Heat Up the Fall: New Adult Boxed Set (6 Book Bundle)

by Gennifer Albin

  “I will—”

  “Or maybe you should just give the role to someone who really wants it. Someone who cares about the play.” Without waiting a moment longer for them to move, she weaved through them, taking what Will considered to be excessive care to not touch Finn as she passed. She didn’t acknowledge either Will or his mysterious not-a-sex-addict, who cast a sour look at Kat’s back.

  “That was pleasant,” he said into the awkward silence that ensued.

  Finn rubbed the back of his neck and stared down at his feet. He gave a light shrug. “Pizza?”

  “Knock yourselves out,” his grumpy beauty said as she made to leave.

  “Can you at least tell me your name?” Will asked, trying on his best smile. He might have gone a wee bit heavier on the accent as well. He could see her waver. Triumph sang in his chest.

  “Oh!” Finn’s eyes went big, and his mouth stretched into a huge smile as he looked between her and Will. “I get it now. You’re the sex addict!”

  She went rigid. Will’s heart dropped into his stomach before he turned an incredulous look on his friend.

  Finn caught his look and immediately cringed. “Sorry, that’s not … Shit.”

  His grumpy beauty looked between them, her mutinous glare tempered by the way her brows drew together with hurt. Then she turned and stormed out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Can you see it?”

  At her brother’s question, Leah tried to nod while squinting one eye through the telescope. The observatory staff had adjusted it so that they could see Saturn. Saturn looked like a tiny, gray planet with gray rings.

  “Isn’t it cool?” Elijah asked, hopping from foot to foot. Leah leaned back and stepped aside so her brother could get a second look.

  “It is,” she agreed. She gave him a few seconds before saying, “Come on, other people are waiting for their turn.”

  A growing line of visitors waited behind them. Elijah reluctantly followed her as they crossed the room toward where Helena was studying a giant mural of their solar system. Near the entrance, Neptune loomed over a kiosk standing just inside the large double doors. It was a wash of blues, the paler shades a near match for Blue Eyes.

  Don’t think about him, she told herself. Naturally, this meant she was now thinking about him. Insubordinate brain. Specifically, she was thinking about that kiss in the theater. Her cheeks grew warm, and she quickly thought about something off-putting—Packers Cap kissing Stilettos, Old Lady and the counselor. Take that, brain.

  “Did you know Saturn has sixty-two moons?” Elijah asked, blissfully unaware of the horror show going on in her head. As they walked, he tilted his face up in order to look at the constellations mapped onto the high ceiling.

  She took his hand to keep him from running into other people. “I didn’t. Did you learn that in school?”

  “No, I read it on the internet. And did you know that Titan—that’s Saturn’s biggest moon—might have life on it?”

  She smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice. “Like aliens?”

  “Like microbial life.” He looked away from the ceiling to give her a questioning look. “What does ‘microbial’ mean?”

  She almost laughed. He’d probably seen it on Wikipedia and was just repeating what he’d read.

  “Microscopic organisms. Things you would only be able to see with a microscope.”

  “Oh.” He sounded disappointed. “But maybe there are bigger things too.”

  “Maybe.”

  They came up beside Helena, who gave Elijah a pat on his shoulder. “So how was Saturn?”

  “Awesome. Don’t you think it’d be cool to go to another planet? I want to be an astronaut.” He put his finger on the outside edge of the painting of the earth, which was larger in size than he was, and made a noise like a rocket lifting off as he slid his finger across the mural until he reached Mars.

  “You could be the first astronaut to visit Saturn,” Leah said. “Or Titan. And then you could find those aliens.”

  His eyes lit up. “And then you could visit me there, and we could build an alien hotel and drive spaceships.”

  Leah did laugh then. Her brother was the best distraction from the sensory reel that insisted on playing back every overheated second with Blue Eyes. As Leah rubbed her forehead, Helena reached out to ruffle Elijah’s hair.

  He made a face and dodged her hand. “Would you guys stop doing that?”

  “But you’re so cute!” Helena reached for him again, and he burst into laughter before ducking under her arm.

  “You guys ready to go?” Leah asked.

  They filed out of the observatory, Elijah dragging his feet until she promised another trip soon. Less than ten minutes into the ride back to the estate, he had fallen asleep against the window. She smiled as she peeked at him through the rear view mirror.

  “Did your parents do something to annoy you?” Helena asked from the passenger seat.

  Leah cast her a surprised look before returning her gaze to the stretch of empty road illuminated by her headlights. “When don’t they annoy me?”

  “I mean specifically.” She sounded like she was rolling her eyes.

  “Not lately. Why?”

  “You’ve been moody all weekend. I know you’re not on your period, so did something happen?”

  A number of things. She hadn’t allowed herself to think for too long about Blue Eyes. The insanity of it, how quickly it had happened—she couldn’t tell Helena and not just because of the risk of earning her wrath again. Something about the way Blue Eyes had touched her, with equal parts urgency and reverence … She wanted to keep that to herself. To cup it between her palms and examine it when she was feeling braver.

  What had happened afterward though was safe enough to discuss. With a twinge of renewed annoyance, she grudgingly told Helena what Finn had loudly blurted to a not-yet empty theater. The fact that he had known she was in the same sex addict program as Blue Eyes left her feeling a gamut of emotions.

  For one, it meant Blue Eyes had told his friend about her. Maybe he’d even said some flattering things. But more likely, it had sounded like she was just “the sex addict” and knowing that actually kind of … hurt. He had defended her during his first therapy session without even knowing who she was, and every exchange between them since had been so refreshingly normal. And unexpectedly easy. Even kind of sweet.

  She was used to being disregarded by others, and that normally didn’t bother her. It was just that she hadn’t expected it from him.

  Maybe it had been a mistake to kiss him that first time. Maybe he now thought she really was just some addict with no self control. Was that why he’d kissed her again in the theater? Because he knew she’d be easy?

  The knot in her throat tightened. The fact she even cared about what he thought of her was the most aggravating part of all.

  She swallowed to ease the ache and then tried to shake away the unnecessary anxiety. This wasn’t like her. She was being dramatic and over thinking things. Who cared about why he kissed her? She had kissed him first, and she doubted he’d questioned her motives. They were, after all, supposed to be sex addicts.

  But what happened in the theater with Finn also meant Blue Eyes had told his friend about the program. Those therapy sessions were supposed to be confidential. What happened in Sex Addicts Anonymous stayed in Sex Addicts Anonymous. She didn’t even tell Helena the details, although admittedly that was just to punish Helena for making her attend them.

  And she hadn’t yet told Helena about going back on Thursday either. She probably should.

  “No fair!” Helena said. “If he’s telling his friend about those meetings, I should get to know what goes on in them, too.”

  Leah snorted and didn’t respond. Helena babbled on some more about how unreasonable she was before switching tactics and grilling her about Blue Eyes instead. Leah refused to give her anything more than a rough physical description just in case Helena decided to go on a manhunt across
campus.

  And anyway, a rough physical description was all she really had to go on for figuring out his identity. Over the last couple days, she had begun playing a game in her head. She assigned him different names until one seemed right. Scott? Too obvious. Derek? Nope. Calum? Pretty, but probably not. She had even looked up a Scottish baby names site. However, she’d stopped when she realized how ridiculous she was being, and how utterly pointless it was because chances were he wasn’t named Farquar or Tavish. At least she hoped not.

  When they reached the estate, she wasn’t surprised to find her parents home. Since it was a Sunday evening, they were recuperating from another busy weekend of trying to impress their wealthy neighbors and pretending they were still one of them. Her mom was draped across the sofa in the living room, dressed in a satin robe while watching TV and sipping a cup of wine. Her dad was bent over his work on the dining room table. He looked up when they entered, gave each of them a small nod, and went back to his papers.

  Leah ignored them both and helped Elijah upstairs to get ready for bed.

  “Go wash up. I’ll get your pajamas out,” she said.

  He groaned and slumped his shoulders. Brows pinched together, he squinted at her through sleepy eyes and gave her his most beseeching look. “But I’m tired. Can’t I just clean up in the morning?”

  Leah flicked her finger at the line between his brows. “No, you can’t. Now go,” she said, pointing toward the bathroom.

  “Uuugh.” He dragged his feet down the hall, rubbing his eyes and mumbling irritably. Leah smiled as the bathroom door shut behind him.

  She switched on the light in his room, revealing a fairly small space considering the size of the rest of the estate. With a sigh, she moved around the room, picking up dirty clothes and toys and depositing each into their respective baskets. Then she pulled open the top drawer of his dresser and withdrew a set of simple, striped pajamas.

  Elijah joined her a couple minutes later, looking more awake, but no less grumpier for it. She stepped out so he could change.

  “Okay,” he called from inside.

  She went back in to find him already burrowed into his bed. “Want your night light on?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” came his muffled reply.

  She switched on the low lamp at his bedside table and then turned off the bright overhead light. Leaning over, she dropped a light kiss to the tuft of dark hair sticking out the top of his blanket.

  “Good night,” she said.

  The blanket slid down just enough for Elijah’s face to peek out. “Hey Leah,” he said, squinting at her again through one eye. “Thanks for taking me today.”

  “Of course,” she said, sitting at the edge of his mattress. “Like I said, we’ll do it again soon.”

  He gave a soft sigh and turned his face into his pillow. “I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

  Her throat tightened. Swallowing thickly, she leaned over and touched her forehead to his temple. “I know. I hate it too. But we’ll be together all the time once I get Mom and Dad to let you move in with me, okay?”

  “When will that be?” he asked, his eyes closed. His words slurred together with grogginess.

  “Soon,” she whispered. “I promise.”

  Having to leave him every night chipped away at something inside her. Even though she came to see him as often as she could around her work and school schedule, she knew how lonely he probably got when she wasn’t around. It didn’t help that the estate was outside the city and the nearest neighbor was nowhere near walking distance for a nine-year-old.

  Chest aching, she kissed the top of his head again. His breath had grown deep and even with sleep, so she stood from the bed, her fingers brushing the ends of his hair that curled beneath his ear. She left his door ajar and then made her way back downstairs.

  A moment later, she joined Helena in the living room where she had presumably tried and failed to engage Leah’s mom in a conversation. Talking to her parents was always awkward, but seeing as they were here, now was an ideal time to once again approach the topic of Elijah.

  Her mom was sprawled on top of a pile of pillows, a thin blanket pulled up to her waist just below the ties of her robe. Leah had her mom’s coloring with the blond hair and pale skin, but she had her dad’s hazel eyes. Objectively, she had to admit that her mom was a beautiful woman who looked at least fifteen years younger than her actual age. Her appearance mattered to her, and she knew how to take care of herself. Too bad that didn’t extend to her children.

  She gave Leah a quick, dismissive glance before refocusing on the TV where a fashion news anchor was reporting on the latest celebrity scandals.

  “How’s school?” she asked in that tone of voice people used when they were just being polite and didn’t actually care about the answer.

  Leah didn’t bother answering. She sat beside Helena on the loveseat, adjacent to her mom. “We need to talk about Elijah.”

  Her mom’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she could tell by the way they unfocused on the TV that she was at least partially listening. “What about him?”

  Leah took a slow breath before saying, “I don’t like him here home alone all the time. You need to reconsider letting him move in with me.”

  Her mom rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s fine, and he’s old enough to entertain himself.”

  “He’s nine,” Leah said evenly. Raising her voice never worked except to ignite her mom’s stubbornness.

  “Exactly,” she said, her gaze sharpening on the TV again. Apparently, the conversation was over.

  Leah ground her teeth. This was the last straw. She was taking Elijah whether her parents consented or not.

  Warm fingers closed around her fist, and she looked over to see Helena giving her a tight, encouraging smile. Slowly, she relaxed her jaw.

  “By the way,” her mom said, “there’s a party this weekend. It’s being hosted by some friends, and they asked us to bring Elijah.” Her tone of voice suggested this particular condition annoyed her. “I’ll need you to go as well to keep an eye on him.”

  Leah glowered, but her mom was so intent on the news anchor that it did her little good.

  “You want me to watch him at a party full of people, but you think he’s fine on his own in an empty house?”

  “Well, I can’t have him causing trouble at a party, now can I?” Incredulously, she made it sound as if Leah were the one being unreasonable.

  “Elijah doesn’t cause trouble at all,” Leah said, her voice rising in spite of herself. “If you were around more often, you’d know that.”

  Now, her mom did look at her, with an expression filled with ice. It was the same look Leah sometimes saw reflected back from a mirror. She felt suddenly cold despite the burn of anger in her chest.

  “My life involves more than sitting around and looking at stars,” her mom said coolly. Her gaze flickered to Helena, who was pretending she wasn’t listening by flipping through a pamphlet she’d picked up at the observatory. “You will attend the party.”

  “Let Elijah move in with me.”

  “This is not a negotiation, Leah,” she said, a warning in her voice.

  “Then I’m not going. And you’ll just have to look after your son like a real mother for once.” She was bluffing, of course. She would never leave Elijah to wander a party alone. Knowing her parents, they would drop him off in a corner, order him to stay put, and then disappear for hours.

  Her parents never asked her for anything—the one good thing about them—so she had to take advantage of it now.

  Her mom gave Leah a scrutinizing look. Very little in the way of genuine emotion passed over her face even though Leah had just accused her of not being a real mom. Not that Leah was surprised. Their deal in regards to Elijah had, after all, essentially released her from any obligations to him.

  The deliberation in her mom’s eyes wasn’t for Elijah. It was for herself and Leah’s dad. How badly did they want to impress these so-called
friends of theirs?

  “We’ll consider it.”

  Apparently, the answer was ‘a lot.’ That was the most leeway she’d ever given Leah on this subject.

  Leah nodded. She was willing to leave it for now instead of pushing harder and risking setting off her mom’s contradictory nature. Her mom hated being told what to do and sometimes did the exact opposite just to spite the offender.

  With nothing else to discuss, she and Helena said their good-byes. They couldn’t get out the door fast enough.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Having avoided directly interacting with his boss for a week (it helped that Will only went into the office Mondays and Fridays, and he’d called in sick on Monday), Will was beginning to feel the weight of his conscience. James had responded by email to last week’s notes with a terse, “Let’s discuss when you come in.”

  Not only did Will not want to disappoint his boss, he didn’t want to disappoint himself, and this shoddy work would do him no favors. But analyzing whether the counselor’s methods were working (in his opinion, no) while trying to make his own diagnoses and treatment suggestions by dissecting their mental and social behaviors meant he’d have to dissect the girl who’d taken over his every spare thought lately.

  This wasn’t what he meant by wanting to get to know her. Studying her, breaking down her parts like a specimen beneath a microscope would be like twisting the knife with which he’d backstabbed her.

  Especially after what had happened last Friday. His behavior still surprised him. He was appalled that he’d been ready to take her in the nearest broom closet, never mind that she’d been perfectly willing. She drove him crazy, and he didn’t even know her name.

  Next time, he’d do it right. He would bring her here, into his bedroom. He would lay her down across his bed and show her that the only addiction she needed was him.

  Hopefully, there would be a next time. Finn’s outburst hadn’t helped him any.