Page 30 of Merry Mayhem
I freeze, turning back to the sink.
It definitely would be easier. We could be called to do a challenge at any moment. Every minute could count because most of the challenges have a time limit.
The problem is that Violet’s room is at my house.
“I don’t want to inconvenience anyone,” Josh says.
“You won’t. That will bemoreconvenient. If you want to win this thing, every minute matters,” Bruce says, rinsing off the dishes he carried in.
“Well, okay. You all have keys to Violet’s place?” Josh asks.
Hartley chuckles. “We do. But you can just go with Thea.”
Josh looks at me. I take a breath. “Violet lives with me. She has since February, when she and Sam broke up, and she moved back here from New Orleans.”
Understanding dawns on his face. And for just a moment, I think maybe he thinks this isn’t a great idea either, and maybe for the same reason I do.
Does he feel the heat between us? That could be good. Then he’ll understand why we have to resist it.
It could also be bad. We need tonothave heat between us. It will be a lot easier to ignore if I’m the only one feeling it. If it’s just a figment of my imagination. Or it’s just my attraction to him, and it’s not reciprocated.
“Oh, well…” He trails off, clearly not sure what to say.
But I am a grown-up. I am a single mom. I am doing Merry Mayhem for my sister. With her new boyfriend. This is not weird, this is not a problem, I can handle this.
“It’s fine. In fact, it’s a great idea. Like Bruce said, every minute matters.”
His shoulders relax a bit. “Okay, well then, thank you. I need to run back to Autre to get some stuff. I don’t have any other clothes here.”
Harley and Bruce seem to have just now realized that the front of his shirt is dripping wet.
I’ve been successfully ignoring the way the cotton has been clinging to his chest and abs.
His very firm, clearly defined through the wet shirt chest and abs…
Okay, I’ve beenmostlysuccessfully ignoring that.
“We have some clothes for the boys upstairs. I can get you through tonight. But you can run back to Autre after the kick-off event,” Bruce says. “That won’t be too late for you, will it?”
“No, that’s fine,” he says. Josh looks back at me. “As long as you don’t mind me coming in late?”
I shake my head. “Ruth is on school break, so she likes to stay up late. And now that I don’t have any patients scheduled in the morning, I don’t have to worry about getting up early. Unless we get some kind of Mayhem challenge.”
“Come on, I’ll get you a new shirt,” Bruce says, turning on his heel and heading out of the kitchen.
Josh casts me a glance.
“We’ll leave for the kick-off event in about twenty minutes,” I tell him.
“Sounds good.”
He follows Bruce out of the room, and I take a deep breath.
No, it doesn’t sound good. It sounds like this could be very complicated, and I’m a bad person. Or at least a bad sister.
Because I watch my sister’s boyfriend’s ass as he leaves the room with my grandfather.
Merry Mayhem is already living up to its name, and it hasn’t even kicked off yet.
