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lacking. She wanted to donate the funds from her videos to a

charitable organization but hadn’t even picked one yet. Pierre

had supported so many that she couldn’t keep them straight.

She knew she could pick one of those, but she hadn’t yet.

She kept telling herself, all throughout that first week Cassia

was in her house, that everything was friendly and would stay

that way, but she was quickly losing faith in that belief and her

patience with herself was running out. At night it took her

forever to fall asleep, knowing Cassia was so close, just down

the hall. Every single minute she spent in the other woman’s

presence was a unique form of torture.

She’d never been infatuated before, never been so attracted

to another person that their very presence caused the air to

shift, molecules to rearrange, and the basic biological and

scientific functioning of her own body to go haywire.

Adalynn came around the corner of the house late in the day

and spotted Cassia scraping with one of the many tools she’d

bought at the hardware store in town a few days ago. Adalynn

had gone in for all the painting supplies. She couldn’t believe

how hefty the bill was. She’d calculated square footage ahead

of time for how much paint to buy, and she’d done her

research to make sure she bought all the right brushes and

scrapers and whatnot. The house was big and there was a lot of

it to cover. The paint cans were currently stacked up in the

living room waiting.

Cassia was working away at eye level, having scraped all

the boards below that. She had ear buds on and was dancing

away in her own little world. Her curvy hips were shaking in

the tight, worn jeans she had on that were molded to her body.

The sight of her made Adalynn’s heart trip and stop before