We slept too late. Both of us.
I snapped alert to the sound of the door, and a familiar voice calling, "Mom, I gotta show you—"
A female voice cutting him off. Savannah. "August, I told you she'd be down later—"
"But Mom's always up by now."
I don't know how I got out of bed and into the bathroom so fast. I was the roadrunner, leaving a puff of smoke and a memory in Tenn's bed. I probably should have felt bad about leaving Tenn to fend for himself. I didn't. I was too shocked by the idea of August catching me naked in bed with a man.
Nothing like this had ever happened before. What would I say? What was appropriate to explain to an eight-year-old? And what exactly was I going to explain? Sometimes even moms need to get some? It was true. At this point, I had to admit that. But not the truth I wanted to explain to my almost-third grader.
Ugh. I stood in the shower for a minute, then pulled on Tenn's robe—because, of course, I didn't grab clothes in my mad flight to the bathroom—and tried to do something so the mess on my head didn't scream sex hair. I settled for a ponytail and came out to find August bouncing on the end of the bed, telling Tenn—who'd managed to find a pair of cutoff sweats and my abandoned t-shirt—all about his sleepover with Nicky.
I couldn't meet Tenn's eyes. I tried. I'd done all sorts of things with him that should have erased any hint of shyness, but that didn't seem to matter. In the light of morning, post-orgasms, I couldn't seem to handle my son and my new lover at the same time.
It wasn't them; it was me. August hadn't noticed anything different, continuing to talk about their pillow fort and how it had fallen down while they were sleeping as I pulled on shorts beneath the robe and turned my back to yank on a bra and shirt. Spinning around, I avoided Tenn's eyes while stammering something about coffee and taking August outside for some fresh air.
Then, I fled, feeling exactly like the coward I was.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TENN
She could run, but she couldn't hide. After a quick stop in my room, I crossed to the other side of the second floor and went hunting for Scarlett. It wouldn't take long. She only had one room left in the guest wing before she started in Parker's suite.
I should have known Scarlett would get weird as soon as reality hit her. I might have been able to ease her through it if August hadn't shown up. Or maybe not. I'd been thrown myself. So thrown I'd let her escape, put on my running gear, and hit the trails behind the house. I needed to get to work, but more than that, I'd needed to get my head straight.
Some people like meditation. I run. Something about it—the rhythmic pounding of my feet, the air in my lungs—sets my mind free to think. Or not think. I started out mostly concentrating on my footing and the trail. I do a lot of trail-running, but the trails I usually hit were by the Inn and somewhat flatter and smoother than the narrow, uneven, root-filled trails behind Heartstone.
Once I got into the rhythm of picking my knees up higher and watching my footing, my thoughts turned to the problem of Scarlett Hall. It was fair to say the night with Scarlett had blown my mind.
I'd wanted to fuck her. Of course, I had. She was hot, and smart, and sleeping in my bed. How could I not think about fucking her?
Had I been thinking about more than that?
In retrospect, I must have been. I'd never dated a woman with children. Had consciously avoided it. Too much commitment. Too much responsibility. Too many people in the relationship. I wanted kids someday, but I'd never felt prepared to put someone else's needs above mine the way you had to as a parent. Especially not for someone else's kids.
All of that sounded flat and empty in the face of August and Scarlett. August wasn't some anchor around my neck. He was a person. He was funny, and sharp, and pretty cool for a little kid. And I was living with them at my own demand. I let out a gust of laughter as I pounded up the trail, thighs burning and my brain finally coming in line with my subconscious.
I never would have slept with Scarlett, especially when she and August were living with me, if I hadn't been planning on keeping her.
Keeping her? As in permanently?
It was too soon for that. Way too soon. We barely knew each other. She was lying to me about something. Something big. She didn't trust me. I wasn't sure I could trust her. She didn't exactly live nearby.