“What if Scott was a gentleman and slepton the couch?”
Laughing, Charlotte said, “Please, this room reeks of sex. Don’t try and deny it.”
“How do you know what sex smells like?” She and Charlotte were close but Heather liked to keep her sex life private. Especially since Charlotte was four years younger than her.
“I’m not a little girl anymore, Heather.”
“You’re onlytwenty-three.”
Lifting her nose in the air Charlotte sniffed, ignoring Heather’s words. “And it’s strong. You guys must have done it at leasttwice, right?”
More heat rose to her face.
“Three times?” Charlotte’s voice rosein excitement.
“We were going for four when you got here. Although the first time was in the kitchen.”
Charlotte pretended to swoon then fanned her face. “With the color of your face, I’m assuming it was good.”
“That’s none of your business, little sister. Now we should probably go and rescue Scott from Mom and Dad.”
A thoughtful look crossed her sister’s face. “Dad will be cross-examining him on his intentions toward you. Mom will be having an apoplectic fit because Scott doesn’t have the right breeding and manners.”
“Too bad for both of them. It’s our lives and we can decide what wewant from it.”
Charlotte stopped her before she opened the bedroom door. “And what do you want?”
With Scott, she didn’t know. That would have to play out in real time. “I wantmy house back.”
“I’m so sorry, sweetness,” Charlotte said, as she wrapped her arms around Heather’s waist. “I was trying to keep yourmind off that.”
“I know.” She nodded.
Their parents were sitting at the dining table with coffee cups and cinnamon rolls in front of them when they came out of the bedroom. Heather poured a cup, grabbed a piece of pastry, and sat with them. Charlotte nosed around the kitchen.
“Where’s Scott?”
Her mother pointed to the bathroom. “He’s taking a shower.”
The water wasn’t running so he must be done. Which meant he’d be coming out any second with a towel wrapped around his gorgeous body. Good thing Charlotte was in the kitchen. Heather had seen how her younger sister ogled him when they first got here and he was bare chested.
The bathroom door opened and Scott came out, fully dressed, a pair of light brown Carhartts paired with ablack T-shirt.
“Where—?” she began, tilting her head in question.
“I had clean clothesin the dryer.”
His hair had been hastily rubbed with a towel and the waves stood out in a few spots. She wanted to run her fingers through it, push it back into place. Having her parents here prohibited that, for now. Perhaps at some pointin the future.
“Have they figured out what caused your house to explode?” her dad asked, setting his coffee cup down on the table.
“Scott and I smelled gas right before it happened. There must have been a leak.” How much did she want to tell her parents about what had been happening? They knew there’d been a few paperwork snafus, but she hadn’t confided the rest because she didn’t wantto worry them.
“Whenever you’re ready, we can bring you home.” Her mother took a dainty sip from her coffee. The large ceramic mug looked out of place in Nicoletta Silva’s hand. She was used to fine china or porcelain.
“I need to check in at the office then do some errands.” She’d lost everything in that explosion. Where didshe even start?
“I can drive you around,” Charlotte offered. “You can even stay with me at my apartment if you want.”
