Page 258 of Masters of Secrets

“No, I’m— Ah!” His words cut off as she lifted the hose and put her thumb over the nozzle, turning it from a steady flow to a spray that she could direct—straight at him. “Amy!”

He dropped the clippers and came at her while she shrieked and backed up, still sending the spray at him, soaking him completely. Now, he was holding his arms up in front of him to keep the water out of his eyes while Amy cackled. Suddenly, he went from taking one slow, solid step forward to surging at her. She shrieked, stumbling backward, and he caught her around her middle, lifting her up and over his shoulder.

“Got ya!”

Amy squealed as his hand came down hard on her upturned bottom, accidentally dropping the hose. Oops.

“I’m sorry!”

“No, you’re not.”

Well, she sort of was, now that she was getting wet, thanks to being over his shoulder and the fact that he was completely soaked. She was getting soaked by proximity.

“I was just trying to help!”

“No, you weren’t— Oh, shit.”

Oh, shit, what? Amy tried to push herself to the side so she could see whatever it was Zach was saying ‘oh, shit’ about, but she was moving through the air and back on her feet so fast, she almost fell over. Zach caught her by her arm, and she could feel the rigid tension in his fingers.

She turned to see what he was looking at—a man and a woman had just parked on the street and were getting out of the car. The woman was beaming at Zach. The man… well, he looked just like Zach but older with salt and pepper hair.

His parents?

“Zach! Hello!” The woman rushed toward them. Her hair was a coppery red with highlights shimmering throughout, her makeup perfectly done, and her classy outfit made Amy feel incredibly underdressed. Glancing down, she hastily pulled the front of her shirt away from her breasts, where it was clinging. “Oh my goodness, this must be your girlfriend Krista told us about!”

Amy opened her mouth to correct the woman, but Zach suddenly pulled her against him, his arm going around her, fingers digging into her shoulder.

“Yes, this is my girlfriend, Amy.”

What. The. Fuck.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Zach

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

He was panicking, and he knew it, but he didn’t know what else to do. The words were out of his mouth before he could think about them. Before he could stop them. He didn’t do well on his feet.

Krista had told his parents he had a girlfriend? Was that what she’d said? No, she wouldn’t have told them that. Whatever she’d said to his mom, his mom had misinterpreted.

And now he’d just introduced Amy as his girlfriend.

Fuck.

She’d gone still beside him, but at least she hadn’t immediately contradicted him and told his mom that he’d just lied to her.

“Oh, it’s so nice to meet you!” His mom held her hand out to Amy, who took it, smiling weakly. “Oh, you’re so pretty! Isn’t she pretty, Stuart?”

“Last time I told you another woman was pretty, I had to hear about it for a year, so I’m just going to keep quiet this time,” his dad said cheerfully, coming up behind his mom. He eyed Zach. “No offense, but I’ll skip the hug this time, son.”

Both of them were dressed for church, which they must have just come from.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, feeling a little desperate. He needed to know what they wanted so he could make them leave. Immediately. Preferably before Kincaid got back. Fuck. Forget sweating over the bushes; he was pretty sure the wetness on his skin was no longer due to the water Amy had just sprayed him with. He was leaking nerves out of every single one of his pores.

“Oh, you didn’t get my text? I was going through the back closet when I found a box of your books this morning, and I remembered you telling me that you were looking for one of them a few months ago.” His mom turned to frown at his dad. “Stuart, you didn’t bring the books.”

“Well, I wanted to come meet Zach’s girlfriend first.” His dad grinned at Amy, who smiled back weakly. “I’m Stuart, Zach’s dad. Did Lauren introduce herself?”