Page 20 of Allured By Her

“Then I hunt you down and kill you slowly via papercuts all over your body,” Tenley said, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“Okay, noted. I will take good care of it,” I said, holding the book to my chest.

“No dog-earing the pages, no food as bookmarks, no using it as a coaster, no coffee or liquids anywhere near it, you got it?” Tenley said, pointing at me.

“I’ve got it, Tenley, I promise I’ll treat it like one of my own,” I said.

Tenley let out a breath. “Good.”

I wanted to ask her why she’d picked a sapphic romance for me, seeing as how I was a straight lady, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself like that and then have to lie again, so I didn’t.

I set the book aside and went back to the first book she’d given me.

“Have you read this one?” I asked.

* * *

It turned out the way to get Tenley talking was to ask her about books, holy shit. It was like turning on a fire hose. Once she started, she didn’t stop. Normally I might have been annoyed at someone completely monopolizing a conversation like that, but she was so animated and so excited that she kept stumbling over her words and barely taking a breath. She’d been modest when she said she’d read most of the books she had, because holy shit had she read a lot of books. It made me feel like a bad reader in comparison. As soon as I was completely sober, I was overhauling my TBR and getting my ass in gear. Sometimes work was draining, and I didn’t have the energy to read when I got home, but that was going to change. I couldn’t let my fake girlfriend read more books than me.

It wasn’t until I started nodding off that I realized how fucking late it was. We’d been sitting here for hours.

“Uh I should get home,” I said.

“Oh, yeah,” Tenley said, nodding, her face getting a little red.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching out and putting my hand on hers. “Thank you for the tea and everything. And the book.”

“Sure,” she said, and I stood up. I was definitely sober enough to get myself home, but a small part of me wanted to pretend I was still wasted, and that thought really shook me so much that I knew it was definitely time to go. Spending too much time with Tenley was warping my brain.

“So, uh, I guess I’ll see you on Monday at the coffee shop,” I said as she walked me to the door.

Tenley nodded. “You will. I like my routine.”

I could tell. She seemed better than she’d been that day when she’d come in like a mess. Tonight probably hadn’t gone the way she intended, but it hadn’t been all bad, I didn’t think.

“Drive safe, Mia,” she said, leaning in the doorway. There was absolutely no reason for us to kiss now, with no one watching, but leaving without a kiss made me feel like the night was…unfinished.

“I will,” I said to her and a tendril of hair fell against her cheek. The urge to tuck it behind her ear was so intense, I had to clench the hand that wasn’t holding onto the book she’d let me borrow.

Tenley inhaled once and then backed one step into the house. I managed to get a hold of myself and turn around to head to my car.

Chapter Four

“How’s your fake girlfriend?” Lark asked when I came over for brunch on Sunday. It was something she did every now and then and I had to admit, I was a big fan. Today she was making some sort of breakfast casserole with tortillas and black beans and salsa and other veggies and eggs on top. I was using her new milk frother to make myself a latte and Sydney was sorting through her massive hot sauce collection, trying to decide which one to drench her breakfast with.

“You know what happened. I was literally messaging you the whole time,” I said. At least I had been when I’d been more sober. When I was buzzed the messages had gotten a little sparse and then there was that whole other situation with Tenley that I’d decided I wasn’t going to tell her about. Not to mention the time I’d spent at Tenley’s. And the book she’d lent me. I hadn’t started it yet, but that was what I was going to spend my afternoon doing. No, I wasn’t going to be telling Lark about any of that.

I yawned as Lark shoved the casserole in the oven and set the timer.

“I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me,” she said, crossing her arms.

“I didn’t tell you every single detail, but you got the main points,” I said, finishing my latte. I definitely needed another one to get me through this day. I definitely hadn’t slept enough to be awake right now. Maybe before I settled in to read, I’d take a nap.

“Uh huh,” Lark said, but she didn’t seem convinced.

“Tommy’s house was disgusting, did I tell you that?” I said, trying to steer the topic in another direction.

“I’m not surprised at all,” Sydney said from her position on the couch. She was reading our book club pick for this month, the first in a contemporary series that centered around a coffee shop owned by married lesbians. I hadn’t started it yet, but I was looking forward to it, especially considering that it had a protagonist in her 40s, so there was an age gap between her and her love interest. Age gaps were one of my auto-read tropes. Along with rivals to lovers. I liked the drama.

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