Page 101 of Faking Forever
“To be fair, most of them had kids to think of.”
“And a lot of them didn’t,” he shrugged.
“I don’t know why I did that,” she admitted. “I’m not enjoying being soaked at all right now a-and I’m starting to feel really cold.”
She was beginning to shiver. So violently he could almost hear her teeth rattling.
“I have a jacket in the back seat,” he told her. “Put it on.”
“It’ll get wet.”
“After which it’ll dry again.” His pragmatism—usuallyherstrength—made her giggle. He smiled helplessly at the light, high-pitched, unfamiliar sound.
She reached back and grabbed the jacket, draping it over herself rather than putting it on.
“Why do you have a puffer jacket in your car in the middle of summer?” she asked, her voice muffled because her face was buried up to her nose under the jacket collar.
He shrugged.
“It’s been there since last winter,” he admitted, and she giggled again.
Fucking hell, when did she get so goddamned cute?
“I’ve told you so many times this car needs deep cleaning and disinfecting.”
“It has character.”
“And probably fleas,” she countered. She sounded so lighthearted that Smith didn’t have it in him to take offence at the slight against his precious car.
It was still raining heavily when he slid the car to a stop in front of her place. When she reached for the door handle, Smith stilled her with hand to her elbow.
“You’re not walking up those steps. They look rickety and dangerous on the best of days. It’s bound to be worse when the wood is wet and spongy.”
Her shoulders heaved with the force of her impatient exhalation.
“Okay, Galahad, do your thing,” she said in resignation. “But remember,I’mnot the one with the head injury here.”
He winced at the reminder.
“And also…” he began hesitantly, disliking the nervousness he could hear in his own voice. “I think we should talk.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Oh,hethought they should talk, did he? One toe-curling, reason-annihilating, brain-melting kiss later, and the man thought he was calling the shots? After his constant and demoralizing refusals to have any kind of rational conversation with her over the last week?
Someone else might well have allowed the magic of the moment to erase any semblance of practicality, but she was thinking a lot more clearly now and yes, they needed to talk. Because she had a lot to say tohim.
She remained silent as he bundled her out of the car and effortlessly carried her up the porch steps, musing that she was starting to enjoy the whole damsel thing a littletoomuch.
She quickly unlocked the door after he carefully deposited her on the welcome mat, handling her like she was precious cargo.
“I’ll get you some towels,” she said as she went to work switching on lights.
Another crack of thunder made her yelp and jump a little. Because the town was situated between mountain and sea, eachthunderclap echoed and rolled for at least thirty seconds before fading.
Even Smith swore shakily when the window panes rattled along with the thunder. The wind began to pick up, eerily whistling its way into the house via the sliver of space beneath the front door.
