“It was all true.” He frowned. “Except the ‘Rawhide’ part. I don’t know where that came from.”
How could he stand there blushing and stammering like her sweet snake guy when all evidence pointed to him being Charlie the Casanova instead? Enough of this confusion.
“I’ll help you look for your snake.”
His face lit up. “Really?”
She shrugged, like the Good Samaritan she was pretendingto be. “We should probably start in your room. The scene of the crime.”
“Oh. Good idea.” He stood there, smiling shyly at her.
“I don’t know where it is,” Jean reminded him.
“Right! Sorry.” Charlie spun around so fast it was practically a hop. “This way.”
She followed him up the winding staircase, ignoring his frequent backward glances. What did he have to worry about?Jeanwasn’t the one who made a habit of disappearing.
When they reached his door, Charlie stood aside to let her enter first.
Jean was glad he couldn’t see her face as she got her first look at his childhood bedroom. Not because it was horrifying—the aesthetic was lonely science nerd, as expected—but to keep him from realizing how curious she was about his past.
“I thought you’d have one of those beds shaped like a rocket ship.” She leaned on the corner of his queen-size mattress with the heel of her hand, bouncing a little like she was testing the springs.
Charlie blushed. “I never wanted to be an astronaut.”
“Snakes, snakes, and more snakes, huh?”
“I guess I’m predictable that way.”
She sniffed, moving to the other side of the room to inspect his bookshelf. Lots of nonfiction, the bright yellow spines of National Geographic almanacs and junior encyclopedias interspersed with more serious reference books. Unless he had a stash of comics and dirty magazines under his bed, predictable was not the first word that came to mind. Where other guys might have hung a band poster or something from theSports Illustratedswimsuit issue, Charlie had an old sign for Reptile Gardens Wild Animal Park.
He straightened from checking behind the curtains, watchingher pick up a plastic trophy with a plaque at the bottom engraved with the words,The Hurricanes, Peewee Soccer.
“You played?”
“I was on the team. Technically. Everyone who registered got a trophy.”
Jean was going to ask why he was still hanging on to something that didn’t seem to hold much meaning for him when Charlie spoke again. “My dad was the coach. He thought it would be a fun thing for us to do together.”
“Ah.” Setting down the golden cup, she inspected a Rubik’s cube, a Lego minifig dressed all in green, and a plastic dog that looked like a kid’s meal prize. A rolled sheet of paper caught her eye, tucked behind a set of plastic binoculars. Jean started to reach for it, pulling her hand back when she recognized the Dolphin Bay letterhead.
It was her treasure map. Another souvenir of an encounter that meant about as much to him as a four-pack of chicken nuggets.
“It’s kind of a museum,” Charlie said from the other end of the room. He brushed a layer of dust off a high shelf, then wiped his hand on the back of his pants. “I don’t usually live here.”
“Oh?” She pitched her voice like it was a polite response, not something she was dying to hear more about.
“It’s a pretty out-of-the-way place, as you probably noticed. Good for hiding out—until things die down.”
In what universe would people ever stop caring about Adriana Asebedo’s love life? Unless he planned to lie low at his parents’ house forever, Charlie must have weighed the loss of privacy and decided his sexy songbird was worth the sacrifice.
Jean liked to think she could take Adriana Asebedo in a fair fight. (For Charlie’s affections, that is—everyone knew the singer studied Muay Thai.) But surely there was more to life than beingglamorous and jaw-droppingly successful. Jean had plenty of things to bring to the table. She was unpredictable, for starters. Full of sudden impulses.
“I already checked under the bed,” Charlie said when she headed in that direction.
“What aboutinthe bed?” Jean kicked off her shoes before throwing back the neatly arranged covers. Dropping onto the mattress, she pulled the sheet over her head. It took some writhing, but eventually she managed to pull her dress off and shove it to one side.
“Are you okay?” Charlie asked, as she divested herself of lingerie.
