Page 7

Seven

Quinn

I woke up around three o’clock this morning, unsure of where I was and why the pillow smelled so delicious, like a combination of cedarwood and vanilla. Once I remembered that I was sleeping next to Rosie in Roman’s bed, everything from the day before came flooding back to me.

I inched down the hall to use the restroom, hoping not to wake him up, when I found him sitting on the couch with his laptop.

He looked like he had tried to go to bed at some point since he was wearing a t-shirt and athletic shorts.

I started to worry that maybe we had kept him up or that he couldn’t sleep because the couch was too uncomfortable when he turned around and caught me watching him from the hallway.

I tugged at the flimsy shirt that barely covered the length of the booty shorts that I liked to sleep in.

I had packed a quick bag of overnight clothes for Rosie and me before we came over and new outfits for the morning, but it was hard to find the right combination of comfortable and appropriate.

It was early June and already getting hot and uncomfortable, so I liked to sleep in as thin of layers as possible.

“Everything okay?” he asked, turning his body to take me in. His voice was gravely, like he had been sleeping.

“Just got up to use the bathroom.”

I walked into the living room so he didn’t have to strain to see me.

“Sleepless night or uncomfortable couch?” I asked, praying that I wasn’t inconveniencing him and causing him not to get sleep tonight. I felt bad enough for coming here, to begin with, but I didn’t know what else to do.

“I slept for a few hours and then got up for a drink of water. Something kept bothering me about the picture you sent me, so I got my laptop out to do some research.”

That immediately piqued my interest, and I found myself sliding down onto the couch beside him. I tried to make sure I kept my distance so I didn’t make him uncomfortable, but it was hard not to touch him since he was sitting in the middle of the couch instead of on one of the ends.

“What did you find?”

“In the picture, the person in the driver’s seat of the van is wearing a baseball cap,” he said, grabbing his phone and zooming in on the picture.

“I knew that I recognized the logo but couldn’t figure out why.

I searched for the image, and it comes up as the logo for a little league baseball team. ”

He turned the computer toward me, and I immediately recognized it.

“That’s for the Astros. It’s the little league team that Rosie played for last year. Mike coached it until she decided to quit.”

“It could be a borrowed hat, but I think it’s worth looking into to see if it gives us a lead into who’s been watching her. Especially if it’s the same team she used to play on.”

I nodded my head, completely speechless.

“It’s going to be okay,” he assured me, gently squeezing my hand.

I flinched momentarily at the contact but not because I didn’t want him to touch me. Instead, I felt myself leaning in toward him, desperate for more. There was something about the way that my body felt like it was on fire where his fingers touched me that had me longing to feel him elsewhere.

As if reading my mind, he slowly pulled his hand away and closed his laptop.

“I should get back to bed before Rosie wakes up and freaks out that I’m not there,” I stuttered, standing up and almost tripping on the rug.

“Okay,” he said before I rushed out of the room and to the bathroom. I peed quickly and then climbed back into the bed, thankful that Rosie had stayed asleep.

I rolled onto my side and watched her for a while, memorizing every little detail on her face the same way I had when she was born and again when Justin died.

I hadn’t realized just how much I had taken for granted being able to look at him when I wanted to or feeling the comfort of his embrace when I needed it.

I promised myself that I would never allow that to happen again and that I would try to soak up every single moment, regardless of how little it seemed at the time.

A few hours later, I woke up to the sunlight filtering in through the curtains and rolled over to check the clock on the nightstand beside me. It was just after six, and I needed to get up and shower before I woke Rosie up.

Slowly I rolled out of bed and grabbed the duffle bag from the floor before tiptoeing down to the bathroom.

I didn’t bother going to the living room to see if Roman was up yet before I opened the bathroom door and went inside.

I quietly shut it behind me, not noticing that the light was already on before I turned around and found Roman wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

His brown hair was still wet from the shower, and his tanned, muscular body glistened beneath the water beads.

“Oh my God!” I whispered loudly, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest. I covered my eyes with my hand, dropping the duffle bag to the floor. “I’m so sorry! I should have knocked first!”

“It’s fine, Quinn,” he chuckled. “You can open your eyes. I’m not naked.”

“It’s okay,” I laughed nervously. “I can just go so you can finish up.”

I turned to open the door, not bothering to uncover my eyes, and hit my arm on the knob.

“Son of a bitch!” I tried not to yell, so I didn’t wake Rosie, hoping that the sound of me whacking the door hadn’t already stirred her.

There was shuffling behind me, and then I felt his hand on my shoulder as he pulled my hand from my eyes.

“It’s safe,” he teased.

I opened my eyes and found him wearing a fitted t-shirt and joggers, which looked ridiculously good on him.

“Is that what you wear to train people?” I blurted out as my eyes traveled over his body again.

“Um, yeah?”

He pulled his lower lip between his teeth, watching me as he waited for my eyes to finally land on his.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I didn’t mean to stare.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Was I? Because I was pretty sure that had he not busted me checking him out, I would probably be fantasizing about him teaching me how to do some sort of sexy pull-up at the gym.

I lowered my head and looked away as I felt the heat creep up my neck and spread across my chest.

“The shower is all yours,” he said, extending his arm in that direction. “There are towels under the sink. Be careful with the water—it gets hot pretty quickly.”

He smirked and walked out, closing the door behind him. I couldn’t be sure, but I was pretty positive there was some sort of sexual innuendo laced in his comment.