Thick Love

I’d been out of my father’s house since I was seventeen, even though Louisiana law was pretty particular about that. Sure, he could call the cops, but no D.A. or children’s advocacy group would bother hunting me down, not when I’d been so close to my eighteenth birthday. I did the cheap motel living for a while and I made sure to stay in school, even picked up a few shifts at the diner to help keep myself fed. But I’d never been able to leave that strict upbringing behind. My bed was always made. My clothes and shoes were always spotless and I never slept past six a.m. or stayed out later than was necessary. Things had to be neat. There had to be order. Always. It probably boiled down to a sad need to please which kept me adhering to those strict rules, and that made me eager to help Lea

“Don’t give me that look, Lea

“Still, Aly. You take care of everyone but yourself. And you work too damn hard.” She bit her lip. “I wish you’d stop paying me rent.”

“Modi, I’m not a charity case, Lea

“I know that.” She sat back then, rubbing her temples as though she was as tired of this conversation as I was. We’d had similar discussions that always ended the same: Lea

“Look,” she said, tapping the desk absentmindedly with her pen. “You work your ass off for me—and for that cheap diner owner, for that matter. I wouldn’t even ask you to help with the fittings normally, but I need the costumes ordered on schedule. Keira was supposed to give me a hand, but well, she can’t do much right now with the pregnancy taking so much out of her.”

At the mention of Ransom’s mother the smile fell from my face. I liked Keira. She was fu

“It’s no problem. I can help you.”

But there was something else that I needed to speak with Lea

“Why the hell not?” Her question came out a little panicked, and reminded me of a bird squeaking as it fled a predator.

“Well, I’m trying to save up.” I hated the warm flush I felt on my face. I didn’t like burdening anyone with my problems, especially Lea

That voice only pissed me off and I stared right at Lea

If I expected Lea

“Aly, I can give you…”

“Don’t finish that sentence. I’m going to do this on my own, Lea

“Oh my God!” She seemed so used to me turning down her offers to help, that I suspected she hadn’t heard me refusing her. Instead she dropped the pen and smiled—a giddy, wide expression. “Why didn’t I think of this? You worked at Stephanie’s day care before you came to the studio full time, right?”

“Um. Yes.” That was how I’d met Lea

“Keira needs help.”

“Oh…okay.”

She came around the desk, seeming excited, smile still wide. “You want to earn some extra cash for school and I don’t want to lose my best instructor. Why don’t you help her out for the next couple of months or so?”

“Help with what?”

“The little monster that lives with my folks.” The voice came from behind me. It was deep, edged toward bored and the second I heard it, I swear I thought my heart had stopped beating.

When I turned toward him, hands over his head as he rested them on the door frame, I was certain my heart would never beat again. There was no mask for me to hide behind, no slow, sultry music that seeped into my skin and moved my body to act as a buffer between how Ransom’s presence u

But Ransom didn’t recognize me as that dancer, I knew that. Instead, he smiled, a beautiful gesture that I suspected was meant to charm me. One that I’d seen up close as I danced on his lap. But this afternoon, it seemed forced, the kind of expression that was more mask than smile.

“Um…” A glance back at Lea

“Aly, you know Ransom, Keira’s son.”

“I’ve seen you around,” he said, his eyes moving down, over my body, then the corner of his mouth came up when he returned his gaze to my face. Lea

You couldn’t see it because I’d worn it for so long, but right then, with Ransom staring over me, dismissing my tight bun and pathetic excuse for an outfit, I pulled on the protection of my instincts, slipping over my nervous demeanor and shaking hands, the indifference that hid me well. I deflected. I was good at it, had to be. My father had always hated skittish, weepy women. He’d have never stood for me letting on how frightened he made me. And then, of course, that stealth skill of deflection had become a finely honed craft as Ransom entered my orbit. He’d never know that I spent too much time thinking about him, recalling the one day he’d rescued me. A day he clearly didn’t even remember.

I ignored and brushed aside anything I felt for him to save face. To protect what I’d worked so hard to earn—a safety net. My home.

“Yeah. Sure.” That mask worked well, didn’t expose how stupid I felt with him staring down at me, with the warmth of his body pulsing against my chilled skin. Yeah. Sure? Sure, I know you. No big deal that we were groping and grinding on each other last night. “Um, hey,” I said, glancing at him like that beautiful smile had no effect on me.

“So. You wa