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“Of course.” He gives me a bewildered expression like that’s the only kind of teasing someone could do. My stomach tightens when another kind of teasing comes to mind. The kind I’ve only read about. “Like you would do with your kid sister.”
Ouch.
“Okay.” I lick my lips. “So you’re not flirting with me?” I blurt out. Crap. I can’t ever keep my mouth closed when I should. Most times as soon as a thought enters my mind, it’s spilling from my lips.
“No.” He puts his hands out.
“It’s okay if you were.” I shrug. “It might be nice.” No one has ever flirted with me before.
“I'm too old to be flirting.”
“There is an age limit on flirting?” Wow, I really know nothing about this. I’m more out of touch than I realized.
My mom's plan was working. She kept me away from men so long that I’m clueless when it comes to them. Most girls my age don’t even have their virginity anymore. I bet Rowan could totally fix that for me. Once I thought about buying one of those toys some of the other girls had, but I was scared what the charge on my debit card would come up as, since my mom monitors it. I knew if I were to do it and she found out, she would most definitely turn me over to a nunnery.
“I’m not flirting.” His tone is firmer now.
“Can I flirt with you?”
“What? No.” He takes a step back.
“Oh.” I can’t hide my disappointment. “Is it ‘cause I’m–” I motion down to my body. “Over the weight limit?”
“Fucking hell.” He runs his hand down his face. “No, because you’re the perfect fucking weight.” His eyes linger on my body before he abruptly pulls his gaze away.
“I don’t understand.”
“Clearly,” he mutters, likely growing annoyed with me. I’m ruining this. I’d been so good when he’d given me the tour of the house. The more I’m around him, the more my mind wanders to dirty things.
“I’m sorry. I won’t flirt with you.” That’s a lie, and I know it. “I mean, I’ll try not to. It might be hard though.”
“I should—”
“Meow.” Dudley comes trotting into my room, cutting Rowan off.
“Dudley!” I rush over to him. He’d been but a kitten the last time I saw him. “Do you remember me?” I pick him up from the floor and cuddle him close. He purrs loudly. “You’re so cuddly.”
He butts his head against my chin.
“I’m going to head down.”
“Okay, I’m going to change real quick. Will you tell Grams I’ll be right down for dinner?” He nods before fleeing my bedroom. “I’m not so sure he likes me.” I kiss Dudley on the top of his head before setting him down on my bed. “But you do.” I give him one more scratch before I go to open my suitcase. It explodes, clothes and books spilling out before I get it a quarter unzipped.
I pick up a pair of plain white panties. I know they’re basic, but it’s all I own. I don’t have anything remotely sexy. No wonder Rowan doesn’t want me flirting with him.
5
ROWAN
I usually don’t eat at the house with Edith, no matter how many times she’s invited me. I just prefer to be alone, or maybe I prefer to stew over the fact that I’ve been here for months and feel like I’m no closer to finding the diadem. Without it, all this time has been a monumental waste.
“Nice to see you, Rowan.” Constance bustles around in the kitchen as I take my seat at the table. I’d offer to help, but that would likely lead to disaster, so I sit instead.
Edith is staring at her phone, her reading glasses firmly across the bridge of her nose. “You have to see this.” She turns her phone toward me, and there’s a video of cats getting scared of cucumbers over and over again. “I’ve got to get a cucumber and set Dudley up. We’d make a fortune on this TikTok thing!” She laughs and pulls her phone back, her grin firmly in place. “I was thinking about doing an OnlyFans. There’s lots of men into single women with a perfect body like mine. They’d pay to see it. Top dollar.”
This is one of the myriad reasons I don’t stay to dinner. Edith and her craziness. It’s amusing, but I could spend my time better doing more research or actually searching the property.
Dudley struts in, and my gaze rises to meet Charlie’s. She’s changed into a kitten sweatshirt and a set of fluffy shorts with cozy slippers on her feet. Her cheeks turn pink as she returns my stare, her teeth pressing into her plump bottom lip.
It’s like she has no fucking clue what effect she has on me. I don’t understand it, but since the moment she walked in, she’s what I keep thinking about. This has never happened before. I’ve been on plenty of jobs, met plenty of women, but damn, this one’s gotten under my skin in a way that seems impossible. But here I am, almost drooling over her as she takes a seat across from me.
