Charming Hannah (Big Sky #1)(42)

“She’s so drunk,” Jenna says to Grace, making me laugh.

“I’m not that drunk.”

Okay. I am.

“We can take you home.”

“I’m not going home.” I shake my head and turn a circle in the rain, but then I’m dizzy so I stop and just let the water fall on me.

“Where are you going?”

“To Brad’s.” I smile at Jenna. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m going to have some seriously hot sex with him tonight.”

“Good for you,” Jenna says and then wrinkles her nose. “Ew.”

“Nope, it’s not ew. It’s wow. It’s holy shit, I didn’t even know my pussy did that.”

“Holy shit, she’s funny drunk,” Grace says, laughing. “Come on, drunk girl. We’ll drive you to Brad’s.”

“Actually, I really do want to walk,” I reply. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll be fine. I’m really not that drunk, and it’s not cold.”

“I don’t know,” Jenna says. “Brad would kill me if he knew I let you walk to his place when you’re like this.”

“I won’t let him kill you. I swear.” I hug them both, then wave as I begin my walk to Brad’s house. It’s only about a mile from downtown. I can certainly walk a mile.

But when I get about halfway there, the sun decides to go down. So now I’m walking in the rain and the dark.

But I don’t care.

I love it here. I love my friends, and I love my boyfriend.

And I love the rain.

The rain that is currently falling even harder. So hard that it’s difficult to see in front of me, so I duck under the branches of a big maple tree and wait for a few minutes, hoping it’ll die down a bit.

It doesn’t rain a whole lot in the summer in Montana, so when it does, it’s warm and fast. This will pass.

“Are you okay out there?” Someone yells out from their house.

“I’m fine, just waiting for a break in the rain,” I call out in return. This must be a good answer because they don’t say anything more.

Finally, the rain calms to a heavy sprinkle, so I set out to Brad’s house again. Rather than just dusk, it’s pitch dark when I make it to his house. The front windows are lit from inside, with the shades pulled. His porch light is on.

I wander up the sidewalk, climb the two steps to his porch, and then sit in his porch chair, breathing deeply.

I’m almost sober now, but I want to be all the way sober when he opens the door. I don’t need to make an ass out of myself in front of him.

No way.

After three deep breaths, I stand and knock on his door, excited to see him. I’m not prepared to see the expression of horror on his face when he swings the door open.





Chapter Twelve


Brad

I’M PATHETIC.

I’ve spent all evening doing my best to stay busy, waiting for Hannah to ring the doorbell, trying to keep my mind off of her and on other things. I paid bills, I finished hanging some cabinets in my garage, and I gave Sadie a bath.

Much to her dismay.

I’ve had music playing through the house as I putter around, pretending that I’m not thinking about Hannah and her beautiful blue eyes. Her perfect skin. The way she laughs when we’re being silly, or the way she moans when I’m making her crazy.

But as soon as I’m distracted by something, my mind wanders back to her, and I can’t help but wonder what she’s doing and why in the hell she’s not here yet.

Just as I finish folding a load of laundry, there’s a knock on the front door. I grin and hurry over, swing it open, and standing before me is Hannah.

Soaking wet.

Covered in glitter.

A black eye.

Anger, swift and hot, surges through me, but before I can ask who the hell did this to her, she smiles brightly and says, “Oh my God, I had so much fun.”

She walks past me into the living room, drops her shopping bags and purse on my couch, and greets an excited Sadie, giving the dog pets and kisses, transferring the glitter to the clean animal.

“Hannah.”

“Yeah?” She swings around to look at me. “Oh, sorry. I should have done this first.”

She launches herself in my arms and kisses me soundly, twisting her fingers in the hair at the back of my neck.

“You smell good,” she murmurs.

“You… don’t.” I laugh and set her down. “Have you been drinking?”

“Oh yeah,” she replies with a snort. “I didn’t have to work, so I had some wine.”

“And you drove here?”

She immediately scowls. “Hell no, I don’t have my car. I walked here. I’m not my father.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Of course.” I’m completely thrown. This is so unlike Hannah, I’m not sure how to react. But she looks happy, so there’s that. “Who the fuck had their hands on you?”

“Huh?”

“The black eye.”

She frowns and feels her face, and then laughs again. “Oh, that was Grace. She likes it rough.” She snorts again, dissolving in laughter. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“I can’t believe Jenna let you walk here,” I mutter, but Hannah shakes her head.