Page 11 of Forbidden Girl

“I wish.”

As if on cue, her phone buzzes. Once, twice, three times. She doesn’t move to pick it up. The caller takes the hint and hangs up. Thirty seconds later, it starts again. “Jesus fucking Christ,” she grumbles, fumbling to grab it from the nightstand. “Sorry, I have to—” she says to me before answering the call. “Hey, Dad.”

I hear her father, garbled, on the other end of the line, “Did you come home last night?”

I’m still resting my head on her shoulder. She grins down at me. “Nope.”

“Should I take that to mean you had a nice evening with Elisa?”

Her grin vanishes. “No.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d try harder with her.”

“Okay.”

“Good. I need you back at the house by ten thirty. Can you make it here by then?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. See you then.” He hangs up. Rowan tosses the phone onto the mattress and sighs. I can feel the frustration stiffen her muscles.

I kiss her cheek. “How about that coffee?”

She lets out a breath and squeezes me around my middle. “Five more minutes of this.”

“I wouldn’t have figured you for a cuddlebug.”

“I’m not. You just fit.”

More buzzing. This time it’s my phone. Rowan’s closer to it.

“Can you…”

She scrunches her lips to the side as she feels for my phone, then hands it to me. I sit up and hate doing it.

“Morning. No, I’m fi—Mom, you know me better than that, I only had two drinks. Tell him you raised a very intelligent daughter who is now a fully grown woman and—Oh my God, Mother, I can take the T. Alright, send Teague then, whatever makes Dad happy. Yes. Love you, too. Bye.”

Rowan’s looking at me, amused. “Is your mom always so wound up?”

“She’s married to a paranoid mobster who treats me like I’m a genuine Fabergé egg, so, yes. She’s not as frantic when I’m at school, though.”

“Because nobody knows who you are on the West Coast. Juliet Calloway is your name, not your legacy.”

She understands my position all too well; she might be the only other person on the planet who does. Is it any wonder that our connection is so singular and so intense? It isn’t just sex. It was never going to be. The universe made sure of that. “Teague’s coming to pick me up.” I slip out of bed, over to the chair where the mixed pile of our clothes rests. Her eyes are on me as I dress, so I make a show of it for her.

“It’s un-fucking-fair how gorgeous you are,” she says.

“Look who’s talking.” I toss her panties to her. She hops out of bed, shimmies into them, and comes over to the chair.

Once she’s fully dressed, she looks at me again. The corners of her mouth downturn in a scowl. “Well, it was fun while it lasted.”

“Hey.” I grab her arm and pull her close to me, then run my fingers through her dark hair. “You forgot about our Maine trip already?”

“Hell no. If you can make it happen, I’m in.”

“It’s happening. You’d better buy us a tent.”

“I’ll get right on it. One of those big, luxurious glamping ones for the Calloway Princess.”

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