“And you can?”
She snorts loudly. “I’m so not sunshiny all the time.”
“I guess you’re right. Especially not on your period.”
“Name one person who’s ever been a ray of sunshine on their period.”
I laugh, relieved that the past few minutes haven’t affected my ability to do so. “I can’t.”
She reaches a hand across the gap between us, and I take it, linking our fingers. “Maybe I’ll have to sic you on Garrison the next time you’re on yours.”
“You’re a cruel little thing, Annalise Heights,” I tease.
“The game has begun, Poppy. This queen isn’t about to let a pawn infiltrate her home and spread its bitterness without a fight. You’d be better off tightening your defenses too.”
“Oh, my defenses are tight. Don’t worry about that.”
Or at least, I sure hope so.
5
GARRISON
My eyes shoot open as I sit up in a bed that’s not mine, damn near pissing myself. The clanging outside is cruel. It’s still semi-dark in the bedroom, the open blinds providing me a long, tired look at the early morning sky.
I’m slick with sweat, having had another nightmare rattling my mind all night long. A swirl of my stomach, and I’m tossing my legs over the bed and heading for the ensuite. With a flick of the lights, I stumble in, taking one look at myself in the mirror and cringing, nausea forgotten.
I’ve been exhausted nearly every day of my life for the past ten years. But I’ve never looked it as much as I do right now. I could scare a child with a slight glance in their direction due to the heavy bags beneath my eyes and stress lines etched so deep in my skin they look like scars. Staring back at myself right now, it makes more sense as to why Annalise’s friend looked so disgusted with me yesterday.
Poppy, her name was. The impertinent woman with the soul-eating, caramel-brown eyes and a curved figure handcrafted by the fucking gods above. One look at her and I went rigid, drowning in a case of delirious physical attraction. I threw up a wall of steel between us before I took my next breath.
Unfortunately, my wall was pitiful. It did nothing to stop the image of her from following me the rest of the day as I seethed and groaned, her quick-tongued remarks replaying in my mind like a bad laugh track.
I reach into the shower and turn it on, cranking the dial all the way to the right before stripping out of my briefs. A filthy curse escapes me when I step into the freezing cold water and rub at my face.
While my relationship count may be limited, I fuck as often as I can, which isn’t all the much with my schedule. But it’s the only thing that seems to help some of the unending stress I struggle with. That being said, I won’t be taking anyone to my bed in Cherry Peak. I decided that long before my plane touched down.
It’s a pain in my ass that I was introduced to Poppy so soon. Or, rather, that she introduced herself to me. The replacement phone I had to drive into the closest city to pick up yesterday only serves as a reminder of that.
I shake my head and get on with my shower while ignoring the hard-on bobbing between my legs that won’t dull regardless of the cold water. Once I’ve finished, I wrap a towel around my waist and step back into the bedroom.
I’m not prepared to find Wade Steele leaning against the window frame, his arms crossed and hard gaze shooting my way. I suck in a sharp, ragged breath and clench my hands, refusing to show my surprise as clearly as I did yesterday.
“Was wonderin’ when you’d finish up in there,” he grumbles, eyes drifting to the stack of clothes on the unmade bed. “Put those on and meet me outside. And hurry up, it’s five past seven. I don’t give out third chances, and you’re already on your second one. We’re wastin’ daylight talkin’ about this.”
I don’t touch on the fact the sun hasn’t even risen two inches yet. “I thought this place only had one key.”
“Yeah, besides mine.”
“Is this going to be a common occurrence? Everyone on this ranch sneaking up on me?”
Wade pushes away from the window and heads for the bedroom door, completely unbothered that I’m standing here in a goddamn towel.
“Sure to fuck hope not. Got better things to do than come be your personal alarm clock. Get dressed, and we’ll talk outside. There’s a pair of boots by the front door. I suggest you put ’em on.”
I find the stack of clothes on the bed and scowl, trying to put together just what exactly I’m to do to “earn my keep” in this place. Discomfort wiggles in my chest at the unknown of this entire situation.
“What are we—” I cut myself off when I look from the clothes to find Wade already gone. The front door slams shut a beat later.