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I turned toward him, inches away from his chest. “Are you trying to say you like me a little?”
“More than a little.”
I startled. Being close to him was sending electric tinglesalong my skin, exactly the distraction I needed. He smelled like cedar and soap. Warmth ignited in my belly—I wanted to forget what I was going through for a while. Sex would sweeten my day right up. My eyes slid over him.
“For a man with a live-in partner, you sure do come on a little strong. Especially when you think I’m an idiot.”
“Hey,” he said, putting his big hands on either side of my face. “I’m the idiot.”
“Why’s that?” I leaned into his touch. We’d always had this strange connection, never acted on, but sparkling between us.
He took a deep breath, smiling a little, and let his hands drop. “I’ll tell you, soon.”
Then I did what no one else in his life seemed willing to do. “Hank, the whole town knows that girl is running around on you.”
He flinched.
“With your cousin,” I continued. “Stop being so damn soft.”
He glared at me, turned around and walked out without another word.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Sally, honey,” said my mother early the next week. “Let’s be real. This is too damn much.”
“Mama,” I said while planking on the carpet of her living room, “I don’t think you love me anymore.”
She snorted. “If I didn’t, you’d be living in an expensive hotel. Far away from all this hoopla. The neighbors call me each damn morning to complain. Every nosy Nancy in town is cornering me at the grocery store, snooping for gossip. Your dad and I have had about enough. You can’t hide in here forever.”
“Wendy,” my dad shouted from the kitchen, “don’t include me in that speech. It’s all you.”
“Love you, Daddy,” I called. “It’s been three weeks,” I said to my mother. “That hardly counts as forever.” I kept working out, which I did somewhat fanatically. Inside, there was a boiling pot of pain about to spill over.
She marched away from me and then came back a minute later with another bag she dropped by the front door. “We’re leaving. Today.”
I sprang up to my feet. “Today? The cruise doesn’t sail for another four days.”
“I’d rather sleep in a roadside Motel 8 than have another reporter yell, ‘How does it feel to see your daughter’s sex tape leaked?’ You know what? It feels lousy. And you better sue that damn police department just to make me feel better.”
“Okay, I will.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “What are you going to do?”
“Well,HustlerMagazineoffered me five thousand to strip down in their nasty office.”
“Sally.” Mama covered her face.
“If those photographers are still here in a couple days, I’m gonna clear out.” It was time to tell her what was really going on. “I’ve had threatening messages from a handful of angry people. I’m more worried about those wack jobs.”
“What?” She put a hand on her chest. My daddy stepped out of the kitchen, his arms crossed.
I took a deep breath. I hadn’t wanted to tell them, but it was all getting too hot. “They’re mad at me for taking out their leader. And want revenge. I think…I think I’m going to need to disappear for a while.”
Mama sank into a chair. “Okay, you know what, we aren’t going anywhere.”
“You’re going on that cruise,” I said. “I’ll leave too. All the reporters will give up and move on.”
“Sally,” my father said, “are these people online threatening to hurt you?”
