“Good man.” Dad winks. “Thanks.”
“Well, you did give me a car…” I joke.
He laughs with me, and even Belle and Mom smile.
I suddenly walk away from dinner feeling a bit more light-hearted than I did this morning and this afternoon.
Maybe I should be trying harder and not trying to make everything about me.
Belle follows me up the stairs and into the theater room; still in the dress, I can’t stop staring at it, wondering how the hell Hailey would have ever looked even a quarter as good in it.
Maybe I bought it for the right person all along—maybe it was just bad timing.
I quickly turn on something random and realize it’s the last Star Trek movie I’d been watching on repeat. I can’t remember the name of it, but clearly, Belle does because she does a little gasp and then admits. “My only dream is to go to comic con.”
She covers her mouth and shakes her head.
I actually laugh out loud. “Ah, closet nerd. Nice.”
“Yeah, hanging out with the lacrosse captain… nice.”
“Deserved that.” I admit hanging my head.
“Yup.” She leans against the leather couch, and I fight not to stare down the front of her dress like a creeper. “So, what kind of fresh hell am I going to be put through tomorrow?”
“Oh, well…” I walk over to the mini bar. “That’s gonna take a quick drink.”
“Underage drinking post wine at dinner, how very rebellious of you.”
“Yes, I’m so rebellious. I wear a tie to school every day, joined every club in existence, including fencing, and have to be the student body president my Senior year while everyone else is out living their lives… soooo rebellious, one shot of whiskey.”
I quickly make her one and clink our glasses together.
We both take it.
And then it’s quiet, the movie is in the background, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to burn down my school or my house. I want to drive her tomorrow in that car. I want to show her off. I want her to smile more and more and more. Maybe it’s a penance from my own guilty conscience.
“So classes…” I grab my phone and then frown. “You’re basically in all of mine, so no problem.”
“How do you know?” She frowns. “You don’t know my last name or—“
I show her my phone. “Mom already sent it to us, or did you forget you had a phone?”
She blushes. “Didn’t really have any pockets in this dress.”
“Mmmm.” I nod. “I can see that.”
Her eyes flash up at me.
I back off instantly. “We should go to bed.” Her eyes widen. “No, no, no, no, not like no, not like that, we should separately go to sleep; school starts at 7:45.”
“Why so early?” She whines.
“Because sports are equally important as well as extracurricular, so they want us out of class by 2:40.”
She makes a face.
“Yeah.” I sigh. “Believe me, I know. Now set that fancy new phone to get you up on time to put on a new uniform one of the maids is probably already ironing, and get some rest.”
“And if I can’t sleep?” she asks.
I gulp. “There’s always the workout room.”
She elbows me.
I laugh and stumble against her as we walk down the hall and part as we go to our rooms.
I try not to stare too hard as she slowly closes her door.
I’m awake for another two hours before I can finally close my eyes.
And when I do.
I see a black dress.
And her eating a roll.
Chapter Four
Mary-Belle
I have a hard time sleeping.
I keep thinking about him and then feeling dumb because I’ve known him for less than twenty-four hours.
When I finally do go to sleep, I dream about school uniforms and this weird new foster brother situation.
And mainly.
I dream of Ambrose.
I dream of him.
When my alarm on my phone wakes me up, it takes me a minute to actually realize where I’m at and what I’m supposed to do.
Go to a brand-new prep school with a hot guy I’m not supposed to even find hot, who weirdly made me think he’s not the worst person on the planet, last minute.
I yawn, finally get out of bed, and walk to the closest bathroom I can find, my eyes still blurry from sleep.
I open the door to the bathroom and stumble into the heat, wait, why is it hot? I frown and turn around. The door was and still is from the hallway. Huh?
I’m still confused when Ambrose walks out of the shower, looking like a Greek god.
He’s completely naked.
His eyebrows raise, so do his hands, and good lord so does something else—something huge. “Uhmmmm.”
I cover my face with my hands. “I’m so sorry; I just walked to the closest bathroom.”
“Like the one connected to my room?” His voice is deep and sexy. What the hell am I getting into here?
“Yeah.” I gulp, needing to turn around and leave but afraid to uncover my eyes.
“I’m covered now,” he whispers. I can almost taste his toothpaste as he grabs my hands and pulls them down.
I must be seeing things because he’s looking at me like he needs my mouth for breakfast, not eggs.
I have a brief scenario in my head where he shoves me against the counter, and then I think I’m losing my mind.
With a bright smile, he says, “You okay?”
“Yeah, great, so great, awesome, totally perfect, you?” Too many words, damn it.
“Good, I just have one question.” His abs are perfection. His towel isn’t tight enough around his lean waist.
“What?” I try to sound normal, but my breath comes out raspy.
His smile broadens. “How much will you hate me if I make this morning a bit better?”
“How would you do that?” I ask.
He smirks, and I notice a small dimple on his right cheek. “Such a dangerous question, Belle.”
He lifts me up onto the bathroom counter before I can say anything, and then his eyes ask it all—is this okay. His hands don’t grab me, they pull back.
“I don’t know,” I finally say, still processing the fact that this guy is in front of me, slightly wet, looking like a hot snack I want to devour.
We barely know each other!
And maybe that’s part of the appeal.
I lick my lips.
He stares at my mouth. “I’m probably going to steal that lick now.”
“And if I say yes?”
His smile is so sexy I want to clench my legs. “I might say yes.”
“You a virgin?” he asks.
I shake my head.
He leans in until his mouth presses against mine. “Good.”
And then I’m lost.
I’m lost in the heat of his kiss, the heat of his body, and the way his towel seems to also be too much as his body presses into me. “You dirty?”
“What?”
He sounds like he’s almost growling as he pushes me into the shower and runs the hot water down my body. I gasp as his mouth tries to capture each drop.
His hips move against mine.
“What are we doing?” I ask.