“You, sleeping next door to four hotter-than-shit young women. You’ll have them all to yourself while I go and see my parents.”
“I’m only interested in one of them.”
“You’re only pretending to be interested in one of them.”
Gunner had it wrong, but if Razor admitted exactly how interested he really was in Ava, he knew his friend would go straight to Doc, and maybe even Striker, and tell them that he’d already crossed the line and wasn’t fit for this assignment.
“I gotta get back to the cottage. She’s going to call me there.”
“Roger that,” said Gunner, raising his glass of beer. “Wait,” he said when Razor turned to leave.
“Yeah?”
“Be careful, Raze.”
—:—
Penelope and Tara were sitting on the floor of the cottage’s main room, talking to Aine when Ava walked in.
“Holy shit,” exclaimed Pen. “What is going on with you and Tabon?”
Ava brought her fingertips to her lips, remembering the way he’d kissed her earlier. “I’m not sure.”
“Where is he?”
“Um…waiting to hear from me.”
“About what?”
Ava looked at her sister. “You k
now how we’ve been talking about spending another week or two here?”
“We are too,” said Pen.
“He’s offered us a place to stay.”
“Us or you?” asked Tara.
“Us. He has a duplex in a place called Cambria.”
“That’s where Quinn was for a while,” said Aine. “She said it’s really beautiful.”
“Anyway, he said we could stay in one side of it.”
“Where will he be?” asked Pen.
“The other side.”
“Oh. That’s disappointing. He didn’t invite you to stay with him?”
“I think it’s what he wanted, but I would’ve said no.”
“Why?” asked Tara.
“How embarrassing would it be if he kicked me out the first night, after he was done with me.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Pen, needlessly over-enunciating every word.