Page 79 of Official

I swing it open and freeze. “Sam.”

“Hi.” She fidgets with her fingers in front of her.

The red tank top she wears is simple—it would be on anyone else, anyway—but on her, the color pops against her summer complexion, bringing out the blush in her cheeks too.

As she shifts her weight, she seems nervous, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

“Come in?” I say, but it comes out as more of a question.

Nodding, she brushes past me and into the ridiculously extravagant foyer. Seriously, the area is larger than the dining room, and no one even uses this space.

My mother barely uses the entire house, actually.

“Are you home alone?” Sam asks, spinning in place to face me.

“I, um…” I blink.What did she say?

“Is your mom back from Paris yet?”

“Oh, she’ll be back next week. Klein is around here somewhere, I think.” I run a hand over my head, extra aware of how strong my feelings for Sam are now that she’s standing right in front of me.

The sudden nerves are tying my fucking tongue up like a knotted rope.

“Klein is just leaving,” my stepdad announces, poking his head around the corner from the hall. “I’ll see you two later.”

With a wink, he disappears again, and a few seconds later, the clicking of the side door drifts over us.

“The answer to your question, then, is that yes, we are alone,” I joke, and it earns me a glorious giggle, soft and free of the tension we’ve had this week.

“When will you move back into your place?”

“Teddy found my friend Calder a place, which he’ll be able to move into at the end of this month, so I’ll get it back then. Fingers crossed I can stay sane until then.”

She waves her arms around. “How can you ever tell if anyone else is here in the first place?”

“Oh, I can tell.” I roll my eyes.

What is she thinking?

“Do you want a drink or anything?” I offer as she bites her bottom lip, drawing my attention to the exact spot her teeth sink into her plump lip, and I fight a groan.

This is a new form of torture I never knew could make me suffer this badly. My body is more fucking tense than a pulled muscle.

“Sure, but I want to talk to you first, if that’s okay.”

Nodding, I lead her toward the kitchen, and the air shifts. We’ve gone from being friends to sleeping together to fighting like two birds in a cage, but now we’re… I don’t know.

In limbo? That seems like the only way to put it.

In the kitchen, I reach into the refrigerator and grab a beer for her, but before I can hand it over, she whirls around, wringing the front of her shirt with her fingers. “You were totally right about me, and I didn’t want to hear it. I was too blinded by things that shouldn’t have mattered to admit it to you or myself, and I’m sorry.”

I shut the door to the fridge and lean against it. “I saw the video.”

“You did?” she asks, surprise written all over her.

“I’m happy for you,” I whisper, my lips twitching when she gulps.

She has no idea how proud of her I am, does she? Which makes me wonder about the guys she’s dated in the past, although Jason should’ve been a perfect indication to begin with.

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