Page 36 of Tempting as Sin
Bailey dropped her bike on the ground in front of Clay’s cabin and headed up the stairs. She could hear Chuck barking. She was supposed to come get him. Clay had said so.
It was scary to knock. Clay wasn’t like her mom’s old boyfriend, Ray, though. She didn’t think so, anyway. She could get Chuck really fast, and she could ride downhill fast, too. Chuck liked running fast. Dogs could run forty miles an hour. Some dogs, anyway. She didn’t know how fast that was, but the speed limit signs in town said 25, and Chuck could run faster than the cars. She knocked.
Clay opened the door. He was drying his hair with a towel, but he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, not underwear or anything, so that was OK. Chuck ran right past him, his tail practically knocking Bailey over, and she laughed, dropped down, and gave him a hug. It was better for Chuck to have a dog bed, but she’d really missed him last night. It had been nice to know that he was right under the trailer. Like a watchdog, except he didn’t bark that much. He knew he was supposed to be quiet so her grandma wouldn’t kick him out. She didn’t like people talking so she couldn’t hear the TV, and she wouldn’t like Chuck barking, either.
“Hi,” Clay said. “Good news. I took Chuck on my run, which hopefully means that he’s only half crazy now. Be careful riding down the hill with him. He can’t go as fast as you on his leash.”
“Oh.” Bailey looked at Chuck doubtfully. Maybe downhill was more than forty miles an hour. “I could walk my bike, I guess.”
“Do you have a bike helmet?” Clay asked. “If you do, you ought to be wearing it.”
Grownups always wanted to ask about your clothes. She didn’t want to make him mad, but she wasn’t sure what to say, so she just scratched her mosquito bite and looked at Chuck.
“You know what?” Clay asked. “I’ve got an alternative proposal. Ride to Lily’s shop, and I’ll take Chuck down in the car in a few minutes.”
“OK,” she said. “Except…he might be sad if he doesn’t come. He’s sort of my dog.”
“Yes,” Clay said, “he is. I’ll bring him to you, I promise.”
“OK,” she said again, because he had hold of Chuck’s harness, and he wasn’t going to let him run with her, even though Chucklikedto run. “Bye.” She got on her bike. She couldn’t sit on the seat and reach the pedals going uphill. The cool thing about going downhill was that you could sit down and go fast.
Hailey said, “Who’s that outside?” and Lily jumped again.
She had to get this under control. When she’d finally looked in the mirror after Rafe had left, she’d had hay in her hair and chicken droppings on her cheek.
Chicken. Droppings. She didn’t care what he’d said. There was no possible universe in which she’d been attractive.
“Who?” she asked Hailey, and kept hanging a new shipment of garter belts. Which, yes, did feature plenty of ribbons and lace, but so what? This was her livelihood. Also, she happened to be wearing something rather nice, and to be composed. That would be a much better picture to show him, if that was what Hailey was talking about.
“He can’t sit on the curb like that,” Hailey said, “It’s not safe.” She opened the door.
What? Why would Rafe be sitting on the curb? Lily abandoned her rolling rack of stock and headed to the door.
Wait a minute, though. What was Rafe thinking? If he was supposed to be hiding out up here, he needed to stay out of Sinful. The brown contact lenses and golden-brown hair weren’t allthateffective, especially not with anybody who knew he was Jace’s brother, which was at least half the town. Besides, Hailey was abigRafe Blackstone fan. When Lily had come back from Australia, Hailey had peppered her with questions. What was he like? Did he really look that good, or was that the camera? How tall was he? Lily wouldn’t be surprised if Hailey had pictures of him pinned to her secret bulletin board in her craft room. Or possibly a Pinterest board entitled, “Hot Guys.” Featuring firefighters with waxed chests.
She was snorting again at the thought, then clapping a hand over her nose. What was she doing? She was turning into Paige. When she’d wished to be more like her twin, she’d meant “tougher and more badass,” not “snorting and poorly groomed.”
“What’s funny?” Hailey asked.
“Oh,” Lily said, “that’s just Bailey. On the curb, I mean. Never mind. I just—do you use Pinterest, by any chance?”
“Well, of course, hon,” Hailey said. “That’s where I pin all my craft ideas. Why? Were you thinking about it for the store? That’s a good idea. We should do it. We could use the manufacturers’ images, or even better—you could put together looks and model them! That’s what the gals have so much trouble with—how to put it all together. Even a nightgown and a robe isn’t always easy. We could do it like paper dolls.” She beamed. “That’d be so cute and different.”
“Not happening,” Lily said. “So no Pinterest board of Hot Guys? Featuring abs and butts, maybe?” Rafe had an incredible butt. She’d happened to notice when they’d been at Walmart yesterday, when he’d been wearing those Wranglers. Definitely pinworthy.
“Lord, no,” Hailey said with a laugh. “I can just see Larry’s face when he accidentally logs into my account. He still can’t half figure out how to use the computer anyway. His brain would explode.”
“Well, I figured,” Lily said. “It just occurred to me.”
“If I want to look at that kind of thing,” Hailey said, “I look at Louise Harward’s. She has them categorized.”
“LouiseHarward?The secretary at the elementary school?”
“Well, yeah,” Hailey said. “Why not? Everybody has hobbies.”
“Shehasa hobby. She grows roses. I saw them at the county fair last year. She won a prize.”
“And she reads books,” Hailey said. “And follows people online, movie stars and romance authors and whatnot, and sometimes, when they post somebody really good, she pins it to one of her boards and shares it with us girls. Are you telling me you never even look at pictures? Because, honey—it’s the twenty-first century, and nobody’s judging. I know you’re not ready to be out there yet, but trust me—if you don’t use it, you lose it. And I mean that. If you give up the ghost—well, you dry up, that’s all, and that’s a waste at your age. Gardening can only take you so far.”
