Until You (The Redemption, #1)(48)

Crew freezes, eyes wide, and mouth open. “I didn’t lock the door,” he mumbles. “Or set the fucking alarm.” Then he looks around the room in panic. “The closet,” he whisper-yells as he scoops up my shoes and purse and pushes me toward his closet.

“The closet?”

“Yes. Please.” He presses a brusque, appeasing kiss to my lips. “I’ll figure something out. Give me a few minutes,” he says seconds before I’m bathed in darkness when he closes the louvered doors.

Through the angled slats, I watch Crew rush out of the room while pulling a T-shirt over his head.

Oh my God.

The visual of Crew naked and panicked hits me again, and I have to hold a hand over my mouth to smother the laughter I’ve lost the battle fighting.

This is really happening. I never snuck around with boys when I was a teenager, so I guess I’m crossing off that rite of passage a little later in life.

Thirty years old and I’m hiding in a closet. Talk about new experiences.

I do my best to finish getting dressed without falling or making any sounds, but it’s damn hard in the small space. That and the hilarity of the situation hits me at the oddest times, and I struggle with more laughter.

Time passes in the clomps of feet up the stairs. In the sounds of voices drifting down the hall. In the car driving away. In the text that Crew sends telling me to wait just a few more minutes. Thank God my phone was on silent.

And while I know what’s going on, those minutes feel like hours. I’ve scrolled through social media. I’ve checked my email. I’ve played a few games.

I freeze when the girls walk down the hall. “Dad didn’t make his bed?” Addy says, stopping to look inside the bedroom. “That’s a first.”

“He’s acting weird,” Paige says. “Guess that means we don’t have to make ours then.”

“Dream on,” Crew says, his footsteps heavy on the stairs. “Go on. Take your showers and get cleaned up.”

“Can’t we just jump in the pool?” one of them asks.

“Nope. Showers. Now.”

Some grumbling follows, but a few minutes later I can hear the pipes creak as the water turns on.

Crew waits a few minutes before jogging into the bedroom and opening the doors. He laughs when he sees me standing there, framed by his clothes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers, glancing over his shoulder, his grin still there. “They’re in the shower. The mom fed them kale pancakes or some shit like that, so I promised them breakfast in town. Let’s get you out of here while they’re getting ready.”

Within a minute, we’re down the stairs, and he’s ushering me out the front door. “I’m sorry it ended like this.” He holds my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine as his curve up in a smile. “But damn it was fun.”

“It was.” I step back, our fingers linked as I take a few steps away.

“See you later.”

“Later, Crew.”

I walk down the driveway with the goofiest of grins on my face.

I’ve never had a walk of shame like this before.

Best part about it? There’s no shame at all.





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO


Crew




“Dad?”

“Hmm?” I’m distracted and for good measure. While the French toast at The Diner is some of the best I’ve had in a long time, and you won’t find me complaining about my breakfast guests, my mind keeps flashing back to last night. To this morning.

And to the woman I was with and the casual intensity of it all.

“Why was Tenny’s sweatshirt on the back of the couch this morning?” Addy asks, her stare unwavering.

I choke on my sip of coffee and then blame it on the temperature. “God, that’s hot,” I lie as I try to recover. “She um . . . she came up last night to brush her teeth and stuff since she doesn’t have any water at her place.”

“Oh. Huh,” Paige says and looks over to Addy.

Are they buying it?

Do they believe me?

“We were curious because you put that camera app on our phone. It went off last night when we were at Phoebe’s, and we saw her walking up the driveway. It just never alerted that she left.”

Mother. Fucker.

My mouth goes dry as I fumble for a reasonable explanation, all the while freaking out over what the hell they might have seen this morning on their phone when she left.

Our kiss? Tenny disheveled and laughing as she walked down the driveway?

“Really?” I ask. “She wasn’t there long. Maybe the app needs to be updated. Let me see your phones for a sec.”

My palms grow clammy as both girls hand over their phones. With them staring at me, I stealthily go into the app on each phone and delete the motion alert this morning which, plain as day, shows Tenny walking down the driveway toward her house.

Evidence erased; I hand them back. “There. I updated them for you. They should be good to go now.”

Note to self: pause the cameras next time Tenny comes over so you don’t get caught.

Because there will be a next time.

“Speaking of Tenny,” I say. “I wanted to run something by you.”

“Like what?”

“I’ve offered for her to come and stay in one of the spare bedrooms for a few days. The repairs on the cottage might take a bit of time and she—”