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“Not a problem. I hope the rest of the weekend is less eventful.”

Rosie and I traded fist bumps, then she hugged her uncle before taking Isaac’s hand and following him back inside.

“I can walk you to your room.” Everett’s face was carefully blank.

My nerves jumped. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“And why would it be bad?” His eyebrows rose a little, but that was the only change.

“Discretion?”

“We’re friends, Tink. It would probably be stranger if we went separate ways.”

I swallowed hard. Walking anywhere with Everett would be hard from now on. I felt him everywhere. I yearned to touch him. Being separated physically hurt.

But I wasn’t ready for the attention. I wanted—needed—time to learn what this was between us.

If it was more than some chemical reactions that would fizzle out or something more. “Then walk me to my room.” Maybe I agreed because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye.

Or maybe I knew exactly what would happen when we got to my door. I wasn’t exactly in an ideal frame of mind to understand why I made the decisions I made.

All I knew was when I opened my door I didn’t object when Everett stepped inside behind me and closed the door.

13

EVERETT

Was this wise? Probably not. Did I care? Not even a little bit. There was a schedule somewhere with my name on it. I was probably supposed to be in a yoga session or a teambuilding stunt of some kind.

I didn’t care.

“What are you doing?” Willa whispered.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” I stepped closer.

She paused halfway to the bed.

“It looks like you’re confused about where your room is.”

“This could be my room.”

Her eyes widened. “Everett. We agreed.”

“To keep it quiet. I don’t see anyone else in here, do you?”

Her shoulders sagged. “Your persistence was a lot more fun when it wasn’t directed at me.” She looked like a caged cat who’d gone slightly mad in the attempt to break out of the cage and had now resigned to hiding in the corner.

Whether Willa realized it or not, she needed to be touched. So I cupped her face, turning it up to mine so I could have all her attention. “You love my persistence. Especially now. Don’t lie.”

“I just…need to catch…my breath. And I can’t do that with you so close!”

I wrapped my other arm around her waist and held her to me. “Maybe getting closer is the solution. You’re all up in your head, worrying about things, thinking about too much, let me remind you that there’s some definite positives to being with me.”

“What if someone hears us?”

“Hears you. No one can see who is in here with you. All they can do is guess. And most likely they’ll guess you found a nice man to have some fun with. You are a beautiful young woman, Willa, or did you forget?”

“We have places to be.”