It's All Relative(24)

Wondering what to tell her roommates, she thought about the man in question. Kai Harper. The boy bearing the same last name. Groaning, Jessie tried not to dwell on that fact. Hanging out with him yesterday had been enjoyable. Kai was interesting, funny, smart, and outrageously handsome. He was the kind of guy she could see herself with for a while, maybe even long term. But that wasn’t an option for them. At all. Not only was the thought disturbing, it would be impossible to explain their relationship at family reunions. That thought made her groan again.

Rinsing off the last, lingering bubbles, she reminisced about their dinner together. They’d sat on the floor in front of his bed, the pizza box spread between them. As they’d talked and ate, they’d each occasionally glanced at the bed, remembering. It was going to take some time for the memory of that eventful evening to leave their brains. Kai had admitted that she was the best sex he’d ever had, and while she hadn’t said it back to him, she’d been thinking the exact same thing. An incredible night like that wasn’t the sort of thing she could just suddenly forget, even if she wished she could.

Stepping out of the shower, Jessie started piecing together her day. She wanted to check on Grams again, make sure she didn’t need any help with anything yet and she wasn’t in too much pain. After that, she wanted to go get some groceries for Kai. Rummaging through his kitchen for something to drink last night, she’d instantly noticed that all he had was an almost empty carton of milk in the fridge. When Jessie had given him a quizzical look, he’d apologized, saying he hadn’t gotten around to shopping for food yet. Jessie wasn’t sure, but she thought he was probably filling himself up on junk food. Boys had a tendency to do that, especially boys left to their own devices.

She wanted to help him. Aside from the fact that she actually liked Kai, he was family, and that was what family did: helped each other. Plus, a small nagging part of her brain really wanted to see him again. She tried to ignore that part as she got dressed.

Finally feeling more put together to face her inquisitive friends, she walked out into the living room. April was sitting on the couch sideways, her feet up on the cushions, her hands around her knees. She was engrossed in her conversation with Harmony, sitting on the opposite end of the couch and didn’t notice Jessie. Harmony did. She looked over when she spotted her. Having lost her audience, April finally noticed Jessie, as well.

“Oh, she surfaces. Feeling better?” April winked, and Jessie knew she wasn’t talking about her hangover being gone.

Ignoring the churning in her gut, she gave April as bright of a smile as she could. “Much better, thanks.”

April laughed. “No problem. You needed it.” Harmony frowned but didn’t comment. She looked as if she still didn’t approve of letting Jessie escape with Kai, and now, knowing what she did, Jessie wished Harmony had fought harder to stop her from leaving. If only their embarrassment was a heated kiss on the dancefloor. April jumped around to lean over the back of the couch. “So…how was he?” She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively and Jessie suppressed a groan. And it starts.

“I…don’t really remember.” Jessie shrugged as she walked around the couch and into the living room.

She plopped down in a chair under a bay window. It looked out over the city and had a pretty spectacular view of the mountains. Her dad had secured this place for her after he’d gotten transferred to Washington D.C. He’d wanted to make sure Jessie lived in a decent area of town before he left, and he was even paying her rent for a year. Just in case, he had said. It wasn’t necessary, Jessie had a job, but she was the only girl in a family full of boys, so her father was a little overprotective. And since he had a prestigious, well-paying job for the government, thanks to his recent promotion, he also had enough extra income to do things like that for her. He wouldn’t be happy if he ever found out how careless she had been the other night.

April’s incredulous snort returned Jessie’s attention to her. She was staring at Jessie like she’d grown two heads. “Your first one night stand, and you don’t remember? How lame.” She raised a questioning eyebrow. “Are you messing with me?”

Jessie shrugged. “I’m sorry, I was really wasted. I don’t think we even did anything.” Hoping her cheeks didn’t betray her lie, she glared at April. “You guys called too fast.”

April leaned over and smacked Harmony. “See, I told you they needed more time.”

Harmony gave Jessie an appraising onceover, but then shook her head. “We were just looking out for you, Jessie. Going off with strange guys, even hot ones, is not a good idea.”

Jessie gave her concerned friend a warm smile. “I know.” God…how she knew that now.

April swung her head back around to look at Harmony. “Was he hot? I don’t remember…he was the blonde one, right?”

Jessie bit her cheek to not smile. If they didn’t remember Kai, it would make introducing him to them later so much easier. Harmony met April’s gaze as she answered her. “No, he had dark hair.” Jessie suppressed a sigh. Harmony might have started out the night drinking, but she’d eventually stopped so she could drive them home. Jessie hoped she’d still been buzzing when she’d first spotted Kai, then her memory might still be fuzzy. Tilting her head at Jessie, Harmony asked, “He was Latin, right?