Chapter 14
Brooke
* * *
Iwoke up in the bath.
I was face down in the tub with a blanket pulled over me.
First I struggled to open my eyes, and then my brain felt weird, like someone had been scraping it with one of those steel wool scouring pads.
Why am I in the tub?
God, my head.
Sitting up was a terrible idea because my head felt like it was going to fall off and explode.
I looked around me. The window was wide open, letting in the swishing sound of the wind in the trees. The bright sunlight bounced on the white tiled walls over the sink and created a glare on the mirror.
It looked like it could be around midday, but I couldn’t be certain—I wasn’t certain of anything. I ran my hands through my hair and my fingers got stuck in the matted mess. I dreaded to think what I looked like.
Closing my eyes, I searched my mind for my memories. I remembered the strong desire to forget, but also the strong desire to remember one thing, something important.
It didn’t take long for that thing to pop into my mind.
Kissing Ryan.My eyes sprang open and I gasped, covering my mouth.
Oh my God, what did I do?I looked down at myself and saw I was fully dressed—dressed in the same clothes I’d worn the day before, the same baby blue camisole top, wraparound skirt, and mismatched undies I’d gone on and on about.
Everything I’d said to him flooded my mind, and my skin heated at the memory of the kiss.
He’d kissed me. He’d actually kissed me, and he hadn’t said no.
What should I think that meant? It hadn’t been just any old kiss either, and hell, it wasn’t the sort you could forget either.
I couldn’t even lie to myself and say I didn’t like it, or that I didn’t want him.
Drunk as I’d been, I’d known I wanted him.
I was the kind of drunk who spoke the truth when plastered. That was why I kept drinking to a minimum and only ever had a sex on the beach mixed with a screaming orgasm. Those drinks mostly had fruit with the alcohol to give it a kick.
The previous night, however, I’d drunk serious shit designed to wipe the brain of all one’s problems and make you believe you were someone else—someone else who wanted to devour her hot next-door neighbor.
I really did know how to accelerate my problems.
Damn it.
The memory of kissing Ryan would never leave me, and I had to admit I didn’t want it to.
Unfortunately, the memories of what had driven me to the bar in the first place filled my mind too:Sally and Perry.
I’d been pulled from the assignment. Pulled, as in I wasn’t doing it. Pulled, as in I wouldn’t be writing the exclusive on Sally for the magazine.
Pulled, as in I might only have a few days left here.
Here in the house I’d gotten comfortable in, the house that was next door to the super hot man I’d kissed the night before and his daughter, who I adored.
The tears that should have come the previous day now spilled down my cheeks.
