Page 29 of XOXO, Summer
My youngest sister pushes through the kitchen door. “Oh, they’re here again?” The two of them together remind me so much of our mom. Their delicate features and heart-shaped faces. Their coloring couldn’t be more different yet fitting for their season—Winter’s dark hair to Spring’s blond. Winter’s brown eyes to her opposite’s blue. None of that matters, though, when you see them together. The resemblance is striking.
“Spring will fill you in.” I cut through the house and walk outside. They don’t see me before I start across the lawn. “Good morning. How’d we sleep?”
With his grip tight around the ropes, Roman leans back as far as he can as he soars through the air. “Like a baby.”
Daniel laughs. “Heslept like a baby. A baby who kicks all night, keeping me up most of it.” As if he hadn’t taken the time prior, he drinks me in like his morning coffee, savoring parts of me more than others. “Good morning to you. How’d you sleep?”
“Like a baby.” I grin, allowing my good mood to dictate my expression.
He catches wind of it and smiles before he leans in to push Roman again. Once the tire is off and spinning, he says, “Glad to hear it.” His tone shifts, as if he wanted to say something more. The smile that felt so casual slips, and he opens his mouth. But he just thinks better of it because he closes it again and turns back to the swing. “Hey, Roman, I’m going to talk to Summer for a minute.”
“K.”
“Walk with me?” We walk out from under the oak tree and toward the house.
Not sure I’ve seen him serious before. Strangely enough, he’s still just as attractive when I feel like I’m in trouble. “Sure, what’s up?”
He stops and looks at me. “I’m grateful for all you’ve done for us, but I think we’re going to need to leave.”
“No.” I hate myself for letting the desperation seep out. “I mean, why?”
Guilt coasts across his expression, dragging down his brow and the corners of his mouth. “The room is great, but . . .” Waving a hand up and down in front of him, he adds, “It’s made for someone more your size, not mine. My feet hang off the end, my kid sleeps hot and there was his kicking. I’m exhausted. The lack of sleep has me thinking it will be best if we go somewhere else. And since you said there’s nothing available in the area?—”
“Take my bed.” Tilting his head, he narrows his eyes on me as if he didn’t hear me correctly. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I haven’t felt anything for anyone in so long, and now, like the bees, it’s going to be ripped away from me. I want to ride this high as long as I can. I repeat, “You can sleep in my bed. It’s bigger.”
“Now, why would you go and offer up your bed?”
His question has me digging deeper than my desire for him to stay. I need him to stay so I can keep my bonus. That extra money is the only thing making an offer to Mrs. Dover possible. I can’t lose my shot at buying the cottage from her. “Because I’m responsible for the situation at the cottage. This was supposed to be a summer getaway for you and Roman, and he looks so happy here. It’s a temporary solution until we can get the two of you safely back in the cottage.”
“At the cost of your own comfort?” He shifts back a step, giving us room to consider this option. Maybe he thinks I’ll back out and change my mind. “Where will you sleep?”
The words flow from my mouth like a waterfall. “We can put Roman in the guest room, you in my room, and I can sleep on the couch.”
“I can’t let you sleep on the couch.”
Sharing a bed would lead to so much more, more than I’m ready for. I had no intention of being in that room with him, but the sudden inclination to be close to him has me replying, “The couch in my room.”
His gaze steadies on mine as he drags his tongue over his bottom lip twice before he takes a breath, releasing the tension building between us. “That’s generous.”
“It’s called hospitality. It’s what I went to school for.”
“So you’re a trained professional people pleaser?”
I hate that he’s hit the bull’s-eye with that characterization, but I won’t deny it. “Unfortunately for me?—”
“Lucky for me.”
I should hate how happy he makes me. It feels good to laugh about ridiculous stuff like this. It feels better to flirt with someone who I’m insanely attracted to, who seems just as attracted to me. But it’s the best feeling in the world when everything comes together like destiny had a hand. I’m not sure why I believe in that stuff—though not nearly as much as Fall does—but this feels like something bigger than us creating a problem to solve. And we’re doing just that.
Bonus, we get to spend more time together.
We start back toward Roman at a leisurely pace. “Tell me, Ms. Season, what are the rules? Number one was to avoid your sisters at all costs. That’s been broken.”
“I never expected it to last. We’re way too involved in each other’s lives not to know everything going on.”
“I wanted Roman to have siblings.” I glance up at him when I hear the change in his tone. His chest inflates with the deepest breath before he slowly deflates. “That didn’t work out.”
Before I have a chance to ask any burning questions, he looks back at me and says, “His mother, Mia, and I were never a couple.”
