Page 19 of Chasing Home

I know better than to spook her further. Not if I want to get anywhere with her in the near future. And I do. Badly.

Still, I don’t know the exact reason why. The romantic in me calls it love at first sight, but the realist laughs at that reasoning. It’s obvious that I’m curious about her. I felt something that night, and I want to learn more about it. Figure out why her touch sparked along my skin and her voice made my toes curl in my boots.

Aurora softly presses her door shut. “I don’t need that.”

“I wouldn’t bother arguing. There’s no stopping her now,” Anna says.

Eliza nods in agreement. “Come inside, and we’ll get him over right now. By the time we’re done talking, that door will be as silent as a summer breeze.”

Aurora still hasn’t looked at me since pulling up, and I’m itching to call for her attention. She looks beautiful today, all flushed skin and loose, wavy hair. The deep, dark blue T-shirt she’s wearing brings out the colour of her eyes, as if she purposefully bought it for that reason. The colour draws me in further than I already was, and now I’m more than itching for her attention. I’m desperate for it.

“Let me take care of it, Eliza. There’s no need to get Brody out here when he’s already working,” I say, my long legs eating the space between me and Aurora’s car as my pulse thumps.

My attention is laser focused on her and her alone, and I know she feels the weight of it. Her posture straightens, shoulders pushing back before she turns her head and finally meets my stare.

My jeans tighten at the crotch at the annoyance in those pretty blues. “That okay with you, Rory?”

“Does it matter?”

“’Course it does, darlin’. I won’t touch it unless you give the okay.”

Her tongue darts across her berry-tinted lips, and fuck me if it isn’t one the world’s worst distractions. I hardly notice the way her chest heaves before she replies.

“And I’m supposed to believe you? Who’s to say you don’t actually rip it from its hinges the minute I leave you alone out here?”

I shrug, the corner of my mouth ticking up. “Guess you’ll have to give me a try. Let me prove that I’m serious.”

“Do you know anything about cars?” she asks bluntly despite the slightly higher octave of her voice.

“Enough to know where the door hinges are so I can oil ’em for you.”

“You’re such a smartass,” she blurts out before clamping her lips shut and glancing guiltily at everyone watching on the porch.

Poppy’s the one to reply. “Don’t look so guilty. You’re not wrong. He is a smartass.”

“Worse than that sometimes,” Garrison adds.

I turn to him and lift my hand in a silent question. What happened to loyalty? He’ll be hearing about this later.

“Is everyone joining us for the meeting?” Aurora asks suddenly, eyes trained on Eliza.

I return my gaze to her and watch as she scurries right past me toward the house, a small purse over her shoulder and sandals slapping against the soles of her feet. My smirk appears of its own accord. She has so much to learn about this group of people if she thought they’d care about her calling me such a ridiculous name.

“No, sweet girl. Just you and me. These hang-arounds just wanted to say hi,” Eliza replies.

It’s unclear whether Rory believes her or not, but I don’t have a chance to find out before she’s escaping into the group of women and giving me her back.

My moms raised me better than to let my eyes drop to her ass, regardless of how badly I want to look. Blindly ogling a woman’s body isn’t my specialty, but with Aurora, I’ve wanted to do so from the moment I saw her in Peakside.

I force myself to stay focused on the curves of her waist and the way I can see the imprint of her bra from beneath her shirt instead. It’s a fucking great distraction, and that in itself is a bit alarming. It’s probably creepy to get hard from staring at someone’s bra strap, and I’m already halfway there.

As if sensing where my mind’s wandered, Garrison slaps me on the back. The pain from the hit shakes me from my thoughts.

His laugh is low and gruff. “Fuck me. You’re screwed.”

“You’re just learning that now?”

Aurora doesn’t pay me a second glance before letting Eliza lead her inside the house. I don’t let her lack of attention deter me, though. There’s something there between us. A crackle of flame that I’m dead set on drowning in gasoline.

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