Page 19 of Trophy

Rob watched lazily as Allison swung her legs over the side of his bed and sat up. She was wearing nothing but one of his T-shirts and little lace underwear, and her hair was wildly rumpled from a night of sex and sleep.

She blinked a few times, clearly trying to wake up.

“You can stay in bed for five more minutes,” he said, reaching out to tug on her shirt. She’d found it with the other clean clothes in his laundry basket last night, after they’d left the clothes she was wearing scattered down the hallway to his bedroom.

“No,” she said, the word stretched out like a groan. “I have to get moving or I never will. I hate five o’clock in the morning. I shouldn’t have come over last night.”

“Hey!” he replied in mock outrage. “It was your idea.”

“I know.” She smiled at him over her shoulder. “It was a really good night. I’m just exhausted now, and I have to be at work in an hour.”

“You can always call in sick.”

“I need the money.” She sighed and heaved herself to her feet. She stood looking down at him for a moment, her lips turning up in an affectionate smile. “Your hair is quite a sight this morning.”

He made a halfhearted effort to smooth it down.

It was probably standing up on end, since he’d worked up a sweat with Allison.

They’d been seeing each other—that is, having sex—for ten days now, and Rob would have been happy to spend every night with her.

But she was clearly trying to be careful, so they’d only spent four nights together.

They hadn’t been planning on last night, but Allison had shown up at his door unexpectedly, saying she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

He’d done the only reasonable thing a man could do in such a situation.

He’d grabbed her and taken her quick and hard against the wall next to the front door.

Then they’d headed for the bedroom for another round.

When Rob had woken up in the middle of night, Allison had woken up too, so they’d had another go.

He was just as exhausted as she looked, but he could easily get turned on again just by the sight of her in his shirt. Clearly they were in the very early stage of their sexual relationship, when everything was new and exciting, but he couldn’t remember being this insatiable before.

At least Allison seemed to want him just as much.

“I thought I’d get a comment about my hair too,” she teased.

“Your hair is beautiful.”

She crawled over her side of the bed so she could kiss him. “You are such a liar.” When he tried to pull her over on top of him, she resisted. “No. I really have to go.”

Rob gave an exaggerated sigh and dropped his hands to his sides. “Fine. Just leave me in my torturous state.”

She gave his crotch a quick look. “Doesn’t look too torturous yet.”

“Well, he’s tired. He had quite a workout last night.”

She giggled and kissed him again before she climbed off the bed and leaned over to pick up her bra and then slip on her shoes. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

“Yeah. Oh, hey, I almost forgot. I’m having a cookout on Saturday. You should come.” He made sure to give the invitation casually, as if it had just crossed his mind. He’d actually been thinking through how best to ask her for a ridiculously long amount of time.

“What? What do you mean?” She looked confused but not horrified, which he took to be a good sign.

“I’m having a cookout. Just some friends and folks from the neighborhood. Since you’re from the neighborhood, it would be perfectly normal for me to invite you.”

“So I wouldn’t be your date?”

“Would that be so wrong?” He met her eyes evenly but made sure to keep his tone relaxed.

“We agreed to keep this private for now.”

“I know, but things seem to be going well. Why would it be a problem for other people to know about us?”

“You know why. I’m not ready for a relationship. I thought you understood that. I thought you were okay with it.”

He let out a hoarse breath. “I am. It’s fine. We can go on keeping it private.” He smiled at her, trying to convey easy acceptance.

She obviously didn’t believe his smile. “Does it really bother you? Keeping it private? I thought you were okay with it.”

“I am okay with it.” He was mostly telling the truth.

It wasn’t that he wanted to brag all over town about dating Allison.

Mostly he was feeling a bit insecure about the relationship.

Worried. Like he shouldn’t be investing too much in it if she wasn’t in this for real.

If they could tell other people about it, then he could know for sure she wasn’t just playing around with him.

He’d been played around with by women before. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.

They’d only been together a couple of weeks, though, so he was being impatient. Allison needed time. She was coming off a bad divorce. Her hesitancy didn’t mean she was just going to use him the way other women had.

“I’m sorry,” he added, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to pressure you. I’m really okay with things as they are.”

She relaxed her shoulders and smiled at him. “Okay. Good. Just tell me if you’re not happy with things. I’m not trying to string you along or anything.”

“I know that.” He was telling her the truth, so he knew it was convincing. “And I would like you to come to the cookout. Not as my date but as my neighbor.”

“Then I’ll come. When is it?”

“Folks will start coming around four, I guess. They’ll probably stay until eight or so. You can come by whenever you want.”

“Will there be a lot of people?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know how many will come. It’ll be low-key, though. Nothing intimidating.”

“Okay. I’ll give it a try.” She grabbed the top she’d been wearing yesterday from the dresser where it had landed. “I really have to go now. See you in a bit.”

“See you.”

He let out a breath as he heard her leaving the house.

He knew she watched out the window to make sure no one was in sight before she stepped outside and crossed the street.

She was serious about not wanting people to know they were seeing each other.

It would be really nice when the day came that she didn’t feel like she had to sneak out of his house in the morning, when he could show the world that she was into him, that he could be with someone as incredible as her.

She wasn’t ready yet, but that would change. She was being honest with him—something his two ex-wives had never done. She wasn’t going to make a fool of him like they had. She just needed to feel more comfortable here. Maybe meeting more people at the cookout would help.

He wanted her to like this town.

He wanted her to stay here a long time.

On Saturday Allison kept looking out the window at people arriving for Rob’s cookout. There was quite a crowd—at least twenty cars she could see.

It would be fine. She used to go to social outings all the time in the city, many times without Arthur.

It was easy enough to make small talk and pass the time.

This would be fine too. She was getting used to the culture here, and she’d met many very nice people.

She could go over there, introduce herself to people she didn’t know, eat a hamburger, and then come home if she wasn’t having fun.

No one was going to assume that she and Rob were together and start putting pressure on them to be serious.

It was just a cookout.

She was wearing a red sleeveless top and her favorite pair of shorts—they were gray and made her butt look really good. She’d tried three different hairstyles until she’d finally pulled it back in a braid. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard.

It was entirely possible that some of these people would assume she was after Rob, simply because they were both single and in close proximity.

At four thirty she finally made herself walk over there.

Rob had said she shouldn’t bring anything, but she felt kind of silly walking across the street empty-handed.

The people were spread out on his yard and patio, and several kids were sliding down a long piece of plastic, wet by a hose and stretching down the steep bank on one side of his lawn.

Rob was standing near the grill, laughing warmly with a young couple she didn’t recognize, looking completely relaxed, completely at home.

She felt a pull in her chest at the sight of him, as if he could draw her to him like a magnet. The feeling was confusing and a little disturbing. She stopped walking for a moment to process it.

He glanced in her direction and saw her. He smiled and waved her over. “I’m glad you could come. Come meet some folks.”

She was introduced to all the people standing around, and there was no way she could remember all their names. They all smiled at her, and some of them looked at her curiously, as if they couldn’t quite figure her out.

She knew the feeling.

Doing her best to keep up, she talked about when she’d moved to town, how she was working at Dora’s, and what she thought of the beautiful sunny day for several minutes, until the group broke up into smaller groups.

Rob was now talking to another latecomer, but he looked in her direction a few times, as if checking to make sure she was comfortable.

She went to get a beer—which she’d drunk more of since she’d moved to town than she ever had in her life—and then looked around for someone to talk to. Everyone was involved in their own conversations, but there was an empty chair next to an older couple. They looked nice. And safe.

She walked over. “Is anyone sitting here?”

“Oh no,” the woman said. She had salt-and-pepper hair and a very warm smile. “Please sit with us. We haven’t met yet. I’m Tari, and this is James.”

“Howdy,” James told her with a funny little wave. He had a huge mustache, tanned skin, and looked in very good shape for his age.

“I’m Allison. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“So you’re friends with Rob, dear?” Tari asked.