I could if I wanted to.But the truth was, that wasn't part of the plan – not thatsheneeded the details.
I almost laughed in her face. "Why not?"
"Because it's a waste and you know it." She was glaring now. "Just be honest. Are you doing this to get back at me?"
I paused.Ather?
What the hell was she talking about?Tomorrow, I'd be sure to find out. But for now, I only shrugged.
She made a sound of disgust. "So youare?" Under her breath, she muttered, "I knew it."
She was wrong.No surprise there.In high school, she'd been wrong about a lot of things.
Even now, it pissed me off. "I never said that. And you're forgetting something."
"What?"
"You owemeanswers, not the other way around."
"But—"
"Forget it," I said. "I'm not telling you jack – not 'til you tell me what you were doing in my shower."
"What do you think I was doing?" she said. "I was showering. What else do people do in there?"
Boy, if that wasn't a loaded question.My lips twitched. "Well, one time, there was this blonde in Milwaukee—"
"Oh shut up," she said. "That was a rhetorical question, and you know it."
"Do I?"
She sighed. "Alright, fine. You want the truth? I was going to crash here for the night. And before I did, I figured I'd just, you know, get cleaned up a little."
I frowned.So she was staying here?
If so, this was a new development. Just yesterday, after we'd closed the deal, I'd been through every inch of this place. And there'd been no Arden Weathers – or anyone else who didn't belong.
I'd dealt with squatters before – vagrants mostly. None of them had showered –orlooked half as good as the girl in front of me.
I shook my head. "So you were squatting."
"I wasn't 'squatting,'" she said. "I was supposed to meet Jason here. And the truth is..." She glanced away. "… well, he didn't show."
I'd seen the texts. "No kidding."
Her gaze narrowed. "And I guess we both know why, huh?"
Ididn't know why, but hell if I'd admit it.
Still, I had a decent guess. The way it sounded, this Jason guy had planned some sort of hookup, maybe a mid-week fling or whatever. And he'd picked this place as the location.
Short-term, it made sense.
The house was big, empty, and right on the beach. Summer was still a few weeks off, but a beach was a beach. And this one was nicer than most.
Still, what a sorry bastard.WhenIhooked up with someone, we didn't do it on the floor of some abandoned house, well, unless she was into that sort of thing.
But Arden – what the hell?
