Read Online Everything Between Us by Mila Ferrera - Free Book Online Page B

nothing.
    When I’ve got that intention firmly in place, I go back over to see Stella huddled over the drawing. She leans back as I sit down again, a tiny, eager, mischievous smile playing on her lips. Dammit . She should not be allowed to smile at me that way.
    “What are you up to?” I ask.
    She gestures at the drawing. In the center, between our two trees, is a … “Is that a cat?”
    She groans. “It’s supposed to be a possum. I totally suck.”
    I crack up. Stella’s drawn a possum doing the walk of shame. Its head is bowed, and she’s even drawn a little blush on its cheek. “No, not at all.” I lean over and hastily sketch my own possum, huddled next to her tree.
    She puts her face close enough to it that I wonder if she needs glasses. “Is it sad?”
    “Are you kidding? He’s just had the night of his life. He’s exhausted—and hoping she’ll come back tonight.”
    We both laugh, but as her cheeks flush I have to wonder if Stella has much experience with guys. She goes pink every time I make jokes like that. She holds up our creation, probably trying to pull my attention toward the drawing. “I think we did a pretty good job,” she says. “Possums at dawn.”
    “Possums at dawn,” I repeat. “It’s funny, actually. I did a painting once where—” I pause, watching her expression. Forget pink—now her cheeks are crimson. “You looked me up, didn’t you?”
    Her eyes are huge. Holy shit. She looked me up. Which means she was thinking about me when I wasn’t here. “I … was curious.”
    I grin. “Looking for blackmail material?” Why am I so thrilled about that?
    She sits back. “What good would that do? We’ve already established you have no shame.” It’s the kind of thing she would have said to me a few days ago, except then it would have been razor-edged and dipped in poison, and now her voice is trembling with laughter.
    “Good point. So what did you find?”
    “Your big secret,” she says, the corner of her mouth curling.
    “Which is what?”
    She gives me this innocent look. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a secret.”
    I laugh. “How convenient.”
    “Isn’t it, though?”
    Still chuckling, I start to pack up. I keep my movements slow, but I need to get out of here. She’s tying me in knots, and no one is allowed to do that.
    “Daniel?”
    “Hmm?” I put my pencils back in their case, close my toolbox, and look over my shoulder.
    She’s sitting on the end of the chaise, and her expression isn’t teasing anymore. It’s utterly serious. Concerned. “Are you feeling any better? I know you were worried about something yesterday.”
    Boom . Right in the gut. I lean on my toolbox, looking down at my hands spread white across the top of it. “Yeah,” I say hoarsely. “I’m good.”
    Her footsteps on the carpet are nearly silent, but I feel her presence behind me because I’m so aware of her, because she’s fucking dangerous, because she goes back and forth between sharp and soft too quickly for me to keep up—and then goes straight for the jugular. “Are you sure?” she asks. She sounds like she wants to touch me, and I can’t let that happen.
    I draw in a sharp breath and get to my feet, keeping my back to her. “Totally. See you tomorrow?”
    “Okay,” she says softly.
    I head for the door and don’t look back.

Chapter Six: Stella
    Our phone starts to ring early Friday morning, and I hear Willa, our housekeeper, answering as I help myself to the last slice of the coffee cake I made yesterday morning. “Of course,” she says to the person on the other end. “Stay safe.”
    She hangs up and comes to me, a strained look on her face. “They say this storm is going to be bad.”
    I glance out the window. Tiny pellets of ice are bouncing off the panes. “That was the workers calling to cancel?”
    She nods. “Miss, I …” Her brow furrows and she gazes out the window.
    “Go home, Willa,” I say. “Don’t wait.”
    She sags with relief.