by Claire Adams
“Well, good luck then, I guess,” he said, turning and walking away.
He shuffled through the grass between our houses, shaking his head but not looking back. Immediately I felt a weight lift off my chest, no longer feeling bad and always trying to spare his feelings, or feeling guilty when I couldn’t force myself to be attracted to him. At least this whole debacle had come in handy for something, and now I was ready to head over to my new temporary life.
Chapter Seventeen
Luke
She was on her way over, the girl who had saved me from a life without my son. I was excited to get things going, get her settled, and show her that she wasn’t in this alone. I knew that she was fearful of the outcome, I knew that she was uprooting her life to live here and make this work for me and for Jake, and that was a huge sacrifice for someone she barely knew. When the knock finally came, I jumped up from the chair and ran over to the door. I swung it open with a wide smile on my face and greeted Quinn. I grabbed my jacket and threw it on, following her to her car without a word, then helped her carry all of her boxes and suitcases inside, stacking them to the side, and waiting for her to close the door.
“Quinn,” I said, smiling at her. “I just wanted to thank you again for doing this for us. I owe you more than I could ever repay you for. But one thing I can definitely do is make up for the fact that you lost your job in the deal. I want you to know I’ll be paying you full-time wages for the entire time you are here.”
“That’s really great,” she said, smiling. “I appreciate that because I hadn’t quite figured out how I was going to keep my house when I didn’t have a job. But the real reason I was doing this was for Jake, and you now, too, of course.”
“Listen though, even though I’m paying you a wage, I don’t want you to think of it as taking care of us,” I said, feeling guilty now. “We are going to take care of each other. This is a huge thing, I know, but we will get through it together. Anyway, let me show you to the room so you can get all comfortable and set up.”
I grabbed a couple of her suitcases and walked her through the house and up the stairs. My bedroom was the first door to the right, and I pulled the suitcases in there, setting them in the middle of the floor. Quinn slowly walked into the room, obviously feeling nervous about what was going on.
“So, I cleared a bit of the closet for you, over half, and I bought this new dresser for you to use,” I explained, showing her around. “The bathroom was just cleaned, and you can take whatever space you need in there. Really, I just want you to make everything feel like home for you.”
“Thank you,” she chirped. “I might feel a bit awkward now, but once I get settled in, I’m sure I’ll get back to normal. I appreciate you being so sweet, this is a bit of a change for me.”
“Understood,” I said. “If there is anything that you need, you just let me know.”
I walked over to the dresser and wiped a bit of dust off the top, looking back over at Quinn. I followed her gaze over to the king-sized bed and tried to hide a laugh. I didn’t even realize what this would look like when she came into the room. I walked over shaking my head and put my hand on her shoulder, feeling her jump a bit under my touch.
“Ah geez, I’m such a moron. Don’t worry, Quinn,” I said sweetly. “You aren’t going to be forced to sleep next to me. You would go crazy anyway; I tend to snore when I am really tired.”
“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” she said, with a blush over her cheeks. “Okay, that’s definitely a lie: I was thinking about it.”
She let out a deep breath and looked at me for a moment before bursting into laughter, causing me to start laughing too. She definitely had an interesting way of breaking the ice, but I liked it; I liked everything about it. Quinn was the most unique person I had ever met, and though from the outside she seemed like any other woman, on the inside she had a personality that was just bursting to reveal itself. I didn’t know what she had gone through in the past, but whatever it was, I could tell it had taken a serious toll on her. I was excited to watch her move forward and start showing more of that funny and playful personality.
“No, you’ll be sleeping in here, and I’ll sleep on the pull out in the den,” I said, my eyes watering from laughing so hard. “Of course, we’ll need to make it look like we share a room so if the court official comes, it’s not strange. I’ll make the bed in the den every morning and put away all the linens, so there are no questions about it when they come. I don’t want to leave anything to chance or be caught off guard in any way. It’s always good to be prepared, and for this situation, I want to be as prepared as humanly possible.”
I offered to help her unpack, and she smiled happily as she handed me a box. I read the spines of the books I pulled out of the box and was really impressed by the authors that she chose to pursue. There was way more to this babysitter than met the eye. She must have seen my face because she smiled big and looked at me with her hands on her hips.
“I wasn’t always a babysitter, you know,” she said, chuckling. “I actually had a highly technical career in the energy field for quite a while.”
“I’m not doubting your intelligence at all,” I said, smiling broadly. “I’m just happy to see there are so many facets to you.”
“Facets I can’t even remember exist sometimes,” she said, under her breath.
“So, the hot water in this house can be a little wonky sometimes,” he said. “I have to get it fixed. If you don’t get hot water, there is a pipe next to the water heater that has a wrench on top. Give it a couple taps, and it will kick right on.”
“Alrighty then,” she laughed.
“Oh, and the third board walking down the hallway creeks something awful, so if you’re trying to stay quiet, jump over that board, it’ll wake Jake up in a heartbeat,” he said.
“Got it,” I replied.
When we were done, I waved at her and walked her into the kitchen, showing her around the area I didn’t use very often, even when I was starving. I stood back and watched her look at all the cookware I had stocked the kitchen with when I bought the place. Everything seemed shiny and new, and I realized most of it still was.
“So, though this kitchen is full of beautiful cookware, stocked shelves, and interesting pieces of kitchen machinery, I’m a terrible cook,” I admitted. “To be honest, the most complex thing I know how to make is a hardboiled egg, and that isn’t always a no-fail for me. Last year’s Easter eggs were runny inside, which made for an interesting dinner party.”
“Oh no,” she laughed, running her hands over the stainless-steel appliances. “Well, you don’t have to worry because I love to cook.”
“Good,” I said, pulling out my phone. “But tonight, we feast on pizza.”
I called and ordered a large extra cheese and pepperoni pizza hoping it was something she liked. After I hung up, I looked over at her as she walked through the living room, looking at all the pictures of Jake on the fireplace. I had almost every year documented in some way, except for last year because his mother refused to let me buy a school picture. I walked over to the wine holder and pulled out a bottle of red, uncorking it, and pouring us each a glass. I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, setting the wine on the coffee table, catching her attention and smiling with charm.
“Come on,” I said, patting the couch. “Come sit with me and enjoy a glass of wine.”
“Well,” she said, crinkling her nose. “Okay, you twisted my arm.”
We both laughed as she walked over and sat down on the couch, taking the glass of wine from me and sipping it. She closed her eyes and swallowed, nodding her head up and down at the taste. It wasn’t terribly fancy, but it was a fruity bouquet, not dry at all, with more sweetness than most red wines. I had a feeling she liked the sweet wines, so I figured I would go with that one.
“So,” I said, turning to her. “I think you should tell me any concerns you might have with our arrangement so they can be addressed now instead
of later when they could become a problem.”
As she began to talk, I nodded my head and took a sip of my wine. I looked over at her, and as my eyes began to sink from her eyes to her lips, I became entranced. They were light pink, pouty, and extremely full. The way she talked, licking her lips between sentences, and biting her bottom lip when she got nervous: it was way too sexy for me to handle at that moment, but nonetheless I continued to stare at them as she talked about whatever it was I had brought up, though my mind was clearly somewhere else.
I had told myself from the beginning that I was doing all of this under duress. I was not nearly ready for a commitment to one woman again and had only agreed to pursue such an arrangement when the whole situation came up with Jake. My son was the only reason I could think of to tie myself down again, especially to someone who I barely knew, though I was learning something interesting about her every day. But I couldn’t lie to myself; Quinn was extremely attractive, and it was getting harder and harder not to hit on her whenever I was close to her. The smell of her lavender and vanilla perfume had started driving me absolutely wild, and I knew at that point I needed to get these thoughts out of my mind. It was her first night here for God’s sake; I didn’t need to get distracted.
“Luke?”
“Huh? Oh God, I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head and realizing I hadn’t heard a single word she’d said.
Quinn was so beautiful, but in an understated way; her looks were amazing, but what made her even sexier was her kindness. It was incredibly refreshing how she went out of her way to be there for others. Maybe I only noticed it because I had been married to a shrew for so long, but none of the girls that I’d been dating since the divorce had been anywhere near the kind of woman Quinn was. I had discovered that if I stood back and watched other people’s reactions to her, everywhere she went she lit up the room. Even in court, the judge smiled when she walked up, the officer was extremely sweet to her, and I could tell that Sarah’s attorney was having a hard time being mean to her in any way.
“This is embarrassing, but could you do me a favor, and repeat what you just said? I’m sorry, my mind skipped town for a second,” I laughed.
“God, I know how that feels,” she said, sighing.
She went on, talking about the issues she could think of that might arise, but her worries were small and easily resolved, and I assured her there wouldn’t be any problem. I sipped my wine and stared over at her, trying to keep my eyes on hers, but struggling every time she crossed her long sexy legs. It was beginning to look like I might be in trouble with this girl, and not because she was part of my secret.
Chapter Eighteen
Quinn
Having lived by myself for so long, with little to do with men, I was starting to wonder how I was supposed to live in such tight quarters with a man like Luke. There was no denying it: he was incredibly sexy, and this wasn’t the first time that I’d noticed it. In fact, I had always thought he was sexy, but this was just the first time we’d been alone together in a room without direct supervision. After my divorce, I had sworn off men, not even indulging in one-night-stands, friends with benefits, or anything along those lines. My libido had been buried under what seemed like ten feet of snow for a very, very long time. However, as I sat there next to Luke, I couldn’t help but feel it break free from the glaciers and begin to burn like the hot summer Arizona sun. It was so strong that I had to take a deep breath and cross my legs to keep myself in check. This was not like me at all, but at that moment, I was so ready to be someone other than me.
My brain was running all over the place, including up and down his giant biceps and strong chest. His smile was so charming it could melt my panties right off my body, and his five o’clock shadow made him look like an Armani model or something. How could any woman not love to crawl into bed with this man over and over again? He was such a distraction; I was having a hard time just getting words out of my mouth. I wondered if it was the wine talking or that I just let go enough that I could finally admit it to myself. Either way, I fumbled over my words and forced myself back into the present, trying to remember what I was talking about.
I sat there for a moment, completely silent, trying to find my words so I didn’t look like a complete idiot. God, what the hell was I just talking about? It was important to me when I brought it up, and I was thinking about it when he said issues, but then our bedroom popped into my mind. I smiled, remembering exactly what I was talking about, privacy.
“So yeah, what do we intend to do in order to ensure we both have ample amounts of privacy without impeding on what we’re doing, and staying familiar with each other?”
Nailed it! Thank God, I remembered what I was talking about without having to play damage control after getting lost on his thick, heavy thighs and strong man hands. I really needed to get a hold of myself. I cleared my throat and looked up at Luke, taking a sip of my wine and waiting for his answer. He seemed to be off in another world.
“Huh? Oh God, I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head back and forth. “Could you do me a favor, and repeat what you just said? I’m sorry, my mind skipped town for a second.”
“God, I know how that feels,” I said sighing. “But I asked about privacy and how we would maintain that for ourselves.”
I watched him as he brought himself back into the conversation, and I he looked at me with a soft look in his eyes that took me back a bit. He went from being on another planet to being right there, up close and personal, in our conversation. I could be going crazy, but I couldn’t help but ask myself if he was staring at me. Instantly my cheeks began to blush, wondering what was going through his mind, and whether he was having similar thoughts to me.
“For example,” I said quietly. “The bathroom, showers, and morning routines.”
“Oh, that’s no big deal at all,” he said, waving his hand. “We have two full baths, so I’ll just use the one in the hallway, and you can have the one in the bedroom all to yourself. There is no reason for you to feel uncomfortable about simple things like that.”
“I don’t know if that is a good idea,” I said.
“Why not?”
“Because, if the court official comes and notices that all of your toiletries are in a separate bathroom, it is going to raise some questions,” I replied. “Since we’re trying to keep things as much on track as possible, we might want to cohabitate as much as possible as well. It will just make things less stressful in the long run. The last thing I want to do is look through the peephole and panic, running around the house moving your shampoo and toothbrush. Besides, that may be a little strange for Jake, too.”
I could see myself running around the house like a mad woman, sweating profusely when I finally answered the door. I didn’t want it to look so perfect that it was unbelievable, but I also didn’t want to take any chances. If I was going to uproot my entire life to see this through, I wanted to leave nothing to chance. There were always going to be little things, the same little things you would think were normal in a real married couple’s place, but put under scrutiny can become suspicious activity. If all the big things were set in stone, it would be a lot easier to explain away the little things and have them changed shortly after the official leaves. All in all, I was pretty much looking at sharing practically everything with Luke, which was oddly okay with me.
I watched him as he ran my words through his head, nodding his head up and down and taking a long sip of his wine. We actually made a really good team, which was nice since we were going to have to be living together for quite a long time. Where one person was weak, the other could pick up the slack, oddly like a real marriage was supposed to work, but rarely did. Maybe there was something to be said about arranged marriages like this.
“You know, you really do have a really good head on your shoulders,” he said, lifting his glass. “And of course, really nice shoulders, and everything else.”
I stopped in my tracks, not really sure if I had heard him clea
rly or not. Did he just pay me a really sexy compliment? No, that couldn’t have been what came out of his mouth. However, from the way he was looking at me over his wine glass, I was definitely thinking he had just flirted with me, telling me that I was good looking in a strange sort of way. I had to hide the smile that was creeping over my lips. His words were causing something to happen inside of me that I hadn’t felt in a really long time. I shifted in my seat trying to excuse what he said, but the warmth that flooded me was too much to ignore. I could feel my cheeks glowing bright red, and I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t; my mouth was frozen shut for some reason. I hadn’t actually ever been paid a compliment like that before, and coming from him, it was really sexy. He stared at me for several seconds, but then started laughing, calming the thickness of the air.
“I am such an ass,” he laughed. “I’m sorry for being so corny.”
Immediately, my mouth curved up and broke into a huge smile, making everything seem much less serious. He was such an interesting man, and if corny was his thing, I would take it anytime. He shook his head and took in a deep breath looking back at me.
“At least it forced a big smile out of you,” he said. “You have been stressed, I know, but I like to see you happy and content. Hopefully you can get to that point while you are here.”
“That would be nice,” I said with a smile.
“So,” he said, picking up the bottle of wine and refilling our glasses. “I was out on the field the other day taking notes in front of where the cheerleaders practice and I overheard one of the players hitting on the girls. It was the most awkward and creepiest displays of manhood I had seen in a really long time. He looked at them and said, ‘Hey ladies, are those space pants? Because your ass is out of this world.’ I literally had to get up and walk away because I couldn’t control my laughter.”
“Oh my God,” I said, laughing hard. “That is so bad. I can’t even imagine having a guy say that to me. I can’t imagine what I would say in return.”