“Are you sure you don’t want help, Mrs. Halle?” Nick asks.
“Oh Nick, call me Samantha,” she says, swatting his arm, and I swear I see her blush. Glad I’m not the only one who seems affected by his charm. They exit the dining room, and suddenly, we’re alone. I say the only thing I can think of.
“Want a tour?” I ask. He just smiles, and he doesn’t remove his arm from my chair.
“Of course,” he says. He’s in a really good mood.
I stand up and walk over to where Bria and Elijah are seated.
“This is the living room,” I say, and neither of them looks up. I walk over to the kitchen, where my mother and father are doing the dishes. “Kitchen.” I go over to the staircase and point upstairs. “Bedrooms.”
“Scintillating,” he says, and there’s a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He’s still wearing a suit from one of his meetings, and he loosens his tie. I swallow—now I can’t stop staring at his throat, and how much I want to kiss it. “Can I see your bedroom?” he asks, and it’s an innocent-enough question, but for some reason my stomach clenches nervously.
“Sure!” I say sweetly, as if he’s a family friend or something. Except he’s not. He’s Nick. We walk up the stairs, and I turn to the right, entering the smallest bedroom in the house. “Ta-da!” I flip the light switch on, and he takes in my childhood room.
“Nice. Very Evi,” he says. I assume he means because it’s kind of girly. He goes to sit down on my bed, and he looks around. “I feel like you once had a Beauty and the Beast poster up in here.”
I laugh. “Caught me.”
He smiles and gets up. He comes over to where I’m standing by the door, and my breath hitches in my throat.
It must be because I haven’t seen him in days, or because this is the first time we’ve really been alone since the Truth or Dare game. But I swear, the effect he has on me is getting worse and worse.
“Do you want to go on a walk, Evianna?”
“A-a walk?” I stutter.
“Yes. A walk. You can show me the neighborhood.”
“Oh. Why?” He just cocks his head to the side. I clear my throat. “I just mean, why do you want to see my neighborhood?”
He puts his hand to his mouth and looks away, as if deep in thought.
“Consider it your background check, I guess.”
I don’t argue. I just turn the light off and walk down the stairs. My knees are wobbly, so I clutch the rail tightly.
“Mom! We’re going on a walk!” I shout. I walk over to the door quickly, before she can say anything, but we’re not quick enough.
“A walk?” she says, peeking her head out from the kitchen.
“A tour of the neighborhood,” I say through my teeth.
She looks between Nick and I, and I can tell that she wants to say something more. But she doesn’t. She just nods.
“Very well. I’ll keep an eye on Bria, Nick.”
“I think she’s too absorbed to go anywhere,” he says, pointing to Bria cuddled up next to Elijah. She’s enraptured in the story, clearly. She doesn’t even notice us.
“Have fun, kids,” she says with a roguish smile.
I open the door and walk out quickly before anyone else can embarrass me further. As we walk down the street on the narrow sidewalk, Nick speaks.
“I like your parents,” he says, and he looks forward as we walk. I clutch my arms around me. I forgot my jacket, and it’s gotten chilly. The pink sky is beautiful—I love sunsets in Seattle. It must be the clean air, because I swear, the sunsets are so colorful and vivid.
“I like them, too. Sometimes.” I look at him playfully.
“Thanks for having us,” he says, putting his hands in his pockets. I keep my gaze downcast, but I feel his eyes on me. “You cold?”