Tempt Me

by Claire Raye

  “About what?” she immediately asks.

  “It’s nothing, Mila,” Ruby says sliding off her stool. “Caleb and Adam were planning shifts around my shifts at the clinic, that’s all.” She gives Mila a smile, one that I am sure is meant to convince her there is nothing more going on here. “You wanna grab some dinner together or something?” she adds.

  Mila turns to look at me again, that same suspicious look on her face. I can’t help but laugh, pulling her closer as I kiss the top of her head. “Go have something to eat, babe, I’ll see you later.”

  “You sure there’s nothing going on here?” she asks again.

  Laughing, I pull her against me as I lean back against the bar. “Nothing at all,” I tell her, leaning down so my mouth is against her ear. “But there’ll be plenty going on later tonight.”

  It’s meant to distract her from what she’s walked in on and it works, as Mila lets out a soft sigh, her hands on my chest as she kisses my neck. “You’re trying to distract me,” she whispers back.

  I chuckle softly in her ear. “Nope,” I tell her. “Just giving you a heads up on what to expect when I get home, that’s all.”

  She pulls back, pouting in that adorable way of hers. “Liar,” she says, her tone teasing.

  Grinning, I lean down to kiss the end of her nose. “Never.”

  “Come on, Mila, let’s go try that new sushi place down the street,” Ruby says, reaching for her sister’s arm.

  Mila slips from my arms, stepping back as she turns to Ruby and Caleb. I can tell she absolutely doesn’t believe there was nothing going on when she walked in here, but thankfully Ruby manages to convince her to leave and Caleb and I watch as the two of them walk out the door.

  “That was close,” he says when they’ve gone.

  “Yeah,” I admit. “I’m gonna have to be stealth about asking Charlie, that’s for sure.”

  “Oh yeah,” Caleb says with a laugh.

  Later that night, I’m just getting home when my phone rings as I step out of the lift. I know who it’s going to be without even looking at the screen.

  “Hey, bro.”

  “Adam!” Josh shouts into the phone, making me laugh. “How’s it going?”

  “I’m good,” I tell him, as I walk down the corridor to my apartment. “Just finished work. What are you doing?”

  “Not much, looking for excuses not to study, bored, you know.”

  I laugh, slipping the key into my door and opening it. “Glad I’m your go-to when you’re bored then,” I say, kicking off my shoes as I drop my keys on the kitchen bench, before walking down toward my bedroom.

  Normally I only come here to shower after work, not wanting to wake Mila or Charlie by doing it at their place. I’ll head over there afterward though, just like I usually do, much preferring to sleep in Mila’s bed than here alone. It’s kind of become our thing now and I’m really not sure I can ever go back to sleeping without her.

  “So how is—” Josh’s question is cut off when I walk into my room and see Mila lying on my bed, her computer on her lap.

  “Hey, babe, what are you doing here?”

  “Babe?” Josh says, at the same time as Mila replies, “Charlie has some people over. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Course not,” I reply, sinking onto the bed beside her.

  “Um hello?” my brother half shouts.

  Laughing, I reply, “Yes, what?”

  “Do you want me to go?” Mila whispers, gesturing to the phone.

  I shake my head, putting a hand on her thigh as I say, “No, stay, seriously.”

  “Adam, what the fuck,” my brother says, frustrated. “Who are you talking to and calling babe?”

  I lean back against the headboard knowing my brother is likely going to lose his shit when I tell him exactly who is sitting here beside me and what she is to me. “I’m talking to my girlfriend.”

  “Girlfriend?” he repeats, clearly shocked.

  “Yes, my girlfriend,” I repeat, wondering how much of this conversation Mila can hear right now. “Her name is Mila.”

  “Holy shit,” my brother breathes out. “When did this happen?”

  I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “Don’t know, couple of weeks, maybe months ago.”

  “Shit, dude, this is…” he trails off, because he knows exactly what it is, he just isn’t sure whether he should say it.

  “It’s amazing is what it is,” I reply, needing to steer the conversation away from my brother bringing up why me having a girlfriend is such a big deal. “You wanna meet her?” I ask, glancing at Mila. She widens her eyes at my question, and I laugh, leaning closer to kiss her.

  “Hell yeah I do,” he says. “I’m gonna FaceTime you, hang on.”

  I give Mila a quick once over to make sure she’s decent, considering it’s nearly midnight and she’s in my bed. There’s not a chance in hell I need my brother seeing what Mila looks like when we’re normally in bed together.

  “You okay with meeting my brother?” I ask.

  “Um, I don’t know, am I?”

  Laughing, I switch over to FaceTime as soon as it comes through. “Yeah, he’s harmless. I mean fucking crazy, but harmless.” Josh’s grinning face fills the screen when I turn back to it. “Behave yourself,” I warn him as I hold the phone out, resting my arm on my bent knee so he can see both of us. I watch as his smile falls, his eyes widening as he takes in the two of us sitting side by side on my bed, my arm around Mila’s shoulder. His gaze moves between me and Mila and back to me again, his mouth now hanging open in shock.

  “Josh, this is Mila. Mila, this idiot is my little brother, Josh.”

  “Hi,” she says, giving him a wave. “Nice to meet you.”

  Josh snaps him mouth shut, swallowing as he blinks in slow motion, almost as though he can’t believe what he’s seeing. When his eyes open again, they flick between us a few more times as he shakes his head in disbelief. I get why he’s reacting this way.

  “Please don’t tell me this is all it took to shut you the hell up?” I tease, squeezing Mila’s shoulder.

  Josh runs a hand through his hair, his muttered “Fuck,” still loud enough for us to hear. “Sorry, shit, it’s really great to meet you, Mila, seriously. Really great.”

  Mila looks up at me, a questioning look on her face because she doesn’t understand my brother’s reaction to seeing me with someone. Smiling, I lean down to kiss her. “He’s crazy, remember.”

  “Ah, I’m not fucking crazy,” he now says, apparently over his shock.

  Mila smiles, turning back to the phone. “So this is your brother, huh,” she says.

  “Yeah, I’m better looking one,” Josh and I say at the same time. I roll my eyes as I look at him on the screen. “Hardly, what the fuck is that on your face?” I ask.

  Josh grins, his hand scrubbing over his jaw. “I’m growing a beard,” he states.

  I scoff. “A beard, seriously?”

  “Yeah,” he says, shrugging. “Chicks love it apparently, isn’t that right, Mila?”

  I turn to her, see the smile on her face as she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth. “I don’t know,” she says, reaching up to brush a hand across the two-day stubble on my jaw. “I think I’m partial to the five o’clock shadow look.”

  I grin, kissing her again as I turn back to my brother, a smirk on my face. “See, so much better looking.”

  Josh shakes his head at us, but he’s laughing. We chat for a bit, the conversation light as Josh asks Mila all about her friends and whether she has any single girlfriends for him to meet when he eventually comes to visit.

  Mila is coy, not mentioning Charlie by name, even though I can tell she’s already thinking about it. Eventually, I realize how late it is and that we have kickboxing in the morning.

  “Okay, dude, we gotta go, it’s late here,” I tell him. “Chat to you later?”

  My brother grins. “Hell yeah, we will. I’m
gonna need some details,” he adds, raising his brows as he looks right at me, his unspoken questions coming through loud and clear. This is not something he expected, and I know he’s going to be asking me about how I met her and how long we’ve been together along with a million other things I don’t want to talk about.

  “Whatever,” I say, rolling my eyes at him. “Catch ya later, little bro.”

  After I hang up, I throw my phone onto the side table and pull Mila closer. “This is a nice surprise coming home to find you in my bed,” I say, kissing her cheeks, her nose and her jaw.

  She smiles. “It’s a nice surprise meeting your brother,” she says. “He seems like fun.”

  “He is,” I say with a chuckle. “Can be a handful, but he’s fun, yeah.”

  “You guys are close?”

  I nod. “We are. Always have been.”

  Mila smooths a hand across my chest. “Must be hard being over here away from him? From all your family?”

  I suck in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “It is, yeah. It’s probably the hardest part about being over here.”

  Mila nods, her smile disappearing. “I get that,” she says quietly. “As different as Ruby and I are, we’re still close and I couldn’t imagine being on the other side of the world to her.”

  “No,” I reply, tucking her hair behind her ear.

  “You think you’ll eventually go back there?” she now asks, and I should’ve known this was going to come up eventually. It’s impossible to ignore given my accent and the emptiness of my apartment and especially now having met my brother.

  Smiling, I turn to her, pressing a kiss to her lips. “I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “I mean, I’ve got something pretty amazing going on here right now, so you know, I’m not looking to give that up just so I can go back to Oz.”

  Mila’s eyes scan my face, a worried look on hers. I can see the questions she has. Questions that fill the room, silently hovering between us as she wonders if this, if us, is enough to keep me here.

  “I’m here with you, Mila,” I whisper, wanting to silence those questions and doubts as I kiss her again. “And this is exactly where I want to be, okay?”

  “Yeah?” she asks, and I can hear all of her fears, all of her worries in that one word.

  “Yes, absolutely,” I tell her.

  “Okay,” she says, nodding.

  I pull her in for another kiss, whispering against her mouth. “I really need a shower. You wanna stay here tonight?”

  “Is that okay?”

  Smiling, I cradle her cheek in my hand. “Yes, of course it is. I won’t be long, okay,” I add, sliding off the bed. Mila looks up at me, that same look of worry still on her face. Leaning down to brush my lips against hers, I add, “Unless you wanna come join me?”

  I feel her mouth curve into a smile against mine, her hand as it fists the material of my shirt. “I could be tempted,” she says, squealing as I reach down and pick her up, throwing her over my shoulder as I walk us both to the bathroom.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Mila

  I’m staring at my phone, bothered and pissed off, when Adam walks in, sitting down on the couch next to me. I let out a loud huff, basically begging for attention and I know I’m being super childish, but I really thought Ruby wouldn’t be this way. This is so not like her, but I guess we are growing up and some things take precedence over others.

  “What’s wrong?” Adam asks, his question posed more because he can tell I’m annoyed than of him actually being interested.

  “Ruby just sent me a text telling me she can’t celebrate my birthday with me this year because she’s working at the counseling center,” I whine, figuring it might get me further in the sympathy department with Adam.

  I’m wrong.

  While he likes me, I should know that he has zero tolerance for bullshit, especially mine and he’s well beyond twenty-one so it holds no value to him anymore. And besides, he’s been drinking legally since he was eighteen.

  “Contrary to popular belief, Mila, the world does not revolve around you. Someday you’ll realize that you too, have become an adult,” he teases, tossing an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. “Just like the rest of us.”

  “Oh my god, don’t tell me you have to work too,” I respond, pushing back to look at him. I do realize at some point my birthday will be meaningless, but I’m not there just yet. I feel like that will come after graduation, especially now that I know what I want to do with my life and that job is going to be a serious amount of work.

  “Of course not. I took it off, but I know Caleb will be covering for me and with Ruby working at the counseling center, it’ll probably just be us.”

  I stop and eye him suspiciously. This all feels very convenient, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s hiding something from me.

  “What about Charlie? Do you know her schedule that day too?” I ask and Adam laughs out loud.

  “No, I don’t, but I assume she’ll be our third wheel.”

  “She can’t drink yet though, so what the hell are we going to do with her tagging along?” I lament, jokingly.

  Charlie walks in just as I finish, meeting us in the living room and flopping down in a chair across from us.

  “I have horrible news,” she says, her voice sullen and her eyes down. “I can’t go out for your birthday.” She sniffs a little and pushes out her bottom lip.

  “You can’t be serious?” I reply, trying not to sound like a petulant child, but I’m starting to think everyone hates me. Maybe they do. I have been a little too all about myself for a while.

  “I have a test the next day and I was planning to skip class, but now I totally can’t,” she tells me, and I know she feels guilty.

  “Are you guys in on something?” I now ask, coming right out with it.

  “In on what?” Charlie immediately responds. “You think I conspired with my professor to ruin your birthday, because fuck my life, taking this test is the last thing I feel like doing on a Friday morning.”

  I look over at Adam who just shrugs as if he has no idea what I’m talking about.

  “So you guys aren’t planning a party for me or anything?” I ask, figuring maybe I need to just ask it rather than beat around the bush.

  “Nope, nothing,” Adam replies. “I tried to get everyone together for dinner but given I’m the only manager at The Last Drop, Caleb has to be there to close up and Ruby’s working and well, I guess Charlie can come to dinner with us.”

  “I’m not coming to dinner with you two!” she yells out, shaking her head so quickly I’m surprised it doesn’t disconnect from her neck. “That’s weird and I don’t want to be tagging along. And anyway, I was texting Ruby while I was walking back from class and we thought we could do something this weekend. All of us. Me, you, Ruby and Sie. Just the girls.”

  Charlie looks over at Adam and wrinkles up her cute little nose as if to say that she’s going to win and get to spend the weekend with me. She deserves it though. It feels like forever since we’ve hung out and since no one will be around for my birthday, this weekend is the perfect time.

  “Oh yes!” I yell out. “We haven’t done that in so long. Actually, we haven’t all been together since we transferred here. Just the girls.”

  “Looks like I’ll be sleeping alone this weekend then, huh?” Adam asks, pretending to be insulted by Charlie’s suggestion that it’s just the girls.

  “Think you can survive one night without groping Mila?” she asks, her forehead creased in question. “I mean, I’m over here single and haven’t gotten laid in I can’t tell you how long, and you two are in the room next door rubbing it in my face. These walls are quite thin, you know?”

  “Aww, Charlie,” I say, my words laced with sympathy. “I promise, this weekend we’re going to find you a boyfriend.”

  “I do have a brother. I figured Mila would’ve mentioned that after she met him the othe
r day,” Adam adds, shrugging casually as if his brother is really an option for Charlie.

  In the brief conversation we had, it’s obvious that Josh has a life in Australia that involves school and friends and everything else. He’s not going to up and move to the States because Charlie needs a boyfriend.

  “And there’s also like a million fucking miles between us, but nice try,” Charlie jokes, flitting a hand in Adam’s direction, totally dismissing the suggestion.

  “Something tells me he’d jump on a plane in a second if he saw you,” Adam mutters, making Charlie and I laugh.

  Charlie rolls her eyes, but there’s no way she’s not secretly enjoying that compliment. She’s absolutely adorable and the fact that she doesn’t have a boyfriend isn’t because of what she looks like. It’s solely because she’s far too particular, and I don’t blame her. Guys can be horrible people. We’ve both seen it first-hand. Me recently enough that it stuck with both of us and hers was while we were still in high school. It may have been several years ago, but it was enough to make us remember.

  “Did you and Ruby come up with something for the weekend?” I ask, changing the subject.

  “Yeah, given you and I can’t drink anywhere except Stella’s, Ruby suggested we stay in since we’re all poor. But maybe do movies and booze and cake, order pizza or whatever. She suggested going hiking if we can get her out of bed before noon,” Charlie adds, knowing Ruby stays up way too late and sleeps in, unlike me.

  “I’d love to go hiking. We haven’t done anything like that since we moved here and we used to go all the time in Tahoe,” I tell Charlie and she nods in agreement.

  “It’s your sorta birthday so let’s do it. Text Ruby and tell her.”

  Two days later, Adam is dropping us off at Ruby’s house far later in the morning than I would’ve liked, but it was a compromise I had to make in order to get Ruby to agree to it.

  Sienna opens the front door, and she’s all long legs and striking blonde hair with the most perfect southern California tan, you’d never know she was born and raised in Rhode Island. She looks like she’s been here all her life.