Page 36 of Wallflower
“Just wondering what I’m going to wear,” I admit.
She flaps one hand at me. “You can borrow something from me.”
Daisy is at least five inches shorter than I am, and I give her a skeptical look that only makes her laugh. “We’ll figure it out, but you’re coming. Hear that, big brother? Me and Vi are going dancing on Saturday night.”
“Dancing? Where?”
“The Slippery Tipple. Where else?”
Chord grunts before his blue eyes slide to me. “Vi?”
I shrug self-consciously. “It’s short for Violet.”
His lips twitch. “I know. I just didn’t realize you were collecting nicknames now, Wallflower.”
Daisy snorts. “Wallflower? Hell, no. This queen is going to be the brightest, prettiest thing on the dance floor next Saturday night. Isn’t that right, Vi?”
I don’t answer her. I can’t because there’s that name again. Chord stares at me with burning blue eyes like he knows what he does to me, and my face grows hot as a million spots of light take flight in my body. The same way they did last night.
seventeen
Violet
DAY 16 AT SILVER LEAF... ONLY 70 TO GO
“You got a minute?”
I lift my head from my laptop and Chord’s never-ending fan mail and almost choke on my own saliva. Chord’s leaning in the doorway to the home office, forearm on the frame, wearing nothing but low-slung sky-blue swim shorts. My gaze drags over his biceps, down his hard chest, across his rippling abs, and past the jut of his hips. It bounces back to his face when I reach the bulge in his pants, and a rush of heat between my legs makes my cheeks burn. Judging by his subtle little smirk, Chord knows exactly where my mind just went.
Someone,pleasesend help. I’m not built to handle this much gorgeous.
“Sure,” I reply in barely more than a breathy whisper.
“You got a bathing suit?”
Thatbrings me back to Earth, and I narrow my eyes. “Why?”
“It’s warm out, and I thought you might like to take a break.” He shrugs and straightens as one side of his mouth hooks up. “I’ll swim, and you can… float.”
I glance out the tall glass windows, past the porch and at the blue sky. It’s easy to forget about the heat with the central air in this house, but I know it’s perfect weather for swimming because I work on the porch at least twice a day for, ah… fresh air.
But the idea of sharing a pool with Chord makes me nervous, and that’s even before I think too hard about being in a swimsuit in front of him.He’s already seen you in less than that, I remind myself, but the flashback to that night in my room isn’t helping things.
“I don’t know,” I hedge. “I’m pretty busy.”
“Come on.” He shifts to lean his shoulder on the trim, crossing his large arms over his chest and swinging one ankle over the other. “Just an hour. I won’t tell the boss if you don’t.”
He’sthe boss, and when I blink too fast at the comment, his right eyebrow—the one with the scar—ticks up. So now, apparently, Chord is charming.
My blush now is more pleasure than embarrassment. “All right. Just an hour.”
“Good.” He pushes upright. “I’ll meet you at the pool in ten.”
I wait for the sound of his footsteps to fade before running upstairs to my room, digging through my drawers, and slipping on my white bikini. I grab my hat, a towel, and the sunscreen, and race down the stairs before I change my mind.
When I set eyes on the pool, I burst out laughing.
“What is this?” I ask as I approach the water’s edge.
