Page 26 of Reckless
But there’s something unforgettable about the way his callouses felt sliding over my skin. The way he touched me like he couldn’t get enough. His palms never stopped exploring me, worshipping me.
I clear my throat. “Yeah. It does. Look good.”
The blonde woman beside me beams with pride and I can’t help but smile back.
It sounds childish, but somehow Sloane has wiggled her way into my life in the past couple of weeks. She’s Rhett’s cousin, and she says she thinks she met me at exactly the right time. She says she needed someone like me in her life, but the thing is...I think I’m the one who needed her.
We’ve both faced a lot of upheaval in the short time we’ve known each other. The difference is her upheaval led her to being with her childhood crush—the hockey player who treats her like a goddess—and mine led me to giving Rob divorce papers, quitting my job at the hospital in the city, and moving into a rental house in Chestnut Springs.
Looking at Sloane now, all smiles and messy hair, I suppose it also led me to having a friend.
Possibly my only friend in a life full of acquaintances and co-workers. And that alone makes everything I’ve been through worth it.
“Should we shift the TV a bit? It might catch too much light there during the day.”
I snort and flop down onto the couch behind me. “I work insane hours. I doubt I’ll be watching TV in the daytime.”
“What about days off?” Sloane follows suit, falling into the cushy new couch beside me.
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“Or are you going to be too busy hanging out with your cool new neighbor?” She waggles her eyebrows at me, and I can’t help but laugh. She and Jasper live in the bungalow next door. In fact, Jasper owns the entire block, a row of houses on this side and the businesses on the other that face out onto the main drag. Sloane has been carefully restoring each one back to its original glory so they can rent them out.
“Do you think you’ll keep both jobs now that you’ve moved here?”
I shrug and let my head sink into the soft velvety fabric behind me. Except it’s not velvet, it’s microfiber, because rich as Rob might be as a cardiothoracic surgeon, I’m still just a resident.
Velvet taste, microfiber budget. That’s me. WinterHamilton. And I’m alright with it.
Twenty-eight-year-old almost divorcee. Ex-husband who hates my guts because the only thing he’s better at than fixing hearts is playing the victim. Mother who is all up in my face because misery loves company and she’s chosen to live a miserable life. A dad who is just as fucking awkward around me as he always has been—bless him. And an estranged sister who is feeling less estranged every day.
That’s the bright spot in turning my life upside down. I really doused it all in gasoline, dropped the match, and said, “Fuck it.”
“I quit today. Having to work in the same hospital as both my mom and Rob? No thanks.” I point a finger into my open mouth and make a gagging noise.
And doing that makes me a bit nauseous. A bit light-headed.
Sloane laughs, all light and airy, while I suck in deep breaths, trying to master my roiling stomach. “Good for you.”
I nod and she carries on. “We can always hang the decor tomorrow. I’ll help you unpack more. We can enlist Jasper when he’s back from his road trip. I like the placement of all the furniture though.”
“That sounds good,” I whisper, licking my lips and letting my eyes flutter shut.
“Wanna grab a drink? A snack? Something? Otherwise, I’ll just stay up late working on the other house.”
“You need an HGTV show.” I give her a wan smile, but don’t move. If I sit still and think about the cold air filtering in through my nose, I feel fine.
“Oh my god. I do! That’s the dream.” Her hand slaps on my knee before she sits up, bursting with energy. “Should we go?”
I do simple math in my head, think about number patterns, not hurling the Chinese takeout from earlier all over my new microfiber couch.
“I think I’ll pass.” My voice sounds breathy, and my heart thunders against my sternum. It feels so loud I wonder if Sloane can hear it.
“You okay?” Her fingers pulse on my knee as concern laces her voice.
Twenty-eight minus seven equals twenty-one.
Ovulation.
