The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(28)

It was a comfortable silence between them, but there was something underlying the ease, she realized, watching him efficiently wash the dishes. He had a way of moving, his muscles bunching and releasing beneath his T-shirt, that sent a zing through her body, putting it on high alert. The good kind of high alert.

Which was not good at all, but bad.

Not making any decisions right now, remember?

“Deep thoughts?” he asked.

“No. Ignore me.”

His gaze held hers. “That’s going to be hard to do.”

She stared back at him. “I . . . should tell you something.”

“Besides the fact that you’re not allowing yourself to make any decisions right now?”

“I think I should also be off men.”

“Forever?”

“I don’t know.” She grimaced, because she knew herself. “No. Not forever.”

He gave a single nod. “Noted.”

She nodded too. “All righty, then.” All righty, then? What the hell was wrong with her? “Good night.”

“’Night. Oh, and, Brynn?”

She turned back to him.

His eyes were no longer just amused, but also heated. “You’ll let me know if that changes.”

“The decision-making thing?”

He smiled. “The ‘off men’ part.”

BRYNN SPENT THE remaining hours of the night tossing restlessly, and not sure why. She loved this big, old, creaky house. Loved having her window open so she could hear the waves rhythmically hitting the beach. Loved that her roommates sometimes ate chocolate chip pancakes at midnight.

Loved that she’d been brave enough to agree to staying here, even if she worried that, like most of her other recent decisions, it would turn out to be a bad one.

She remembered how Eli had looked at her in the kitchen when they’d been alone, and how just that had changed the rhythm of her heart . . . Yeah. She was worried that he’d gotten under her skin in the very best of ways.

When her alarm went off, she groaned and got out of bed to get ready for day one of the rest of her life. Thanks to her open window, the room was chilly, but she liked that. Nothing in here belonged to her other than the duffel bag on the chair in the corner, but somehow she felt more at home than she had in a long time. She grabbed a sundress and cropped cardigan from the duffel, showered and dressed, and then left the room.

Kinsey stood in the kitchen in front of the opened fridge, frowning.

“Morning,” Brynn said.

Kinsey grabbed some juice before turning to eyeball Brynn, then immediately squeezing her eyes shut with a pained look. “Jeez, I need sunglasses just to look at you.”

Brynn looked down. Okay, so her dress was a very bright and sunshiny yellow, but she thought it’d seem cheery to the kids. “Should I change?”

Kinsey shut the fridge and sighed. “Like kicking a puppy,” she muttered. Then she shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t change. You should tell me to go to hell, that you’re wearing what you damn well want to wear and you don’t care what I think.”

Brynn’s backbone snapped straight. “You’re right.” And oh, how she hated that. “Go to hell. I’m wearing what I want to wear and I don’t care what you think. And you know what else? Roommate rule number two—you have to say something nice for every not nice thing you say.”

Kinsey blinked. “What’s roommate rule number one?”

“No walking around naked.”

Kinsey blinked again. Then she tossed what looked like a palmful of pills into her mouth and chased it with a glass of water.

“Vitamins?”

“They’re my superpower pills,” Kinsey said.

“Fine.” Brynn shook her head. “Not sure why I thought things might be different.” She headed to the door.

“Different how?” Kinsey asked.

“I don’t know, maybe with you being sweeter and kinder.”

Kinsey stared at her for a beat. “Those traits aren’t exactly in my wheelhouse.”

“No kidding.”

Kinsey took in Brynn’s outfit and appeared to squelch a grimace. “Um, okay. So . . . I like your bracelet.”

Brynn was wearing a thin leather cord with a silver charm that said: BE STRONGER THAN THE STORM. “Thanks,” she said, surprised at the compliment.

“So are you really going to wear sneakers to work?” Kinsey asked, and when Brynn just stared at her, she shrugged, palms up. “What? You said I have to say something nice first, so I did. I said I liked your bracelet.”

Brynn sighed and looked down at her adorable favorite white sneaks. She started to second-guess her choice, but then narrowed her eyes. “I’m wearing what I want to wear and I don’t care what you think.”

Kinsey lifted her glass of water in a toast—granted it was also with a cynical smirk—and Brynn yanked open the door.

“Oh, and who walks around naked?” Kinsey wanted to know.

“Your roommates.”

Kinsey’s jaw dropped. “You saw Max and Eli naked?”

Brynn just shut the door on her, pleased with herself for once having the last word. Or lack of the last word . . .

At the school, Brynn was given the keys to her classroom and sent on her way without much fanfare. Two minutes later, she stood at the front of her classroom—gulp—staring at thirty-two little five-year-olds. She had them sit in a semicircle facing her and asked them to take turns telling her their name and a fun fact. She pointed to the girl on her left wearing a bunch of ponytails to go first.