When she was out of laundry to wash, she did the sheets and blankets next, stripping each bed and keeping herself busy. Daphne rolled her eyes at Audrey’s industriousness, a cigarette hanging from her lips as she studied her cards.
She could have sworn that Reese was smiling to himself when she passed by with a blanket, though, and had to hurry out of the room before that blush threatened to turn her face cherry red. She was so freaking obvious sometimes.
After the laundry was done, she made sandwiches for dinner (since she was still having to pretend that she was the master chef in their little domicile) and then headed upstairs for a long, leisurely shower. She wanted to smell clean and delicious for their meeting tonight. Audrey borrowed Daphne’s expensive soaps and shampoos, and then took her time shaving. She considered the mound of her pubic hair for a moment. Would she shock Reese by going bare? She stared at her razor, thinking, then changed her mind. She wasn’t going to change who she was to impress a man. So she simply tidied things up and then headed into the room she shared with Daphne, lounging on the bed as she read one of her romance novels and painted her toenails and fingernails a pale nude.
The blanket she’d promised to bring that night? Audrey stashed it under the bed in preparation, and then dressed in her matching bra and underwear, wishing she’d brought something sexy. Heck, that she owned something sexy.
Eventually, day passed into night and everyone retired sometime around ten. Daphne chatted with Audrey as they readied for bed, her twin seemingly more animated than she had been in days. The horrible shakes were going away, as was the constant vomiting. She was pale but no longer that sickly seeming greenish shade that had worried Audrey. And if she smoked like a chimney? Well, that was all right. Smoking was a bit easier to quit than coke and Xanax, after all. She was down to a half a pill a night, thanks to Cade’s careful planning and repeated consultations with his on-call doctor, and soon she’d be off the Xanax for sure. Her progress made Audrey happy, though she was concerned that Daphne would backslide as soon as they turned around. What would happen when she returned to LA and the fast-paced lifestyle she was accustomed to? Her twin didn’t seem like a changed person.
But she couldn’t worry about that right now.
They went to bed and Audrey lay next to her sister, trying to make her breathing seem slow and regular. In reality, her pulse was racing, her mind wide awake. She was going to have sex with Reese Durham. That thought alone was enough to keep her body wound up to a fever pitch of anticipation. Hell, she was pretty sure she was wet simply thinking about how the evening would go. She’d mentally pictured it at least a dozen times already that day. Reese pushing her up against a tree and f**king her. Reese laying her down on the blanket and making exquisitely slow love to her. Reese flipping her over for doggy-style sex. Laying atop of Reese for sixty-nine.
Okay, this wasn’t helping her pulse slow down any. Audrey locked her fingers over her chest and pretended to sleep, exquisitely aware of her twin in bed next to her. It took seemingly forever for Daphne’s breathing to slow down and become even, small snores escaping her throat. She lay there, still, waiting for her to slide into deep slumber. And all the while, she’d peek over and glance at the alarm clock, waiting for midnight.
Ten thirty.
Eleven.
Eleven fifteen.
Eleven twenty.
Good Lord. Audrey was practically fidgeting as she stared at the clock. Time seemed to slow, and then speed up again.
Eleven fifty-five.
Eleven fifty-nine.
Twelve.
It was twelve. Time to go. She swallowed hard, suddenly nervous, and turned to glance at sleeping Daphne. Her twin was huddled on the edge of the bed, wrapped in the blankets, clutching her pillow. Her sleep was peaceful, her breathing regular. Good.
With exquisite slowness, Audrey slid out from under the covers, and then carefully rolled out of bed, one twitching, screaming muscle at a time. Then, she carefully pulled out the quilt she’d put aside for that night and zipped up a hoodie over her pajamas. Blanket in hand, she tiptoed out of the room, feeling very much like a naughty teenager on her way to sneak out and meet her boyfriend for illicit sex.
Except she’d never done that as a teenager. She’d always covered for Daphne.
This wasn’t naughtiness, she assured herself as she shut the door to their shared room and then crept down the stairs. No one was awake or in the living room, so she headed outside, carefully shutting the door behind her like she was an old pro at sneaking out to meet men. Audrey headed down to the dock, the evening quiet and brisk around her. It was still. Almost too still. And that meant her thoughts were loud in her own head.
Not naughtiness, she told herself again. It was more like . . . scratching an itch. No one would ever know that she’d had sex with Reese, she’d get him out of her system, and then she’d go back to her sad, endless crush on Cade.
Strange how she hadn’t given that much thought while she’d been here at the cabin with him. She frowned, smoothing a hand over the blanket. She was just too distracted, she decided. First by the fact that her twin was here and in trouble, and then with Reese constantly flirting and challenging her. She didn’t have as much time to spend with Cade as she’d hoped. Still, this was a reunion of sorts, and she imagined they’d be closer than they were before when everyone returned to their regular lives. That would be a good thing.
Except at that point, she’d have slept with his best friend. And he’d caught them skinny-dipping together. He wasn’t likely to forget that. A sick pit formed in her stomach. Was her fling with Reese going to torpedo her chances with Cade for forevermore? Did she want to do this? She hesitated, glancing around the silent, dark living room as she waited for Reese. The playboy. The user of women. The one who was totally and completely wrong for her in every way that Cade was so very right for her.
Maybe this was a mistake after all. She should turn right around and head back up to bed. Leave him hanging and pretend like this never happened.
She had almost made her mind up to do exactly that when one of the boards creaked behind her, and then a warm back pressed against her own. One hand circled around to her front, cupping one of her heavy br**sts, his thumb stroking over the nipple through the fabric. “Hello, sexy,” Reese murmured in her ear, and then his tongue lightly traced the shell of it as his thumb rubbed a circle over her now-hard nipple. “Am I glad to see you.”