Page 20 of The Start of Someday

“Do…this. The small-talk thing.”

I cross my arms, still feeling confused.

“I don’t follow.”

She sighs, setting the wrapped gift aside, then picks up the coffee press and places it in the center of the next sheet of wrapping paper.

“You feel awkward because we slept together, and your moral compass tells you you’ve betrayed my brother. You don’t want to make me feel awkward by ignoring me while you’re here, because…well, because we slept together and you probably have the somewhat misguided idea in your mind that every woman develops an emotional attachment to men they have sex with.”

I watch with raised eyebrows as she quickly and efficiently wraps the box, realizing Abby sure does think she knows what’s going on in my mind—though she could not be more wrong.

“So I’m just letting you know I haven’t developed an emotional attachment to you, and you don’t have to talk to me for fear that I’m going to feel neglected or something. That’s what I mean when I say you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to pretend to want to talk to me. I would be just as happy sitting here alone.”

She finishes wrapping the coffee press and puts a sticker on it in the corner, and then she looks up at me when I don’t say anything.

I try to decide what I want to say to her and how. Honestly, the only thing running through my head right now is how much Rusty bragged about Abby being so fucking smart, and here she is, being exactly the opposite.

“Do you wanna know what I did last night?” I say, leaning closer to her and lowering my voice.

Her head tilts to the side and her eyes narrow.

“I jerked off in bed to the thought of your pussy clenching around me like a goddamn vise.”

I can tell I’ve shocked her, because I watch Abby’s eyes widen and can see her visibly struggle to swallow.

“And then this morning, when I came downstairs to get breakfast, you were sitting at the counter in those fuzzy socks… I could see your nipples through your shirt, and I had to go take a cold shower.”

Her jaw drops, and if I’m not mistaken, something a lot like lust begins to cloud her eyes.

“You might think it’s easy for me to just pretend the night at the hotel didn’t happen or that yesterday we didn’t fuck like rabbits in your childhood bedroom, but you couldn’t be more wrong. All I want to do right now is yank you down off that stool and bend you over this island.”

Abby blinks at me a few times, and I can see the way the red in her cheeks is rushing down and coloring her neck as well. She clears her throat. Then clears it again.

“I like you,” I tell her, fisting my hands and resting them on the island, leaning close. “So this,” I say, referring to the small talk, “has nothing to do with awkwardness and emotional attachment and everything to do with the fact that I’m at serious risk of doing exactly what I told your brother I wouldn’t do.”

Abby’s lips tip up slightly at the edges. “Oh.”

We watch each other, the only sound around us the ticking of the clock that rests on the mantel. She opens her mouth, just a smidge. But I hear the office door open behind her.

“We got it!”

Rusty’s voice has me pushing back from the island, where I was hovering far too close to his sister. Abby reaches out and grabs the coffee mug, setting it on the next sheet of wrapping paper.

“We got it, Jackson.”

I look up as Rusty enters the room, a smile on his face.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s awesome. I’m so stoked for you.”

“For us,” he says, crossing into the kitchen and opening his arms to bring me in for a bear hug. “Stoked for us.”

I hug him as well and pat him twice on the shoulder, feeling that same surge of guilt rushing through me as I look at Abby, literally behind his back.

Her eyes stay carefully down as she works on her wrapping.

---