Page 14 of The Good Girl Next Door

five

prudence

Nearly a week has passedsince Silas cornered me in the stacks. My emergency meeting with the book club never happened because everyone was either on the road or busy settling in for the summer. So I’ve been fending for myself, and it’s not going well.

Or maybe it is. I don’t know. It’s like Silas has a finger on the fast-forward button, and I’m just along for the ride. He’sintense,and I don’t know what to do.

Every interaction I have with him leaves me reeling, and I have multiple of them a day. When he’s not at hockey practice, he’s at the library. When he’s not at the library, he’s at the pool. When he’s not at the pool, he’s in the kitchen. When he’s not in any of those spaces, he’s hiding out in my head.

He. Is. Everywhere.

He’s like no man I’ve ever met, and it’s scary because Ireallylike him. I’m worried he sees me as another goal to score: the coach’s daughter. Does he want me or the idea of me? Is this just another game for him? Maybe my dad was on to something with his rule.

Fortunately, the book club is finally meeting. Unfortunately, not everyone can make it. Sofia is the only member who has been able to maintain a solid video feed. Ruby’s in the mountains and Lilah’s on a farm… next to the mountains. So with spotty internet all around, it’s just me and Sofia troubleshooting my situation.

“So, what do I do?”

I stare at Sofia, and she stares back. She looks at me for so long that I think her connection has dropped like the rest of the book club members.

“Why not try… him?”

My face flushes immediately. It’s not like I didn’t see that answer coming. My life has, in the span of a few days, become a carbon copy of the steamy romances I’m constantly devouring. I know what I wantto happen, but my life isn’t a book.

This. Is. Real!

And I’ve yet to have a satisfying happily ever after in real life. Maybe it isn’t in the cards for me.

“But he’s one of my dad’s hockey players.”

The excuse is so flimsy that a thought could knock it over. Or Sofia’s expression…

“Uh-huh,” Sofia deadpans. “Sounds awful that the inked-up bad boy with the body and face of a superhero is after your virginity. Whatever should you do?”

I snort. “Okay.Okay. There are worse problems in the world. I get it.”

I grab my laptop with a sigh and heave myself off the bed and head toward my desk. After setting it down, I glance out the window and find Silas sunbathing in one of the lounge chairs. But rather than keep it in its usual position, he dragged it towards the front of the pool and aimed himself directly in my line of sight.

This man.

His abs are glistening so brightly that I’m afraid I might go blind. Or head down there for a closer…inspection.

I pace in front of the laptop, hand over my mouth as I shake my head, and a few strained, guttural noises I’ve never made before slip out of my mouth.

“What?” Sofia asks.

“He’s sunbathing. His abs are just… out there. Slabs and mounds of glistening muscles, baking in the hot sun and aimed directly at my retinas.”

I poke my head around the edge of the window and take another peek. He hasn’t moved. He probably fell asleep and—crap!I leap out of the way and nearly crash into the wall as Silas waves at me.

“Let me see!” Sofia says as a weird pang of possessiveness shoots through me while I crawl across the floor to the other side of the window.

I stand up, dust myself off, and sit down at my desk. “No way.” After taking a few breaths, I add, “I’m not holding a laptop in front of my window and aiming it at him like some creeper. He can see me. Scratch that. Hesawme.”

Sofia laughs. “Did he now?”

I swallow. “Yup,” I say, letting the plosive pop.

I wonder if he saw the outline of me undressing…

---