Page 89 of Forbidden Hearts
I was planning on going home. I really need to go home and get stuff ready to tour University of Texas.
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Asher’s teeth scrape across where my neck and shoulder meet.
“Both,” I manage to get out, but the word has no conviction behind it. Asher is much more skilled at this game than I am. He has years more experience, and honestly, I am not sexy. I don’t have this big plan to get him to want me. I am just fortunate he does.
However, I have to keep my mind right. I can’t start feeling or wanting things I have no place desiring. That’s what got me in this predicament to start with.
I turn to face him, and he grins. “I like this position too.”
Oh, I do too, but that’s not the point. Any second, Olivia will be back, so I need to make this quick. “I have to do this. You have three days off, and I need to get my life in order.”
Asher takes a step back, the heat still simmering in his blue eyes. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
I laugh. “No, I can’t, and if this weren’t important . . .”
“Phoebe, no explanations needed, that’s the perk of this arrangement.”
In my head, I literally just said that, but hearing it out loud makes my stomach tighten. Why? Why did my stomach tighten? No. Not happening. I mentally slap myself and then jut my hip out with my idea of a seductive smile.
“Just think of how much fun it’ll be when I get back.”
Without feelings, Phoebe.
twenty-two
ASHER
“Imiss Phoebe,” Olivia signs as we walk down to the creek.
Me too, kid.“She’ll be back soon.”
“She is going to leave.”
I nod.“Yes, she has grad school.”
Which matters a lot to her. I remember her eyes and the way her face lit up when we walked into the audiology department. She was taking it in like a kid at Christmas. I saw the joy. I saw the desire. I saw it all. Some days, I wish I didn’t see her as much as I do.
Olivia looks to the left, trying to hide the sadness all over her face. She loves Phoebe, which is definitely not how I foresaw this whole thing going. I hoped they’d get along, but the intention was never for Phoebe to seep into our lives, filling the cracks we didn’t know existed.
But that’s what she’s doing.
Despite my resistance, she’s finding her way into deeper crevices.
This morning, she left for Texas. Her father drove her to the airport, but she sent me a text before she took off as well as promised to send another when she landed.
Liv is silent as we walk, and once we reach our spot, she turns to me.“I don’t want her to go.”
I crouch down, giving her a lopsided smile.“Would you want someone to stay and be unhappy?”
This isn’t a lesson I am prepared to give, but I think about how Sara did it when Denise told us she was getting married and leaving. She’d been with Olivia since she was a baby and had become more family than nanny.
Liv didn’t handle her leaving well, and I’m sure she won’t now either. Phoebe is younger, more fun, more friend than nanny, and she treats Liv like an equal instead of a child.
“No, but can’t she be happy in Sugarloaf?”
“No.”
