Page 18 of No Place Like Home

Those two were upto something.

I’d known Emma and Freya for long enough to recognize that those smiles they were giving me were full of wickedness once you got past their innocent looks. Well, innocent on Emma’s part. Freya used to have her own police code. Nothing she could do would have surprised me. As Freya packed her things, Rosie blew me a kiss, that traitorous little rascal. It did make more sense for Freya to drop Rosie off since Juliet lived near her brother, Max.

That was a lie. Freya lived on the other side of the newer developments. For all I knew, Max wanted to see his little sister. Yeah, that had to be it.

Quincy and Simba were behind me as I made my way out of the diner. As far as dogs went, I guessed Simba wasn’t so bad.

Simba ran to the first patch of grass he could find and peed. Aww, poor puppy. Who knew how long he was holding it in? It was safe to say the dog was growing on me. Not enough to get one of my own, though.

“So, I should—” I started to say.

“You wanna come on a walk with us?” Quincy said at the same time.

It was pretty late, and I had to work on tomorrow's lesson, a pile of laundry I had yet to start, but when I opened my mouth to say no, the words wouldn’t come.

“Sure.” I crossed my arms, feeling the spring chill.

It was just a walk with an old friend. No biggie, right? Quincy looked down at me, his jade eyes bright, and I remembered why every girl in school had a crush on him. His eyes were disarming. Green with specks of gold, they looked honest with some mischief underneath. Add that with his skin tone and body, he was kind of hypnotic.

Quincy started to walk toward his car, and I followed, thinking the walk would be much shorter than I could have anticipated. And a part of me felt sad over that fact.

“Give me a sec,” Q told me, then turned to Simba. “Wait here.”

Simba stopped walking and sat next to me. Okay, I’ll admit it was impressive how he handled his dog.

“You’re not so scary.”

Great, I was talking to a dog now.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say my dog has grown on you.” Quincy returned with a water bottle, a bowl, and a black hoodie over his shoulder. “Water, then a walk.”

Q crouched down at eye level with Simba. After pouring water into the bowl, he ruffled Simba’s mane. It was kinda cute to watch.

Oh, God, what’s wrong with me?

“Here, put this on.”

It took me a second to notice Quincy was talking to me. My eyebrows raised to my hairline as I watched him watch me, expecting me to do as he said. He had a black hoodie, holding it out for me to put on.

“I’m okay.”

“Jessamine.”

Q’s deep voice wrapped around each letter of my name with authority, and I fuckingshiveredlike a stupid girl with a crush. That was enough reason for Quincy to insist on me wearing his stupid hoodie.

“Come on, before you get sick.”

I do have to stay healthy for my students, I told myself as I tentatively reached for the hoodie.

I could handle my kids’ pukefest, but they wouldn’t be able to manage mine. Deciding to give up on this, I reached for the sweater, but Q was already there, putting it over my head.

It smelled nice. Okay, nice wasn’t the word for it. It smelled like temptation. I had no idea what cologne he used, but it smelled expensive and sexy with a hint of fresh lavender. Maybe his bedsheets?

“Looks like I’m wearing a dress,” I murmured.

“You’re a tiny little thing.”

“Compared to you, yes. You’re huge.”

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