lacking. She wanted to donate the funds from her videos to a
 
 charitable organization but hadn’t even picked one yet. Pierre
 
 had supported so many that she couldn’t keep them straight.
 
 She knew she could pick one of those, but she hadn’t yet.
 
 She kept telling herself, all throughout that first week Cassia
 
 was in her house, that everything was friendly and would stay
 
 that way, but she was quickly losing faith in that belief and her
 
 patience with herself was running out. At night it took her
 
 forever to fall asleep, knowing Cassia was so close, just down
 
 the hall. Every single minute she spent in the other woman’s
 
 presence was a unique form of torture.
 
 She’d never been infatuated before, never been so attracted
 
 to another person that their very presence caused the air to
 
 shift, molecules to rearrange, and the basic biological and
 
 scientific functioning of her own body to go haywire.
 
 Adalynn came around the corner of the house late in the day
 
 and spotted Cassia scraping with one of the many tools she’d
 
 bought at the hardware store in town a few days ago. Adalynn
 
 had gone in for all the painting supplies. She couldn’t believe
 
 how hefty the bill was. She’d calculated square footage ahead
 
 of time for how much paint to buy, and she’d done her
 
 research to make sure she bought all the right brushes and
 
 scrapers and whatnot. The house was big and there was a lot of
 
 it to cover. The paint cans were currently stacked up in the
 
 living room waiting.
 
 Cassia was working away at eye level, having scraped all
 
 the boards below that. She had ear buds on and was dancing
 
 away in her own little world. Her curvy hips were shaking in
 
 the tight, worn jeans she had on that were molded to her body.
 
 The sight of her made Adalynn’s heart trip and stop before