Page 35 of Not In The Contract

“Well, I don’t blame you, but…” her words trailed off, but I knew what she was implying.

I was useless around people I found attractive. No matter how little or how much I was attracted, the logical part of my brain switched off and left me in the hands of a nervous teenager. And I was moving in with someone I foundextremelyattractive.

For two months.

“You’ll be fine,” Tamera said. She squeezed my knee comfortingly, but I winced.

“We both know I’m basically walking into the lion’s den,” I huffed, dropping my hands to my lap. “You don’t have to sugar coat things.”

“Think about it this way,” she offered. “Maybe she’s a snobby rich person, and then you’ll have no reason to be attracted to her. You can do your research and leave, no problem.”

In a perfect world, that was exactly what would happen. I didn’t live in a perfect world. I was sure I’d make a fool of myself one way or another.

“Let’s get going,” Tamera said, wrapping a hand around my wrist and tugging. “If I let you, you’d stay in here all day, overthinking things.”

She helped me lug my heavy suitcases down to her car, shoving them haphazardly into the trunk while I opened the last email from Alex for her address.

“It’s a forty minute drive,” I murmured as Tamera hopped into the driver’s seat. “There’s almost nothing around her place.”

“Makes sense,” Tamera said with a shrug, backing out of her parking space and joining the queue of cars waiting to get out. “She gives me rich recluse vibes.”

“Rich recluse?” I repeated incredulously.

“Yeah, you know those people who have all the money and choose to live in the most remote areas?”

“What makes you think Alex is a recluse?”

“Who else would willingly live miles away from the city?”

“Uh, anyone with half a brain,” I reminded her. “If I could afford to live elsewhere, I would jump at the opportunity. The city is fun, but you can’t tell me living someplace safer wouldn’t be nice.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, turning onto the highway. “I kind of like living in the city. It’s close to everything and there’s always tons of shit to do. I’m never bored.”

Tamera moved to the city for college and fell head first into a love affair with the bright city lights and the restaurants that never sleep. It made sense that she loved it.

It’d been kind to her.

“Sometimes, I wish I could just stop existing for a few moments.” I sighed. “There’s always so much going on that I feel like I can’t keep up.”

“Maybe two months with a recluse and her crazy schedule will make you see things in the city a little differently,” she teased.

“Maybe.” I chuckled.

After forty-five minutes of really bad road trip karaoke, we pulled up to a huge gate, the dark iron bars looming high above us.

“If she lives in a haunted castle, I’m going to lose my shit.” Tamera snickered, rolling down her window as a burly security guard walked up.

“Identification and purpose,” he groused, looking every bit as menacing as I imagined a guard would be.

I handed my ID to Tamera and leaned over her to speak to the man. “My name is Devon Sanders,” I said, my heartbeat unsteady with nerves. “I’m here to see Ms. Bell, and this is my friend, Tamera Rylee.”

Tamera offered the guard a flirty smile and a wave to which he snorted. He took our IDs and scanned them with a small handheld device, waited a few seconds, and eventually handed them back to us.

“Proceed,” he grumbled, sounding upset that we weren’t criminals.

Tamera handed me my ID and pulled the car through the opening gate, holding back a snicker. “He’s so serious.” She giggled. “I thought we were going to be given a shakedown or something.”

I was only half paying attention. The rest of my attention followed the long gravel driveway that led us past thickets of uninterrupted forest, acres upon acres of untouched nature that stretched out around us. I didn’t miss the few glimpses of guards in all black as we passed.