Page 30 of The Au Pair Affair

Tallulahwantedto meet someone. Or beopento meeting someone, at the very least. It had been a really long time since she’d experienced physical satisfaction with another person—undergrad?Really?—and she missed the anticipation, the excitement, the selfish, human act of going home with someone on a quest for pleasure. Not overthinking, justfeeling.

Would she ever be capable of that again?

“You don’t dance?” she forced herself to ask Finn, while casually glancing over her shoulder to see if Chloe was on the way with their drinks.

Finn shrugged. “Maybe if the right girl asked me, I would...”

He raised an eyebrow, as if hoping for an invitation.

“Oh, um. I’m probably going to head home soon, actually,” Tallulah said. “Just going to have one more drink with Chloe.”

His smile remained glued. “Where is home?”

A sour taste spread in her mouth. “Beacon Hill.”

“I’m going in that direction, if you want to split a cab.”

The chill on her skin traveled inward. Splitting a cab shouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? She’d be seeing a lot of this guy at school. Outside of school, too, since they were partners on an assignment. Probably end up on more nights out together. But what if he got out of the cab at her building and decided to walk her to the door? What if he sent the cab on its way? It was nearing one o’clock in the morning.

No one would be around. Just them.

Still, she’d been living in fear so long. She just wanted to break out of it.

“Maybe. Sure.”

Finn’s smile widened.

“One amaretto sour for the lady,” Chloe sang, coming up on Tallulah’s right, pressing a cold drink into her hand. The blonde’s gaze bounced between Tallulah and Finn, lighting up with interest, and she leaned in close to speak near Tallulah’s ear. “Should I make myself scarce?”

“No.”

“Gotcha. Should he?”

“Uh. Yeah, I think so.”

“Double gotcha.” Chloe hooked her arm through Tallulah’s and stuck her bottom lip out at Finn. “Sorry, babe, I’m stealing her for drunk girl talk.”

“It’s the best kind,” Tallulah tacked on with a tight smile, grateful when Chloe steered her toward the bar. “Thanks. He wasn’t being excessively creepy or anything. I’m just...”

“You don’t have to explain. It’s just a no.”

“You’re right. I don’t have to explain.” They found a sliver ofspace at the bar and wedged themselves in, propping their elbows on the wood and facing one another. “Maybe I just think a marine biologist named Finn is a little too convenient.”

Chloe’s head fell back on a laugh. “Far too convenient.”

“I used to be way less discriminating with men. So long as they weren’t holding a bloody meat cleaver, I’d consider making out with them.”

“Oh man. I miss making out,” Chloe whined.

“I can help you out with that,” a young man shouted from behind Tallulah.

Chloe waved both hands at him. “Trust me, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. I am a huge problem.”

“What about you?” Tallulah looked over her shoulder to find a backward ball capped frat boy grinning at her. “Need any help making out? I happen to be available.”

“Rain check,” Tallulah responded, facing Chloe again with a scoff, the quick head movement making her vision swim just a tad. Yup. This was definitely her last drink. “You’re not a problem. Why would you say that?”

Tallulah’s friend went up on her toes, craning her neck to see over the top of the crowd toward the club entrance. “Oh, you’ll see.”

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