Page 65 of Ocotillo Kisses
“Hardly our first.”
“Our first overnight, then.” He felt his face heat. He shouldn’t have said their first night, implying there would be another.
She blushed, too, but he didn’t want to question why. He really needed to get home, to work, and, really, straight to work because he didn’t want to deal with his mom and her inevitable questions.
“Can you make sure Sofia gets the keys?” He pushed them across the table toward her.
She lifted her eyebrows. “So you want me to deal with her finding out we only slept in one bed?”
“I mean, you don’t have to tell her. You can just give her the keys and take off.”
“Tell me what?”
Con felt like he turned into a thermometer on a hot day. He knew Sofia could see the color creep up the back of his neck as she approached from behind.
“How much I love your murals,” Britt said, motioning to the two painted walls, one with a mural of West Texas flora and fauna, the other a festive dancing scene set in a market square. “I can’t believe you included everyone in that one.”
“What?” Con turned to look at the market square one, and yes, the dancers had familiar faces: Austin and Ginny, Lacey and Beck, Sofia, Caleb and Sophie, Javi, and Con and Poppy.
“It was fun to do. A bit of a challenge, really, getting everyone’s faces.” Sofia pulled up a chair and plopped down at the table. “Surprised to see you here so late. I thought Con for sure would be back at the ranch.”
“Overslept,” he muttered, pushing his uneaten taco toward her. “I need to head out. I’ll see you ladies later.” He wanted to kiss Britt goodbye but he wouldn’t even meet her gaze, because he didn’t want Sofia to read anything into them being here together. So yeah, he felt like a little bit of a coward when he fled.
Britt tried not the read anything into Con’s defection. Of course he was flustered at sleeping late, and then being caught by Sofia. She would worry about his eagerness to get away from her later.
She pushed both keys in front of Sofia on the stone-topped table. “You’re going to figure it out sooner or later, but we only used one room.” She kept her focus on the keys and not on Sofia’s face. Saying the words had seemed brave before they left her mouth. Now she wished them back, and chanced a glance at the other woman.
“Did you.” Sofia’s expression was unreadable as she straightened the keys on the table top in front of her.
Britt was going to keep up with the bravado she didn’t feel. “I didn’t see any reason to keep it from you when you’re going to find out when you open the door.”
“Britt, what are you doing to him?”
Britt willed her face not to heat, even as she willed the naughty words not to come out of her mouth.
Sofia narrowed her eyes, as if Britt had said the words out loud. “You know what I mean. We picked up the pieces the last time you left.”
“This time he knows I’m leaving. I don’t have a choice. My life is there, my home, my business. There is zero chance of me staying.”
“So I don’t get it. You sleep with him why? To make him miss you again?”
“No, of course that’s not what I want. It’s just, there’s still the attraction, you know, even more since he’s a grown man now.” Now she couldn’t fight the blush as she remembered how he had felt last night. How she had felt.
“You just wanted the thrill.” Sofia’s tone was scathing.
“I didn’t seduce him, Sofia. He kissed me.” At least, she was pretty sure that was how it had happened. Once they made it through the door, everything was a blur of sensation and longing.
Sofia snapped her fingers in front of Britt’s eyes. “Where’d you go?”
“I should get home,” Britt said without answering. She hadn’t told Sofia about last night to engage in a conversation. She’d just wanted to be forthcoming since Sofia would figure it out anyway. She actually wanted to hold last night close, and deal with her own emotions.
Because no matter what Sofia thought, last night hadn’t just been about sex.
“Did you get everything cleaned up at the grocery store?” Britt asked as she gathered the foil and napkins from the table. Con hadn’t taken his coffee, so she poured it into her own cup and jammed trash down into the empty cup.
“Yeah, I recruited Caleb and Beck to help me finish this morning before they got started on the depot.”
“Sorry I didn’t get back to help.”
