“I’m so glad to meet you. Come on. Let’s go catch up on everything before Miles gets home,” Ainsley says. She’s so genuinely warm that I just smile and follow her into the living room.
She has to be Miles’s girlfriend. The way she’s seems acquainted with the house. The way she acts like she belongs here. And there’s something familiar about her. Maybe she’s in one of the pictures lining the hallway.
I feel like an intruder. Why didn’t he tell me he had a girlfriend? I mean, it seems like something you would warn a roommate about. Like,Oh yeah, my girlfriend pops by randomly…but noooo, he didn’t warn me.
There’s still a hard knot in my stomach at the thought.
“Cheers to getting to meet the elusive roommate!” Ainsley says as she lifts her own mug and then takes a seat on the center corner of the L-shaped couch.
“Cheers to—” I lift an eyebrow as I finally smell what’s in the mug. “Did you make a hot toddy?”
She blushes. “I should have asked first, I guess. If you’d rather have some hot tea, I still have the water hot in the kitchen!” She jumps up as though she’s going to run and fix her mistake.
I take a long sip of the drink, then chuckle. “I think we’re best friends now.”
Ainsley sinks back down onto the couch with a bright smile. “Good. I sure hope so.”
“So…do you live in town here?”
“No, I live over in Bend actually. I came over to convince Miles to get married.”
I spew hot toddy all over my sweats and have to catch the dribble on my chin with my sleeve.
Ainsley is taking a long sip from her cup, and before I can ask for more details about Miles’s impending engagement. I hear a thump, a yelp, beeping, and then the door swings open.
“How did your shoes get so wet?” Miles asks as his eyes lock onto mine.
He steps inside and slips on the wet drips I haven’t had a chance to mop up yet. His tennis shoe connects with the water bottle, and he yells out a curse as he catches himself against the wall.
“You trying to kill me?” he mutters.
“That depends…”
He smirks and opens his mouth to fire back some snarky reply, I’m sure, but he freezes when his eyes land on the other woman in the living room.
“Ainsley?” His face drains of color.
“Miles.” Her expression can only be described as pure evil.
“What are you doing in my living room?”
Is she a stalker ex? Maybe that explains the casual reference to marriage. What the?—
“Just visiting my big brother. Something wrong with that?” She sips slowly from the mug.
It takes that long for her words to register.
“Brother?” I say.
Miles looks at me sharply. “What did you think she was?”
“Fiancée?”
Ainsley tosses her head back and laughs. Miles slips off his shoes and slides them into the cubby under the bench.
He walks into the living room and pauses in front of me. His eyes land on the mug in my hands. I give him a sheepish smile.
His hand wraps around mine as he bends down and takes a sip from the mug. My breath hitches as he leans over me. I can smell a soft hint of his cologne. His eyes meet mine, and I stare into their green depths.
