Scorched

“It’s so dangerous, though. The job.” She started to toy with the hem of her skirt. “Does that scare you?”

I thought about that for a moment. “I think I’d be stupid or reckless to say that it’s not scary. I think there’s a healthy level of fear. It keeps you on your toes.”

She nodded slowly. “That’s an interesting way to think of it.”

“What about you?” I asked. “You have to be terrified, too.”

Her lips turned down at the corners. “How so?”

“You’re going to be working with kids,” I explained. “Nothing more terrifying than that.”

Andrea giggled. “But you know what? I don’t have to take those kids home with me.”

“And I won’t take the job home with me,” I admitted, meeting her gaze and holding it. “It’ll be hard, but I refuse to do that shit.”

She didn’t look away. “Did…did your dad do that?”

I raised a shoulder. “I don’t think he knew how to separate the two, but that was the least of his fuck-ups.”

“Do you have any contact with him?” she asked.

“Not really. I’m cool with that, though. I still see my mom.” I leaned back, resting on my elbows. “What about you? Are you close to your parents? You’ve never really said before.”

“I am. We get together every other Sunday for dinner. All of us. Mom likes to cook, so it’s a grand affair for her.” A loose curl blew across her cheek. “I kind of look forward to it.”

My gaze traveled across her face. “That’s good.” Sitting up, I reached over and caught the curl with my fingers. She stilled as I tucked it back behind her ear. Her wide eyes latched onto mine. “Your brother, if I remember correctly, isn’t a redhead. How about your parents?”

“My mom is,” she answered, swallowing. “My dad has brown hair and blue eyes. Brody takes after him.”

The tips of my fingers had minds of their own. They trailed down the smooth curve of her cheekbone. “So you take after your mom?”

Her lips parted. “Yes.”

“Then she must be beautiful.”

The hue of Andrea’s eyes deepened. “You know what?”

“What?” I grinned as my finger reached the corner of her lips.

“You can be a real charmer when you want to be.”

“And I want to be.” Leaning toward her, I replaced my finger with my lips, kissing the corner of hers. “With you.”

Andrea pulled back slightly, ducking her chin as she peered up at me through thick lashes. “I don’t know what to do…with you.”

I didn’t let her get very far. Curling my hand around the nape of her neck, I brought our foreheads together. “Yeah, you do, Andy. Just do whatever you want.”

Her eyes squeezed shut. “What I mean is, I don’t know how to do this with you.”

My heart thumped heavily. “You’re doing just fine.” I paused. “Most of the time.”

The corners of her lips quirked up. “Yeah, maybe about fifty percent of the time.”

Placing my other hand on her cheek, I smoothed my thumb along her jaw. With Andrea, I never really knew where I stood with her. One minute, she was sweet as sugar to me. The next, she had a bite more venomous than a copperhead. But I had great instincts. Always have. I knew she liked me, and I had a feeling that like ran deeper than friendship or lust. I was going to have to be the one to take the first step, to really put it out there so there was no mistaking what I wanted or expected from this.

I pulled back just a little, cupping both sides of her face. “When we leave this cabin at the end of the week, I want to see you.”

Her lashes fluttered up. “We’ll see each other.”

I grinned. “I know, but that’s not what I mean. I want to see you, Andrea. You get what I’m saying?”

Andrea’s gaze searched mine, and I was seriously hoping I wasn’t going to have to write it down. Like those notes back in grade school—Do you like me? Circle yes or no. But then she drew in a deep breath and said, “I get what you’re saying.”

Thank God. “So, what’s your answer?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I want to see you, Tanner.”

Chapter 13

Andrea

“You’re not paying attention at all.”

Fighting a grin, I denied the truth. “I am totally paying attention.”

“Liar.”

I was a total liar, and I barely smothered a giggle as I refocused my attention on the movie Tanner had found after dinner in the stash inside the cabinet. All I knew was it was a Transformers movie, but I had yet to see a Dinobot.

Today had been one of the most…chill days I’d had in a long time. After our talk by the pool, when I thought I could float right up to the sun, we’d hung out there for a few hours, talking about nothing in particular until we were both starving. Yeah, we’d picked at each other, but it was teasing instead of fighting or being mean. It was almost like we were together, like really together. And it had been years since I’d felt that way.

At some point, around five minutes after the movie had started, Tanner had gotten hold of my legs and placed them in his lap. And that was pretty much at the point where I’d gotten distracted. It wasn’t my fault.

Totally all Tanner’s fault.

He started off with his arms folded across his chest, not touching my legs while I rested against a pillow I’d shoved between my back and the arm of the couch. But then his hands had dropped to my ankles and I’d jumped a little at the contact. All he’d done was cast a sly grin in my direction, and my tummy had tumbled a bit. His fingers had curled loosely around my ankles at first, and as I pretended to pay attention to the movie, he pretended not to be doing anything.