just as much on me. And I mean, you wouldn’t be able to support yourself at twenty years old waiting tables if you weren’t hardworking and reliable. Trust me, I know. My mom waited tables for most of my life, so I know exactly how hard it is to make ends meet as a server.”
She grinned. “Well, I appreciate the vote of confidence. And yeah, I’d love a chance to make some cash.”
I waffled on another thought, and then blurted it out. “I also could really use an extra pair of hands getting this Nova done. I could slide you some cash for that, too.”
She shook her head. “Working on the car I’ll do for free, for the nostalgia of getting engine grease on my hands again. And for the hospitality.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. If all goes well, we’ll have the Nova done by noon, I’ll cash out that account, and we’ll head over to start work at the Setters Road house.”
“Coffee first?” She sounded so eager, so excited for coffee that I laughed, and grabbed a mug, poured her a hit of thick black caffeine. “Hope you like your coffee black and strong, because I don’t have milk or sugar.”
“Would you think less of me if I did like it milky and sweet?”
“A little bit, yes,” I said, laughing.
Her skin looked milky and sweet is what I was thinking—her pulse was throbbing in the delicate vein of her throat, and I wanted to put my mouth there, feel her pulse under my tongue as I tasted her skin.
I blinked and looked away. I’d never found a throat sexy before, but hers was elegant and delicate and…sexy, and it was wreaking havoc on me.
I turned away, poured myself some coffee, and we stood in the kitchen in companionable silence.
She spoke again. “I had trouble falling asleep last night, too,” she murmured.
“Oh?” My mouth was dry, the aftertaste of my coffee souring on my tongue.
She held the mug in both hands in front of her mouth, eyes on mine over the rim, her voice muffled behind the ceramic mug. “Yeah. I have an overactive imagination, too. Had…things on my mind.”
“Things on your mind,” I echoed. And then it dawned on me what she was getting at—repeating my words about why I couldn’t sleep, which had led to the little scene this morning, downstairs.
“Yeah. You asked about…certain habits of mine.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, a shoulder lifting, lowering, demure. “Sometimes, that’s the only way I can fall asleep. I get…tense, and worked up, and my brain keeps feeding me these images and ridiculous scenarios, you know? Things that will clearly never happen, and I can’t shut my brain off, can’t stop the scenarios—the fantasies, I guess you could call them—from running through my head, until I’m so frustrated and worked up…” Her eyes dropped. “You know.”
I swallowed hard. “And you…had trouble falling asleep last night?”
“Uh-huh.” She laughed, embarrassed, blushing, the mug now fully obscuring her face. “God, why am I telling you this?”
“Well, it can’t top the fact that you saw me.”
“I didn’t mean to. And I know I should have gone back upstairs, but I was so…not expecting to see…that, that I just…froze.”
I held her gaze. “It happens, Torie. I ain’t mad about it.”
She looked back, a moment of boldness. “And, if you want the truth, I didn’t…mind what I saw.”
“Even though I was watching porn? And the girl in the video looked like you?”
“I did notice a resemblance.” God, this moment was tricky. The sexual tension was through the roof. “I watch porn sometimes, too.”
Well…that was hot. And unexpected.
“You ever watch with anyone?”
A long hesitation. She looked away. “God no. No way.” As if the very thought was utterly alien.
“Me either. I always thought it would be fun, though. With the right person.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would be…fun—hot…with the right person.”
The undertones were clear as day. She saw and felt them as much as I did—I saw as much in her eyes, the way she shifted, would meet my eyes, and then look away.
But then, she’d just said she couldn’t start anything. Not unexpected. But part of me wished I was asshole enough to push for a little messing around before she had to go. Take what I could get.
I couldn’t, though. I’m not that guy. I wanted more than to just mess around with this girl. And if I couldn’t get everything with her, it was best for her and me