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At the party, Cassidy had asked me if I’d be all right if Rylan drove me here. Since I hadn’t wanted to ruin her night, I had told her that it was cool.
“By the time I got up, I didn’t see anyone.”
Sighing deeply, I watched as his beauti
ful hazel eyes swept over my collarbone and drifted down towards my breasts and back to my face hungrily. I never wanted that look to go away.
“I knocked for twenty minutes. I didn’t know if you’d fallen asleep or if you were ignoring me.
Shaking my head “no,” I moved away from the door and sank down on the end of my bed. He joined me. His arm touched mine, the scent of soap and a light aftershave washed over me.
“Did anything happen last night?”
I frowned at his question. “Not at all.”
He blew out a sigh of relief. “Take out your cell phone and put in your password.” His tone was gentle and commanding at the same time.
I retrieved my phone from the side pocket of my nightgown and handed it to him after I unlocked it.
Smiling, I watched as he entered his number into my phone. I heard chirruping and realized that he called himself from my phone.
“Nice ringtone.”
“Don’t worry. You’re gonna have a better ringtone than that.” He chuckled and stood up. “We need to be able to get ahold of each other. I forgot to exchange numbers with you yesterday. I put in Pierce’s and Nancy’s numbers too.”
I tilted my head in agreement. Being alone with Chase in my guestroom was like sampling a treat instead of consuming it in one bite. He stroked his knuckles along my jaw and his voice softened. “I gotta go to work. I’ll see you later, though, okay?”
I shivered and he dropped his hand from my face. Chase had the firmest ass I’d ever seen. And that was the only positive about his departure. Was any part of him not firm?
***
Later in the day, I unpacked all of my clothes and put them in the closet and drawers. I decided to go for a walk to familiarize myself with the area. It was the kind of beach town I could see myself living in when I graduated and had a job. As I walked, I saw some small stores I recognized from the drive with Chase yesterday. Some guys I remembered from the party said hello to me. Among them was a guy named Gavin.
As I checked my phone for the time, Mariska’s photo popped up. I’d left her a voicemail after I’d showered, which was very early in the morning. I didn’t know what her work schedule would be like today.
“I didn’t mean to wake you up. Just wanted to tell you that I miss you.”
“I didn’t notice that you left me a voicemail until just now. I don’t mind getting them from you. You wouldn’t want me to feel ignored now, would you?”
“I couldn’t stand for that,” I said with a smirk. “Did the three of you have a good time last night?” I lowered myself onto the sidewalk. Besides a few townspeople who were going to and from a small mom-and-pop coffee shop, the streets were empty.
“I think Pete is finally warming up to Jake. We talked about how we’re missing your face already. And I think Pete has a new crush too.”
I tittered. “Good!”
“And he’s afraid of hurting your feelings so he asked me not to tell you. But Jake assured him that you’d be fine with it.”
“He’s the sweetest. I hope that doesn’t change in the near future.”
Mariska scoffed. “It’d better not. Who ended up picking you up yesterday? Jake said that your cousin Pierce did?”
It wasn’t lost on me how Mariska hadn’t mention Cindy ever since she came to my former house the day I’d learned that I’d been evicted. I appreciated her understanding that I didn’t want to talk about her. I was moving forward. I had to live my own life like Cindy was.
“His friend Chase did.”
“Hmmm. I recognize that sound!”
“I like his company.”
