The housekeeper had left my bag in the hallway, and as I pushed into my room and flicked the lights on, I realized why. Jules was already fast asleep in my king-sized bed, her deep auburn-brown hair fanned across the pillow her face was currently smashed into.
“Sorry, Jules!” I whispered, quickly turning off the main light.
She only grunted in response and groggily patted the bed as I shuffled across the room in the dark. As quietly as I could, I rifled through my armoire looking for pajamas and grabbed the first thing I could find, yanking it on.
“Sorry, I smell like paint thinner.” I whispered, crawling between the sheets, too tired to do anything about it.
Jules responded with another sleepy grunt, but threaded her arm through mine, and I smiled because God, it was good to be home, back with my best friends,back with safe people.
I wasn’t sure what time it was when I finally woke up, but the sun was blasting through a crack in the brocaded curtains spanning my bedroom, and the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling was an explosion of rainbows painted across my wallpapered room.
Finding my tongue practically glued to the roof of my mouth, I reached for my emotional support water bottle and groaned when I realized I’d never brought it inside. The bed was empty, and the sitting room was quiet, which meant the girls were probably already downstairs.
With the faint smell of maple syrup in the air, I headed towards the kitchen for liquids and sustenance. My eyes were still half closed as I wandered down the dimly lit corridor, paddingover cold marble floors until I reached the silk rugs leading to the main living areas.
Overhead, Christmas music tinkled through the surround sound speakers, and even thoughThanksgivingwas tomorrow, I knew my mother had probably been playing Christmas tunes since October. She loved the holidays and, maybe even more; she loved hosting parties.
I, on the other hand, loved eating all the delicious food she and my brother Liam whipped up, and this week I was going to do nothing but eat and sleep and be gloriously lazy.A respite I so desperately needed, and I couldn’t wait.
As I rounded the corner into the kitchen, the morning light was a full-out assault to my eyes, blasting through the giant windows that spanned the entire length of one wall.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” My mother chimed from the stovetop as I stumbled into the kitchen on pure muscle memory. “You got in late last night.”
I grunted and groggily poured myself a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from the ceramic pitcher we always used at Thanksgiving. It was one of my elementary school art projects that had unfortunately found permanent residence among our holiday dishes. Despite being slightly misshapen, with one droopy eye and lopsided feathers, Mr. Turkey had survived, year after year.He was sturdy, I’d give him that.
I took a heavy sip of orange juice, and that’s when I finally looked over the rim of my glass and saw who had been sitting at the breakfast table,watching me, this entire time.
Carter freaking Kensington.
Naturally, I immediately choked.
CHAPTER 6
Cave Lady Instincts
SARAFINA
Nothing about it was dainty, little, or cute as I stared straight into the eyes of my brother’s best friend—the biggest crush I’d ever had in my life, and proceeded to inhale a full three ounces of orange juice down the wrong windpipe.
The glass nearly shattered as I slammed it onto the counter, wheezing wet pulp out of my airway. Sweat beaded the back of my neck as I hacked up my left lung, desperately trying to stay alive, because today was not the day I was going to die by citrus. Humiliation? Yeah, maybe. But not citrus, for Christ’s sake!
“Annnd now she’s awake.” Liam grinned, clearly enjoying my suffering as I smoothed my hair and tried to find some semblance of composure, suppressing another cough.
My mother gave me a curious look but didn’t say anything, and my father was completely unbothered. He was still reading his newspaper with a cup of piping hot black coffee, probably his second cup this morning.
“You okay?” Carter asked with an amused smile, fork in hand, eyes bright and expectant.Oh God.His gaze flicked over me just once before he quickly shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth, suddenly focusing far too intently on his plate.
When I looked down, I immediately realized why.Oh,motherfucker.My tits were hard, on display for all to see and—what the hell was I even wearing?!
My cheeks heated as I slowly processed the horrifying little number I’d pulled on in the dark. A princess t-shirt that I’d had since I was twelve, that was so yellow, dingy and full of little holes that I wasn’t even sure it was clean.Far too smallsleeping shorts that I’d honestly never seen before in my life. I most definitely had make-up smudged around my eyes, given the fact that I hadn’t bothered to wash my face last night, and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, my gaze dropped and I realized with complete horror—I’d forgotten to shave one of my legs, several times in a row, apparently. I could have disintegrated into the tiled floor. Halo of frizzy hair and all.
Carter, on the other hand, looked like a freaking male model because, of course, he did. His toffee-brown hair was perfectly mussed, the only sign he’d recently woken up. Or maybe he’d styled it that way? I couldn’t decide. And he was wearing some sort of tight athletic shirt that was honestlycriminal. It was practically screaming,heylook! Man muscles!And not only was he huge, he had a new scar slashing across one of his eyebrows and a split lip that made me realize those new muscles weren’t just hard-earned, they were a necessity to surviving his new life. I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the way that made me feel. He was allmannow, and his figure was utterly imposing—not his burnt sienna-colored eyes though, they still had that same boyish warmth, still sparkled with those golden flecks of amber and crinkled at the corners—it was at that moment I became acutely aware of every part of my body because I realized I wasstaring, and worse, everybody was watchingmestare athim.Shit.
Carter’s lips quirked across his stubbled jaw, and I quickly pivoted and then realized that gave him a perfect view of my half-covered ass.
Crap. Nowhere to go!
I was in full-out panic as I quickly grabbed a plate, knockingover the napkin holder in my attempt to reach for a piece of French toast with my bare hands.
