Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [29]
So she left them alone. Probably, she had to admit, because of the slight tinge of guilt she felt over her involvement in this whole thing. It had been her idea, after all. A part of Jacey felt a teeny bit bad about setting the good doctor up like this, even though the TV-insider part of her loved it.
Deep down, she’d also had a completely unexpected reaction, one Dr. Bennett—or her father—probably wouldn’t believe. One she wouldn’t have believed a few weeks ago, before this all began. But it was true. She’d gone all sappy and stupid because she saw something in Dr. Bennett’s relationship with Tori that reminded her of her own. With Digg.
Jacey had been the wildly different outsider with the handsome, stoic fireman. She’d been where Tori was now. So a part of her wanted to see if Drew and Tori could possibly make it work. Because if they could, it might give her a renewed sense of faith for her own up-in-the-air romance. The one that, in spite of several tender long-distance phone calls this week, still seemed tenuous at best.
So as the meeting broke up and the crew separated for the day, she didn’t even think of pointing Niles Monahan’s attention toward the large window over the sideboard. She even intentionally blocked it with her body, to be sure nobody else saw what she’d just seen.
Drew and Tori, entering the greenhouse.
O F ALL THE ACTIVITIES that had filled her every waking moment for the past few days, Tori’s favorite were these quiet mornings with Drew. They hadn’t meant to do anything secret or sneaky, and she sure wasn’t trying to get him alone so she could do any women’s tricks on him. Unlike most of the other girls in the house.
He’d offered to help her with her reading. And she’d said yes. That’s all there was to these daily meetings in the greenhouse.
Big fat liar. Yep. She was. Because that wasn’t all there was to it. How could it be when she grew more and more attracted to him as each day passed?
She was changing. Not only in her speech—due to hard classes with frowny-faced old Mr. Halloway, who’d moved from getting her to pronounce her g’s to eliminating the word ain’t from her daily speech. Not to mention doing whatever he could to soften up her accent. Shew, she hardly recognized her own voice sometimes.
The changes in her had sparked something else—a change in how she viewed him. Drew. Because every time she saw him, every time she spoke or displayed some of the knowledge she’d been picking up all week, he was there to look on in approval. Interest. Anticipation. As if he was, well, waiting for something. She only wished she knew what.
Their tutoring sessions were friendly and whatnot, but as every day passed, she was more and more aware of this tension building between them. How could she not be when they were in this hot, humid place filled with moisture and heavenly smells? How could she possibly think of anything but having him kiss her again…and more…when they were together on a big, squishy, soft blanket they’d brought out from the house?
She told herself the blanket—which they hid in the storage closet each time they left—was so inviting only because it protected them from the ground. Not because it felt so wonderful to sprawl out here, lying on her stomach, right beside him.
Their bodies were just a few inches apart. Since he was sitting up, leaning against the storage closet, his legs right beside her, she was almost face level with his hip. Whoa, boy, had that given her some distracting moments. She sure would like to land in his lap again someday, like she had the night they’d met.
Forcing her thoughts away from the man’s hard body, she tried to focus on the novel lying on the blanket in front of her. Propped up on her elbows, she read aloud from what was becoming her favorite book. “Is there really a book about Huckleberry Finn I could read after I finish this one?” she asked as she reached the end of the chapter.
“Yes. It’s darker, lots of deeper