult, because lately all Kara could imagine when she showered was the fact that Arrow had stood under that same spray of water, just as naked. It became intimate to see and smell his soap in the shower, to see his toothbrush and toothpaste on the counter, see the stray hairs from his beard in the sink that he’d missed when cleaning up after shaving. They didn’t even gross her out.

Definitely a sign that she was crushing hard, if there ever was one.

So…friends, career, Arrow…everything was going almost too well.

The only drawback, really, was that there’d still been no word from the detective about whether the remains that had been found in his burnt-out car was Nolan’s or not.

His bank accounts hadn’t been touched, nothing in his apartment back in North Carolina had been removed. All evidence was pointing to the fact that he was dead. But Kara was afraid to believe it, even as she desperately wanted to think she was free of the nightmare she’d been living.

She didn’t know why it wouldn’t have been him in that car, but until they had DNA confirmation, she was doing what she could to stay alert. And most of the time now, she didn’t mind being alone during the day. She stayed locked in Arrow’s house, feeling safe with the security system and the baseball bat she kept by her side at all times.

As each day passed, and nothing happened, she relaxed just a little bit more. Which had been amazing for her creativity. She’d been working on her latest novel, and it was coming along fabulously. Arrow loved to tease her, trying to look over her shoulder when she wrote in the evenings and still trying to get her pen name out of her. It wasn’t as if she was ashamed of her novels, but the thought that this man, one she admired a hell of a lot, might read her words and not like them, was tough. It would devastate her.

She was sitting at the table, still wearing a small smile on her face and thinking about how much her life had changed in the last month, feeling as if maybe her luck had changed for the better, when her phone rang. Looking down, she saw it was Penny.

“Hey, girl,” she said as she answered.

“Hi! Heads-up, Laryn and I are about three minutes away.”

“What? Why?”

“We need someone else’s opinion about the reception we’re planning. We have very different ideas about food, decorations, seating charts, things like that, and we need a non-biased third party’s intervention. We voted you in.”

“Um…I’m not sure I’m the best person for this,” Kara admitted.

“Which is why you’re perfect. We just didn’t want to scare you by knocking on the door unexpectedly. We’ll be there soon! See ya!”

Kara stared at her phone for a beat, then chuckled. After saving the spreadsheet she’d been working on, she closed the laptop and headed for the kitchen, getting the “healthy” taco dip that she’d made earlier out of the fridge. She’d intended to serve it tonight when Edge came over to play poker.

When she first heard about it, she’d thought it sounded gross, but then she tried it and now she was addicted. The best thing was how easy it was to make. A small tub of cottage cheese, a can of Ro-Tel—which was simply tomatoes and green chilies mixed together—and taco seasoning to taste. After blending it all together, it was creamy and delicious and perfect with chips or veggies, or even as a dressing on a salad or on tacos or anything, really. And since cottage cheese was high in protein, she didn’t feel guilty eating a ton of it.

She put the chips and dip on the table, moved her laptop to her bedroom, and got some glasses out of the cabinet. She heard a car in the driveway and looked out the window to see Laryn’s Civic pulling in.

She turned off the alarm and opened the front door. The women walked toward her with their arms full of notebooks, fabric, and who knew what else.

“I hope you’re ready for this,” Laryn said a little grumpily. “Penny is being stubborn.”

“Because while I love you like a sister, I don’t think we need wrenches as table decorations,” Penny retorted.

Kara chuckled and reset the alarm as soon as they were inside. “What do you guys want to drink? I’ve got water, OJ, lemonade, and if you’re feeling frisky, Penny, wine or beer.”

“Wine, definitely,” Penny said. “I’m not driving.”

“I can’t wait until I can have a beer again. Water for me, please,” Laryn said.

“How’re you feeling? The babies are really growing,” Kara said.

“I know. I’m getting fat as a house.”

“Whatever,” Penny said. “For the record, you look amazing. Being pregnant suits you.”

Laryn blushed. “My back hurts, I have to pee all the time, but honestly? I never knew how amazing the whole process of being pregnant could be. I love these little girls so much and they aren’t even here yet.”

Kara loved that for her.

“And Casper…he’s gonna spoil them rotten. You should see all the shit he’s already bought. It looks like a giant-ass bottle of Pepto Bismol erupted all over the babies’ room. I’m desperately trying to counter his over-the-top girly fetish with things like trucks and dinosaurs.”