Here With You (A Laurel Heights Novel) - By Kate Perry Page 0,39

was hard.

She shrugged, flipping her hair so it covered her face. "This is a pretty ideal situation. I'll be sorry to see it end."

"Does it have to end?" he asked carefully.

Nicole shifted off him, sitting on the edge of the couch. "What are you saying?"

"Come with me." He sat up and took her hand. "My manager knows I'm in San Francisco, and it's only a matter of time until the real world crashes down on me. It'd be great to have you with me. I haven't felt this way in a long time."

"You're just in the afterglow of creativity."

Funny—KT had used that exact term. "It's more than that, Nic."

"What about my job?"

"It's in a lingerie store. You can come back to it or find another one to work in if you change your mind."

"It's not just a lingerie store. It's a community." She frowned. "I love working there."

But was it more important than he was? The insinuation irritated him. She never stuck with anything—he didn't see how that shop would be any different.

Not that he could point that out without risking becoming a eunuch, so instead he said, "What about designing your own lingerie?"

She recoiled as if he'd suggested killing puppies for a living.

"It can't be that far out from left field," he said. "You draw pictures of underwear all the time. You must have entertained the idea, even fleetingly."

"It's just something I like to do." She pulled her hand away. "It's not anything more than a way to pass time."

"Maybe it should be. The designs I saw were evocative. I could see them on you, and they'd look sexy as hell."

She stared at him like the Sphinx: mysterious and inscrutable. Finally she said, "Tell me about your song."

"You're changing the subject," he said, disappointed.

"It seems smartest."

"I don't know about that, but it's certainly safest."

She swallowed. "You like being safe."

"Yes, but sometimes you have to take a risk." He brushed her hair back, suddenly positive this was one of those instances.

But Nicole apparently didn't think so, because she gave him a flippant grin and slid back over him. "I say we get risky again, just you and me and this couch."

He let her engage him in a deep kiss, knowing she was trying to distract him as much as turn him on. So he kissed the breath out of her. If words didn't work, he'd show her they could be different. He was going to try his damndest to convince her, even if he wasn't sure she'd see it through and stick with it.

Chapter Seventeen

Rachel peeked her head into Romantic Notions after school, looking for Griffin Chase. No sign of him still.

Grrr. She made a face. At this rate she'd give him her mom's poem in time for the tenth anniversary of her death. The –sons had given her a hard time about it again today. What else was new, right? Rachel wished she hadn't said anything to them, but the satisfaction when Griffin Chase used her poem would be so great.

If she could track him down.

"Hey there." The sales lady, Nicole, emerged from the back and smiled at her. "How are you?"

"Okay," she murmured, hunching her shoulders as she backed out of the store.

"How are your new bras?"

She stopped. "You remember me?"

"Of course I remember you. You bought the Elle Macpherson in two colors. How are they?"

She loved them actually. When she wore them, she felt like a grown up, and what the –sons of anarchy said bothered her less. "They're good."

Nodding, Nicole walked to a table on the side and started rummaging through a pile of lace. "I have another set I think you'd like. It comes in a berry color that'll look fabulous on you."

"I don't know that I need more underwear."

The woman held out the bra and panties. "Underwear isn't about need. It's about want. Try them on."

Her dad would probably be pissed when he saw the charges on his credit card—she probably shouldn't buy more.

Rachel stared at the pretty raspberry color. It looked like something her mom would have worn. Plus she felt powerful when she wore her pretty underthings, like it was her superhero suit.

Her dad was too wrapped up in his own life to notice anything about her, much less that she'd made a charge on his card.

"Okay," she said with a smile. Happy with the decision, she took underwear to the fitting room.

This time, she wasn't surprised when Nicole burst into her room. She turned her back and waited to be fixed.

"Perfect,"