Page 32 of Sunburned

Laurent’s gaze swept over my bare shoulders before our eyes met again. Chemistry like this couldn’t be one sided, could it?

Not that it mattered. Nothing could happen between us.

Movement behind me drew his attention, and I turned to see two men descending the stairs. The tall, thin one was perhaps forty, his light brown hair swept back from his forehead, his nose prominent. The older one was maybe sixty, ruddy-skinned with a paunch and long, wavy gray hair.

“Do you know them?” I asked as they cut across the room.

He nodded. “David Barbier and Charl Michel. They’re both on the city council.”

“The council Tyson’s meeting with tomorrow?” I asked.

He nodded. “I wonder if Allison was bribing them to approve the center.”

“Maybe,” I said, thinking back to the conversation I’d heard between Allison and Cody earlier. But I wasn’t about to share that with him.

He untied his mask, and I did the same. It felt oddly intimate, revealing our naked faces to each other.

“Let’s keep this between us for now,” I said. “I don’t know yet what it means, and I want to find out more before I say anything to Tyson.”

He nodded. “You can trust me.”

Our eyes caught, and I wished more than anything that that were true.

Chapter 9

I’d just started to drift off between the crisp white sheets of my bed when the sound of crashing glass startled me awake. I turned to check the clock: 2:52a.m.

The kitchen light shone yellow beneath the door to my room. I heard the clicking of heels and soft laughter. Gisèle, returned from her evening out, I figured. Probably drunk and stumbling around the kitchen. It was a good thing I hadn’t returned any later; we might have run into each other in the driveway.

After a moment, Samira’s voice broke the silence.“What are you doing?”she asked in French.“You could have woken Tyson.”

“Doesn’t he wear those stupid headphones?”

“Take your shoes off. You’re trashed. Noise cancellation doesn’t help if there’s an elephant in the house.”

I snickered quietly in the dark. Miss cool girl had some bite to her.

A giggle-hiccup from Gisèle.“Who are you calling an elephant?”The thunk of shoes hitting the floor.“Have a drink with me.”

“I’ve been asleep for hours.”

“You’re mad I went out without you,”Gisèle pouted.

“I’m not mad.”I could practically hear her eye roll.

“I saw Laurent. He was wearing a ridiculous cowboy costume.”

My pulse quickened. We’d thought we were being so careful.

“You went to Le Ti? I thought you were going into Gustavia.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Who was he with?”

Another hiccup.“Some girl I didn’t recognize.”I breathed a sigh of relief. My costume, at least, had been successful.“They looked like they might fuck right there in the club.”

My eyes went wide in the dark. I hadn’t even been totally sure what we were doing could be considered flirting, and yet it looked like we “might fuck right there in the club”? On the bright side, that meant the attraction definitely hadn’t been one-sided—but what the hell had I been thinking?

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