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“Thank God.” She dropped into a chair on the porch and groaned. “Crystal is coming tomorrow.”
“Why?” Grace had met Crystal one time and they’d taken an instant dislike to each other. Merry had been secretly thrilled.
“Ugh, I don’t know. She’s going mountain climbing or something amazing like that. She probably just found out I was living here and wants to show off.”
“And you want to use my place to impress her?”
“I just don’t want her to know that I’m sleeping on a couch or that I’m—” Merry snapped her mouth shut. She hadn’t said a word about her trouble with the board to Grace. It was too embarrassing, and Grace would get really outraged and possibly violent, and Merry didn’t want to upset her when everything was going so well with Cole.
“Will you do my makeup tonight?”
“Hell, yes. And then I’ll clear out. You can have my place, and I’ll get to spend the evening away from Crystal.”
“Good. You can’t afford to be arrested twice in one calendar year.”
Grace snorted. “Be nice or I’ll make you look like a cheap prostitute.”
“I wish.” She hung up and slumped into the chair to glare out at the clouds hanging above the hills. “Damn it.” The only good news was that Crystal probably had plenty of wealthy, glamorous friends to hang out with in Jackson. She’d be too busy to bother Merry much. But this was going to be one painful night. And another night she wouldn’t be able to get herself off.
After Shane had left last night, she’d been too mortified and guilt-ridden to even try. She’d just shoved her vibrator deep into the box it had come from, thinking to herself that she’d never need it again. But then on the drive to work, she’d found herself daydreaming about Providence in a way she never had before. Not about the buildings or its past or the brochure she’d worked so hard on. Instead she’d thought about working late with Shane. In the last cloying rays of the sun, he’d gotten hot and stripped off his shirt, seeming unconcerned that she was standing only a few feet away. She’d watched, of course, and he’d glanced up and caught her looking. Instead of embarrassment, anger had flashed over his face. Merry had taken a step back, but he followed.
“I always catch you looking, but you never touch,” he’d growled.
God, she wanted to touch. She did. She wanted to touch him everywhere and not be the least bit hesitant. She wanted to stroke him. Squeeze him. Taste his skin. In real life, she’d never have the nerve, but in her fantasies, she could have him any way she wanted. He’d never find out, would he?
And as she’d driven, she’d decided to give herself another try. He couldn’t possibly interrupt again, and she needed it. She was tense. Stressed. She deserved a little guilty pleasure.
But instead of getting off to thoughts of Cole unbuttoning his jeans for her impatient hands, she’d get to walk through a minefield of conversation with Crystal.
Despite that she was almost done with her rough mock-up of the brochure, Merry felt suddenly hopeless. If she were smart and ambitious and full of self worth, she’d turn in her notice and move on. She’d tell those old bastards to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.
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sp; But that wasn’t her, and plus…she didn’t want to leave. As sad is it was to be only half-wanted, she loved it here. She was going to make this work, and she was awesome enough to deal with Crystal for a couple of hours. After all, even Crystal must have bad days occasionally. She wasn’t perfect.
“It’ll be fine,” Merry said aloud, repeating her mother’s words to herself. Yes. It would be fine.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“MERRY!” HER COUSIN exclaimed in an ingratiatingly kind voice. “It’s so wonderful to see you!”
“Hi, Crystal.” Just opening the door had been a blow. Crystal had bleached her dark blond hair to a sleek platinum bob. She looked amazing. Slim and tall and stylish. She wore a sleeveless linen dress and coffee-colored heels. Merry felt clumsy and lumbering in comparison as she stepped back and waved Crystal in.
But at least Grace had helped her clean up. Merry still wore jeans and black and pink sneakers, only because Grace’s cute boots were too tiny to stuff onto her feet. But Grace had forced her out of a T-shirt and into a tight black tank top that looked almost elegant when paired with the thick rope of silver that Grace had looped around Merry’s neck.
She glanced down at the glinting metal and told herself to feel confidence.
“You look amazing,” Merry made herself say. “I love the hair.”
“Thank you, darling. And you. Love the shoes.”
The words sounded completely sincere. Merry knew they weren’t, but her cousin was never sarcastic enough to be called on it. Ever. The woman was smart, and if Merry’s mom had been watching, she’d say, “But honey! She said she loved your shoes!”
“Is this your place?” Crystal asked, making a slow turn on her beautiful spike heels.
“It is!” Merry thought the apartment was beautiful, with its old hardwood floors and dark woodwork and windows open to the evening. Aspen trees whispered in the breeze that snuck past the white curtains, and she could hear the occasional laughter of kids playing in the front yard across the street.
But from her expression, she could tell that Crystal saw the old couch and the tiny kitchen and the walls that didn’t display beautiful artwork. “Well, the town is gorgeous. You’re so lucky to live here.”
