“Your parents what?”
“The house next door was for sale, so they bought it last year. They did a bit of work on it and heavily implied that they wanted me to move there when I was done my residency and work at a practice in one of the neighboring towns.”
“By ‘heavily implied,’ you mean they talked about it constantly during every phone conversation.”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
What a horrifying thought. Amber was speechless.
Living next door to her parents? She didn’t know how Zach lived in Mosquito Bay—and he, at least, was a ten-minute walk away from their childhood home. Much as they liked to interfere, she couldn’t imagine her parents buying the house next door and expecting her or her siblings to live there.
But Sebastian’s parents? Yeah, she could see it.
Apparently he wasn’t enough of a pushover to go along with their wishes. Good.
“Are they still hoping you’ll change your mind?” she asked.
“Yes, but they don’t talk about it much anymore. I think they know they’ll have to sell the house. They did some work on it, and they should be able to make a little money, even though the real estate market in Ashton Corners isn’t exactly hot.”
Amber started laughing. “I still can’t believe it. I mean, I can, but it’s just so ridiculous. They bought the house next door!”
“Sure, sure,” he muttered. “Laugh at my misery.”
She slid her hand up his chest. “We still need to come up with a code word or phrase. How about ‘house next door’?”
“Amber...”
“Fine, fine.”
“Sonata.” Sebastian had chosen a music word, of course.
“Okay,” she said. “When one of us texts ‘sonata’ to the other person, that person can reply ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ no questions asked.”
They were quiet for a moment, and Amber simply let herself luxuriate in his presence. She loved sex, but she’d always loved the after-sex cuddle and conversation, too, and she was glad she could have that with him.
Eventually, she began stroking her hand over his leg. First his shin, but then she moved higher...and inward.
“Thank God you caught me reaching for a box of condoms,” she murmured as she grasped his cock.
He growled and pulled her on top of him, so she was sitting on his face, and circled his tongue over her entrance.
And then they had lots more fun.
That Sunday, after recovering from her pretend illness, Amber went to dinner at her parents’ house and imagined, with fresh horror, living next to her family. Her horror magnified when Ah Ma tried to get everyone to tell her what sixty-nine was.
Yep, no way in hell would her family ever learn about her and Sebastian.
Besides, if her family found out, his family would know, too...and they wouldn’t approve of her. They’d thought she was too wild ever since she’d given their daughter a “dirty” book in high school. And telling them that she and Sebastian weren’t actually together wouldn’t make things better.
Yes, sleeping with him was worth it, but they needed to be careful.
Chapter 5
Sebastian was in the car with Amber, which was, in all honesty, not somewhere he’d expected to find himself. But when he’d texted to ask if Wednesday would work, she’d suggested he come over at six so they could do something first. As in, before sex.
“Where are we going?” he asked again as they drove east out of Stratford, passing through the village of Shakespeare.
“Oh, you’ll see,” she said airily.
He grunted. He liked to know what he was doing in advance.
Amber was wearing work clothes: gray dress pants, a checkered vest, and a white collared shirt. He’d never seen her dressed up like this before, and it made him even more desperate to get her naked. Except, even though this “relationship” was supposed to be casual sex, they were heading out of town.
“Zach has a girlfriend,” Amber said. “Jo MacGregor. She was a few years above you in high school.”
The name was familiar, but Sebastian didn’t remember this woman.
And the mention of Zach caused a pang of discomfort.
They’d been close friends when they were younger, but they’d drifted apart when they went to different universities, though they’d still seen each other from time to time. Then Sebastian had gone out west for med school, and he hadn’t really kept in touch with anyone in Ontario except his family.
He’d planned to text Zach once he was settled in Stratford.
But then he’d started seeing Amber.
“How’s Zach doing?” he asked.
“You haven’t spoken to him since you got back?”
“No. I feel a little awkward about it. It’ll be weird to talk to him without saying anything about you and me. I’ll call him, though. Just not yet.”
“He’s doing well,” Amber said. “Teaching science at our old high school—you knew that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Jo is the first girlfriend he’s had since his broken engagement. I’m glad he’s moved on.”
Sebastian nodded, and they slid into silence.
Where on earth were they going? They’d been in the car for thirty minutes now.
Finally, they pulled up to a plaza in Waterloo, near the universities. When they got out of the car, Amber grabbed his hand and led him to the right, then seemed to realize they were holding hands and let go.
He felt a momentary disappointment but pushed it aside.
And then he saw the bubble tea shop.
He wasn’t accustomed to bursts of joy, but there it was.
It was partly because he was going to have bubble tea for the first time since he’d moved across the country, but also because Amber had gone out of her way to take him here.
Maybe it was more the second than the first; he didn’t examine it too closely.
Before she reached for the door handle, she turned back to look at him.
“Should I not have taken you here?” she asked. “You mentioned missing bubble tea, and I thought...well. I hadn’t had it in a while either, and there’s a pan-Asian restaurant in Stratford that serves bubble tea, but it’s not very good. My friend Roxanne lives in Waterloo and we come here sometimes—it’s my favorite tea shop in Waterloo.
