“Did you go home with someone last night?” her mom asks suspiciously.
“No, Mom,” Tally huffs in annoyance. “I stayed at Penny’s after we went out.”
“I already talked to Penny. She said you left before her and she hasn’t seen you.”
“Traitor,” Tally mouths, and I chuckle.
Tally leans up and smacks a hand over my lips, her eyes like saucers.
“Oh my God, Tally, are you still in bed with the stranger?”
“Not a stranger,” she grinds out.
“Eli, then?” Her mom sounds almost excited, and my entire body goes rigid.
Tally shakes her head and runs her fingers against my lips, like she’s smoothing my frown. “Mom.”
“Well, who is it?”
I realize in that moment that I’m not only hearing her mother through the phone. I shift off Tally, and she grabs the sheets, covering herself. “Mom, where are you?”
“Walking out by the fields, looking for Walker. I can’t find him anywhere. Figured I’d check the cottage he’s been fixing up for his sister.”
“He’s what?” Tally grits out, glaring at me.
Oh shit.
“I’ll talk to you later,” her mother says before the pounding on the front door of the cottage starts.
“Go,” Tally says, pushing me out of bed.
“Go where?” I whisper.
Tally wraps the sheet around her and steers me toward the door. “Go talk to my mother. She can’t know I’m here.”
“Walker! Are you here?”
Annoyed, I stomp to the door and almost swing it open before realizing I’m still naked. But I’m too late because Gail’s already seen the knob turning and pushes it open. I snag the first thing I see, a pillow on the couch, and cover myself.
“Oh my God, are you—”
I hold up a hand. “Just getting dressed. I slept out here.”
“Why?”
Why did I sleep here? Well, because I was fucking your daughter senseless until five in the morning. “Tally brought someone home.”
Gail face drains of color. “Oh, Walker, I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to her.That girl.”
She tsks and I hold up a hand once again, not wanting to continue this conversation. Not just because I’m naked. But because if she says anything negative about Tally, I might lose it.
I’d never raise my voice to a woman, but if anyone makes Tally feel bad after everything I learned last night, we’re going to have a problem.
“It’s fine. She’s a grown woman. She can do what she wants.”
“I’d rather she didn’t bring strange men into my house.”
“It was a woman.”
