Looking for Trouble (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 1)

Alex glanced at the box full of albums and counted at least six. Were they all the same? Places she wanted to go, things she wanted to do? Why was she making these scrapbooks instead of just getting in her car and going to Florida or West Virginia or any other place she could drive to?

Just as he was reaching to draw another book from the box, the water shut off and he jerked his hand back. Looking at an album on the table was one thing, but digging through boxes was a whole other. She’d said he could spend the night, not investigate her life.

Alex finished his beer and went to set it by the sink and grab another. By the time she came out, wearing a little pink nightgown that ended just beneath her ass, Alex was dead tired.

“Want to watch TV in bed?” she asked, her voice sounding almost hesitant in a way that made him grin.

“Hell, yes,” he answered. He toed off his boots while she turned off lights, then stripped down to his briefs and joined her in bed. It wasn’t very big, so they had to stay close. He wrapped his arm around her and she snuggled close.

“Thanks for letting me crash,” he said.

She smiled up at him. “No problem. I wanted more later anyway.”

More. All right. Then he didn’t need to ask if he’d been too rough or demanding. She wanted more. He’d do his best to give it.

They settled in as if they’d always fit together. Alex fell asleep to the sound of her laughter and the faint flicker of the TV playing against his eyelids. Despite the old bed and the television playing, it felt nothing like falling asleep in a hotel room. Nothing at all.

CHAPTER TEN

“HEY, GIRL!” LAUREN called through the front window. “I brought cinnamon rolls!”

Sophie froze and stared bug-eyed at the front door. The blinds were drawn over the window next to it, thank God, but Lauren knew Sophie was home. Her car was under the carport. Shit.

Alex was still in the shower. She could probably get rid of Lauren in a few minutes. And at least she’d showered and dressed after she’d climbed off Alex that morning.

Sophie tiptoed toward the door, even as she wondered why the hell she was tiptoeing.

“Hi!” She meant to keep Lauren in the doorway, but Sophie had never kept her out before and Lauren just walked on in without an invitation. Sophie had never had to keep her out before. She didn’t bring men home. She didn’t let them hang out and raise suspicions. She went to their hotel rooms instead.

“Here,” Lauren said, holding out the tray.

“Your mom is still here?” Sophie asked, taking the tray of cinnamon rolls. They were still warm and she moaned as the scent finally hit her.

“You don’t think I made cinnamon rolls from scratch, do you? Mom is baking and I figured you could use some cheering up.”

“Buying my emotions with sugar. You know me well.”

“Yeah, it was a really brutal quest for the truth. Anyway, it’s in the paper.”

This time her moan had nothing to do with deliciousness. “The lawsuit?”

“Yes. Your copy was in the drive. I left it on the porch in case you wanted to ignore it for a while.”

“God, I wish I could. Maybe there was a freak windstorm that blew most of the newspapers away before people could read them.”

Lauren nodded. “Maybe. But I added an extra couple of cinnamon rolls just in case that doesn’t work out.”

“Okay. I’ll just stay home and stuff myself. It’ll help. Thank you.”

“Hang in there,” she said, pulling Sophie into a quick hug. “Jake and I are taking my mom up to Yellowstone before she has to leave, so text me if anything else comes up. But it’ll be over soon.”

That’s what Sophie had thought, too. She’d been wrong. It would never be over. But she smiled and said, “See you tomorrow,” as she led Lauren back to the door.

Lauren opened the door and Sophie was finally starting to relax when an awful silence fell over the house. She hadn’t thought an absence of sound could ring in your ears, but ring it did. Alex had turned off the shower.

Lauren froze. Her eyes flew toward the far wall. The shower door squeaked.

“Anyway!” Sophie sang, as if that would distract her friend. Strangely, her ploy didn’t work.