legs.”
“Somehow, I can’t picture you ever having your tail between your legs, regardless of what you did.”
“You haven’t heard my mom yell. When you meet her, don’t be fooled by her outwardly sweet demeanor. Beth Sullivan is a badass. And all of us live a little in fear of disappointing her.” It was clear he had an infinite amount of respect for his mother.
Zara wished she could tell her mom how much she respected her. Especially given that in their last moments, she had been anything but respectful.
The food that had been so good minutes before now tasted like sawdust as it settled like a rock in her twisting stomach. She closed the lids abruptly, picked up the containers, and shoved them into the garbage can. “We should go before traffic picks up too much.”
If Rory thought her sudden mood change was at all strange, he didn’t comment on it as they checked out, then he grabbed their bags and headed out to the car. Normally, she would have made it a point to carry her own luggage, but in the aftermath of her Brittany/Cameron anxiety, an all-night sexfest, and her sudden renewed grief over her mother, it was all she could do just to drag herself over to Rory’s car and climb into the passenger seat.
Of course, as soon as he turned on the ignition, the radio came on, tuned to a heavy metal station. “You have no taste in music,” she mumbled as she bundled up her sweater to use as a pillow against the window. She made another mental note to put hate each other’s music on their breakup list for Saturday.
The last thing she heard him say was, “Have a nice nap, Backstreet Girl,” in an obvious bid to take down her appreciation for boy bands.
She dreamed of a boy band where every member was Rory. All five were singing a pop version of the classic Nat King Cole song There Goes My Heart.
And they were singing right to her.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Two hours later, Rory pulled into his driveway and turned off the car. Zara had been sleeping soundly for the entire drive—he’d even turned off the heavy metal for her—but as soon as they stopped moving, she stirred.
She pulled off her glasses, rubbed a hand over her eyes, then slipped her glasses back on and looked up at the lighthouse in surprise. “Why are we at your house? I thought for sure you’d have had enough of me for one day.”
Three days ago, he would have been certain of that too. Now, however? He wasn’t anywhere close to having enough of her. “I’m in the final stages of making a chess board for one of my cousin’s movies and just remembered that I need to throw another coat of varnish on it right away if I want to get it to him on time. Once I’ve done that, I’ll take you home, if that’s what you want to do.”
“Actually…” She opened the car door and stepped outside, taking a deep breath of the ocean air. “Since I woke up on your couch on Friday, I haven’t been able to stop dreaming about doing some wild swimming here.”
“If you can wait fifteen minutes, I’ll join you.”
She shot him a look. “We might have just found something we agree on.” She blushed slightly as she added, “Apart from all the awesome sex.”
Just talking about the awesome sex made him want to grab her, instead of his bag. But she was already heading up the walk to his front door, so he took his bag out of the trunk and followed. After unlocking the door, he let her inside. “Have at anything in my fridge.”
She surprised him by picking an apple out of the bowl on the kitchen island. “Can I watch you varnish?”
Rory had never found anything about woodworking to be sexual. Not until Zara said varnish in a slightly husky, just-woke-up voice. With Zara watching him brush on the varnish, the entire process was going to feel like one big act of foreplay.
“You can help if you want.”
She shook her head. “No way. I’d never forgive myself if I ruined your creation at the eleventh hour.”
“I’ve seen you put together your eyeglasses frames. You have very steady, precise hands.” And last night she’d given him even more proof of just how good she was with her hands. “I have a feeling you’d be a brilliant woodworker if you ever wanted to learn.”
“Funny you should say that, because