But what if?
What if he cared about her as much as she cared about him? What if Flynn stopped sharing a house with his brothers and startedsharing one with her?
She’d have to move. That much was clear. Her cozy little tiny house was not built for a man of Flynn’s considerable—and considerablysexy—height. Or breadth. His shoulders barely made it into the bathroom.
Wow. Thinking about all the possibilities in front of her—good ones, finally—made Sierra a little bit dizzy.
Or maybe it was all those sips of the wine she kept taking.
“Want to tell us about the jerk who let you down?” Mollie asked.
“Maybe someday. Not right now.” Not just because it still wasn’t safe to let the cat out of the bag. More that Sierra didn’twant to turn the fun evening into a pity party over her clueless idiocy.
Rick and his horrible, illegal scheme had forced her to abandon everything. He’d put a dark splotch on her life. One that Sierra couldn’t erase.
She could paint over it, though. Like the old masters, hiding some original elements in their paintings with pentimenti. Obscuring what was with a different viewpoint. A different truth. A different, new, final version of what they wanted theworld to see.
Sierra wanted the world to see her as a woman with kick-ass friends and a sunny disposition. A woman who deserved a man asawesome as Flynn. A woman who simply wouldn’t allow the darkness to spread onto another inch of the canvas of her life.
Setting her fork down, she turned to Lily. Because there was no better time to start sketching out her new future than rightnow.
Well, there probably was a better time. A time when she hadn’t guzzled wine before leaping into a potentially risky discussion.A time when she’d done research and prepared a multipoint reasoning.
Waiting simply wasn’t an option any longer, though. Sierra knew, firsthand, how quickly plans could turn on a dime. How lifecould spin you around as recklessly as a car doing donuts in an icy parking lot.
Not to mention that waiting would give her the chance to change her mind. To chicken out.
Her empty hand inched toward the wineglass. Before it hit the stem and the liquid courage it represented, Sierra blurted out,“Are there any openings at your school for the fall? Ideally an art teacher, of course, but I’d take anything. Kindergarten.Classroom assistant. Chief cook and bottle washer—as long as you don’t actually expect me to cook.”
“I didn’t realize you wanted to teach?” Lily’s voice rose at the end, a verbal mirror of the question on everybody’s faces.The obvious one, of course, being why she was waitressing. The more burning question, of course, being why she hadn’t mentionedit until now.
“More than anything. I’m qualified. I have a degree.” Might as well go for broke, she thought. “Two, almost. I can’t prove it, but I do.”
Mollie reached across the table to rest her hand on Sierra’s. “Are you in trouble?”
Sierra almost gurgled out a laugh. Yes. Definitely. She just refused to let that be the defining element of her life anymore.“Trying to get away from it, is more like it.”
Karen’s hand landed on Sierra’s other arm. The tinkle of her dozen gold bangles soothed Sierra. Like they were personal windchimes. “Do you need help?”
Her heart swelled. Tears pricked against her lids. “I need a job. A better job than waitressing.”
Elena snorted. “Since when is teaching a better job than one where you get an extra ten percent in tips from Joe Fujisawaevery time you hike up your hemline?”
The pragmatism of the questions settled Sierra. For an orphan who’d teetered on the edge of poverty her whole life? Livingcomfortably was an almost unreachable goal. One that definitely landed below being happy and fulfilled on her life prioritylist. “I adore children. Art is my passion. The logical way to combine those two things is to teach. I think, I know I’d be good at it.”
Pursing her lips, Lily said, “The kids all raved about you after the day they spent working on the float design with you andFlynn.”
Sierra grabbed on to that mention. The vote of confidence was enough to give her the strength to keep going, on to the partthat might make her friends regret being so supportive. Not wanting to wait and see if they pulled back, if the reassuringtouches disappeared, Sierra slid her chair back to fold her arms in front of her plate.
“I realize that my lack of transcripts could be a sticking point. I can’t provide them. It’s too dangerous to try.” Gettingnew ones was out of the question, too. She didn’t have the portfolio required to get another full ride scholarship. Sierrasimply couldn’t afford the time or the money to go back and spend another four years getting a degree under her new name.
The sound of the jazz playlist Lily had dialed up filled the room because nobody was making so much as a peep. Was it thatthe word danger—one she’d chosen oh, so carefully, to give them as close to as much honesty as they deserved—had indeed scared them silent?
Finally, Elena asked, “Have you met Mateo yet? Not very tall, but very handsome in a swarthy, muscled way?”
“Um, I’m not sure?” A lot of people came into the Gorse. And Sierra didn’t really notice the handsome men, because she onlyhad eyes for Flynn. Just thinking about him almost, almost made it difficult to focus on her friend’s reaction to her big revelation.
Karen rolled her eyes. “Oh, for God’s sake, Elena. Not everyone can be described like a dating profile.”
“But I did date him. Well, more of a fling. I think.” She tapped a bright red nail against her cheek. “How many orgasms does it takebefore you cross the line from fling to dating?”
That question—one that Sierra rather wanted to know the answer to herself—netted another eye roll from Karen. She did thata lot to Elena. “Mateo’s the sheriff. Aside from Elena’s rating, he’s also nice and very trustworthy.
