I regret my next words before they come out of my mouth. “Do you need a place to stay?”
She meets my gaze, those worried blue eyes cutting through my heart. She looks away. “No, I’m fine. Just...let’s go back to your place.”
I put her in the truck, and we ride in silence. Her eyebrows have formed a permanent band of worry. She stares straight through the asphalt, her mind looking to be working a hundred miles an hour. She’s so worried about her next steps that she’s forgotten to be wary of me.
She gets out of my truck and walks to her car, fumbling with her keys. She’s such a ball of nerves that she drops them on the ground, and her hand shakes as she reaches down to pick them up.
I beg my feet to go toward the front door, leaving her to deal with her own shit, but they simply won’t go. Cursed. “Look, you can sleep in my bed tonight.”
She frowns at me.
I roll my eyes. “And I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“What about Val?”
“What the hell will he care? You’ll be in my room.”
She scratches her eyebrow. “Is he…cool?”
I cock my head to the side. “Do you mean is he going to sneak into your bed in the middle of the night?”
It’s her turn to roll her eyes, then she concedes. “Well, is he?”
“No. He’s not like that.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “What is he like?”
“Gay.”
“Oh,” she says, considering this new info like it’s a game changer, and then she closes her eyes and shakes her head quickly. “This is just ridiculous. I’ll figure something else out.”
“What, you don’t trust me?” I say, giving her the grin that usually makes pissed-off women forget they’re mad.
She purses her lips, looking me up and down. “No.”
I toss up my hands, backing away. “No skin off my back. Good luck finding somewhere to stay.” I turn around and walk inside, trying to play it cool, but just as I’m about to close the door behind me, my cold, withered-up heart experiences a temporary shock of warmth.
She lifts her chin, swiping at her eyes as she marches around to her driver’s-side door. She gets inside and sits, hands on the wheel, looking lost and desperate.
“Shit,” I say aloud, my need to help the women in my life nudging me back out the door. I can just see the look on Tori’s face when she finds out I’ve taken in a stray for the weekend.
I walk around to her window, peering in to find her with her head against the steering wheel, eyes closed. I rap gently on the window.
She sits up, eyes wide, and then powers the window down. “I’m sorry. I’m going.”
“Come on in. I’m not a serial killer and neither is Val.”
She narrows her gaze at me, seeming to try her best to justify walking into this house with me.
Tiff from up the street walks down the sidewalk of my front lawn, grinning at me. “Hey, Brett.”
Kylie looks away from me, her expression worried and defeated.
“Tiff, come here,” I say.
Her grin widens as she comes my way. “What’s up? You going to the bonfire later?”
I grin back. “We’ll see about that. Do you have a free couch tonight? This is Kylie. She needs a place to stay for the weekend.”
Kylie waves her hands. “No, no. I’m fine. I’m just gonna—”
“I wish I did,” Tiff says. “My girlfriends are coming in for the weekend. We’re gonna be on top of each other.” She waggles her eyebrows at me. “You should come over.”
I look her up and down. “I damn well may take you up on that.”
Tiff winks and starts to walk away.
“Hey,” I say. “I’m trying to convince Kylie that it’s safe to stay here with Val and me. Tell her I’m not gonna stab her to death in her sleep if she stays here.”
Tiff walks over and peers into the car at Kylie. “Are you afraid of him?”
“No, of course not,” Kylie says, shifting in her seat.
Tiff rests her arm on the doorframe. “I know about two dozen girls who would give their eyeteeth to stay in this house for the weekend. I’m about to ditch my girlfriends and trade places with you.”
I pull her away from the car. “All right. You can stand down now.”
She puts her hand on my waist then slowly moves it across my abs. “If you need someone to tell you a bedtime story, you know where to find me.”
“I sure do. See you on the beach later.”
“You can meet my friends.”
“Looking forward to it.”
She wiggles her fingers at me and heads down the sidewalk, putting a shake in that walk for me to enjoy. Kylie clears her throat, getting my attention.
I put my hand on the doorframe. “Do you trust me now?”
She closes her eyes, gripping the steering wheel, and then lets out a hard breath. “Not really.” She opens her door.
We stand face-to-face. She’s tall. I’m just an inch or two taller.
“Thank you,” she says.
“No problem.” We head inside, and I walk to my bedroom and set her bags on the floor. She stops in the doorway, shifting her body weight from one side to the other. “What?” I ask.
“Nothing. It’s just, I’m pretty sure this is my father’s actual worst nightmare.”
I huff a laugh. “What, he thinks you’ve never spent the night in a strange guy’s room?”
Her face turns red, and she slides inside, lifting her bag onto the bed.
“Ah,” I say and start to walk out.
She jerks her head around. “Ah, what?”
“You haven’t ever spent the night in a strange guy’s room, have you?”
“What does that matter?”
“It doesn’t matter. It just helps me understand you better.”
“Oh, so you think since I haven’t had a one-night stand that you know me?”
“I know something about you.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Then tell me something about you I should know.”
She stares at me like she’s trying to gauge whether
