Page 26 of Keeper
You can imagine that I’ve got a pretty busy phone myself—butthis?I’d never seen anything like it. No wonder she hated that thing.
“Wow. You’re a popular girl. You must have a lot of admirers.”
She made a noise that was one part laugh and one part sigh. “Oh, you havenoidea, Tanner.” She silenced the ringer and the assault on our ears ended. She swiped and tapped away at her phone. “Okay. Yeah, this isn’t good. No texts and no calls from her. Lemme try calling her.” She dialed her friend and held the phone to her ear. “C’mon—c’mon, answer!”
Selfishly, I hoped her friend wouldn’t answer. I wanted more time alone with Ainsley.
“Nothing,” she said.
More and more, it was looking like my lucky day.
“Maybe she bounced,” I said.
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. I’m only visiting Dallas for the weekend and I’m staying with her. So, if she really stranded me, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“Easy,” I said. “Stay with me.”
“Hey.” A smile tugged at the corner of her pretty mouth, but she still held up a finger in warning. “Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Try to throw game at me. I just told you I’m from out of town. And just so you know, I’m not the kind of girl who’s going to sleep with a guy I’ll never see again. So you’re only wasting your time if that’s your goal.”
“Who said we’ll never see each other again?” I flirted, touching my knee to hers. But she quickly moved her leg away. “Besides, I’m not throwing game. I don’t have any game to throw.”
Especially right now.
“Oh, I don’t believe that for a second,” she said. “I can see it in your eyes, Tanner. Iknowyou’re a heart breaker.”
The tiny hairs on my neck stood. She had me pegged again—at least the part about breaking hearts. All I could do was quietly laugh and change gears.
“Anyway,” I said, “where are you visiting from?”
“Kansas.” She pressed her lips together as if to say,yup, Kansas.
“Kansas? Cool. I’ve never been.”
“Trust me, I can tell, because no one who’s been to Kansas would say it’s cool.”
She’s got wit,I thought.
“So what do you do in uncool Kansas, Ainsley?”
“I go to art school.”
And an artist, I thought, liking her more and more.Careful, Vaughnsy. Don’t go getting attached to this one.
“That’s not surprising,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed at me. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re smart.”
She tutted as if she didn’t believe it herself. “How would you know that? You don’t even know me.”
“The way you speak. It’s obvious.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered. “Whatever.”
