A month later
Delicious Dimples:
We’re here. Are you ready?
Me:
Why don’t you get in here and find out?
Sassy today. I like it.
I sashay to the front door, watching for him through the peephole. Although most of the people involved in the STK casino crime ring are either dead or arrested, I’m still a bit jumpy when I’m alone. After today, my short stint at solo living will come to an end.
Not because Kenzie’s coming back. She was arrested, and although she made bail, she’s got an ankle monitor and has to stay at her mom’s house. She’s effectively grounded.Interestingly enough, I believe it’s the only time in her life that’s happened.
As of today, Reed and I will be cohabitating. I broke the lease on the apartment, and am willingly moving to his penthouse in the sky.
Well, an average condo on the fifth floor. Whatever.
I bounce on my toes when I see Reed bopping up the sidewalk to my front door. He’s ina T-shirt with FBI written across the chest in huge block letters.Odd. He doesn’t tend to broadcast that.
Rather than opening the door for him, I opt to wait for his knock. Just to see if he knows how.
It’s never been his strong suit.
Knock, knock.
My head kicks back in shock. “Perhaps he can be domesticated,” I joke with myself, sadly, no fun ghosts around to laugh with me.
Flinging open the door, I leap into his arms. Since I conked out last night while packing, it’s been forty-two days since I’ve seen him. Or about twelve hours. Same difference.
“Hi, dimples,” I squeal, squeezing him with all my might.I’m hit with a whiff of a new fragrance. Spicy and woodsy. “You smell... nice. Different, but nice.”
His hug isn’t quite the same either. Nary a butt squeeze in sight.
Withdrawing from the embrace, I squint at him through suspicious eyes. “Oh, for Pete’s sake.”
I smack the firm chest of the man who is definitelynotmy Reed, then put my fists on my hips. “Seriously, Sawyer?”
It’s then that I notice the fine print on his shirt that says:Female body inspector.
Reed reveals himself, trudging from the shrubs like a reverse Homer Simpson gif. “I told you she wouldn’t fall for it.”
Sawyer shrugs. “Not my fault that you look haggard as hell from those bargain basement skin products you use.”
Turns out, Reed’s twin has expensive tastes. Everything from beauty aids to kitchen appliances. And he’s proud to death of them. Just ask, and he’ll tell you what to buy in any given situation. Read his book if you don’t believe me.
Myhandsome man rolls his eyes, striding toward me to wrap me in his arms. While hugging me, he teases his brother. “Oh, sorry. I was raised by wolves, and we didn’t bathe in minerals from the Dead Sea.” He peppers a row of kisses along the curve of my neck before releasing me.
“A better brand of facial cleanser will go a long way,” Sawyer insists. “I’d be happy to give you some suggestions. What do you use now?”
“He doesn’t use a facial cleanser,” I interject. “Just regular soap.”
In the showy fashion I’m rapidly growing accustomed to, Sawyer pantomimes a knife plunging into his chest.Then he gasps for air, stumbling over the boxes until he collapses onto the couch. After a dramatic pause, he shudders out his last breath as his hand plops like a dead weight to the floor.
And the curtain closes on another fabulous performance.
Needless to say, Perry—or Sawyer as I’m being forced to call him by threat of violence—got the overacting genes.
