Page 16 of Now You See Him
Seven
“Ican’t believe that you somehow got better at trivia the more you drank,” Derrick said from the driver’s seat. His grin was brilliant—a beacon in the dark October night.
“It’s a gift,” Tina replied. Her head was deliciously fuzzy from four beers. She held her clutch in one hand and a coupon for a free beverage of choice in the other. Her team won by a landslide. She tried to keep it cool, but her competitive streak came out, and thankfully, Derrick and his friends didn’t mind. “I’d like to go again, I think. I don’t know how good I’ll be in the Presidents match next week, but it was fun. And I like Penny and Jackson.”
“They like you, too,” Derrick said.
Tina wondered if Derrick was in thatthey. She wanted him to be. He was funny, and kind, and charming, and intelligent. The way those traits manifested was ridiculously attractive to her. If Tina were being honest with herself, it had been so long since she’d been in the company of a man that she liked. Talking with him was so easy, so effortless. Feeling so attracted to him was also a novel experience. It was that warm, delicious hum along her skin, the fluttering in her belly that she missed. She didn’tknow the last time she’d experienced that kind of fluttering with Logan.
Which, she realized, said a lot about their relationship.
They slipped into silence as Derrick’s truck roared along the narrow, winding back roads in the dark. Fog snaked over the banks along the sides of the road, and tendrils whispered across the asphalt, bright and blinding in front of the headlights.
Tina knew that now that they were alone in the surprisingly clean leather interior of his massive truck, she should ask him her questions. She should grill him on last week, and if he had any dreams, and what really happened to his brother.
“You want to ask me something,” Derrick said.
The sound of his deep timbre startled her. “How did you know?”
He shrugged, and the movement looked restless. “You sounded off on your call? I know we don’t know each other, other than one brief in-person interaction, and tonight’s game of trivia, but I know you don’t have any family in the area, and I’d just like to…”
Tina snorted. She covered her mouth with her hand and tried to contain her laugh as best as she could, but she was all loose, and her verbal filter had eroded by the time she’d drunk the third beer. He was trying to besopolite, and all she could do was obsess over whether or not she’d imagined the way he’d felt inside her. That basement scene was…wow. He’d been so deep, and she’d been so full. She just wanted to know if she was losing her mind or he was lying to her.
“What is it?” Derrick asked as he turned onto her street.
“Derrick, do you believe in ghosts?”
He went rigid. His knuckles were stark white on the steering wheel, visible despite the dim glow of the dash. “Why do you ask?”
“Never mind!” Tina said in a singsong voice. A heavy weight eased off her shoulders just enough for her to temper her panic. Shewasn’tlosing her mind. “I can see by your reaction that you do. And judging by your face and the woman at the deli, there are quite a few people who do. You’re supposed to disclose if a house is haunted, you know that, right? Not that I would’ve believed you, but some heads up that your brother was there would’ve been nice.”
“I don’t know what you?—”
“Cut the shit. Please.”
Her voice was way too harsh. Mean, even. Tina was still too buzzed to figure out the most diplomatic way to transition the conversation into territory where she could get the answers she needed instead of just yelling at him for making her think that it was all in her head.
Because it wasn’t. She knew deep in her bones now that it wasn’t. Otherwise he wouldn’t have reacted the way he did with her line of questioning.
The road curved, and her house came into view. The colonial was flanked by lush trees painted with fall colors. Pathway lights lined the walkway to the front porch, and the lights in the awning over the garage doors turned on as Derrick’s truck came to a stop in front of the left bay door. It was beautiful at night.
She wondered if she’d get some sleep or if her dreams would continue to haunt her.
Tina gripped the handle, and was about to step outside and share a quick thank-you over her shoulder before walking to the door, but Derrick rested a hand on her bicep.
She felt a current at the touch, as intense as the spark of static cling, despite her coat and layers of fabric underneath.
“Has he…” There was a long pause. “Damn it. Are you okay? I didn’t think you could. I thought…he’s my brother.”
“Your twin, you mean.”
Tina had looked over her shoulder in time to register his shock. The widening of his eyes, his jaw falling open. The pallor she could see in the dark.
“How did you know?”
He’d been the one to tell her, but he didn’t remember their first encounter. Tina looked up at her house, then back at him. “I’m going to invite you inside, but I really hope you won’t forget this time when I do.”
“Forget? Oh, your phone call.”
