Page 81 of Saving Graces
“Better.”
They were silent for a moment. Rosalie felt seventeen years old again, unable to hide her giddiness.
“I don’t know what to say now,” Kinsey said. “I was just going to send you random witty texts from the road and the occasional photo of my tits.”
“Please don’t let me stop you.”
“I mean, you kind of ruined it by calling me, so I can’t promise anything.”
“I’ll hang up right now,” Rosalie promised.
Kinsey laughed. “No,” she said softly. “Don’t.”
They listened to each other breathe.
“How’s the road?” Rosalie asked, tipping her head back and staring up at the ceiling, trying to remember how to talk to a cute girl you liked.
“Hectic,” said Kinsey. “Amazing. I love it. Every night is somewhere different. And I get to watch one of my idols… I swear I get better just by using the same kit as her, like she’s magic. Wait,” she said, “I guess you must know Coral too.”
Rosalie smiled. “Well, yeah,” she said. “We lived together for two years while I was finishing college.” She paused. “Anything she tells you about me is a lie.”
Kinsey laughed again and Rosalie’s chest went warm at the sound.
“Mm,” Kinsey said. “Now I’m dying to ask her what you were like back then. What you got up to. What kind of girls you fucked.”
Rosalie’s face heated, her voice dropping at Kinsey’s investment in that question. “No one as pretty as you.”
She could almost hear Kinsey smiling.
“I literally did not give you permission to flirt with me right now,” she said.
“Okay,” said Rosalie. “Just pictures of tits then.”
“That’s right,” she said. “Oh, my roommate’s home. Goodnight.”
The phone went silent. Rosalie fell back on the couch and smiled and smiled and smiled.
“You alright there, boss?”
Rosalie startled at Shelby’s voice, nearly dropping her phone. She sat in the center’s boardroom, only half listening to the contractors outlining their proposal for the back building renovations. She really should be listening, but her phone buzzed, a photo flashing across the screen. Her cheeks burned and she quickly flipped the phone upside down.
“Yes,” Rosalie said, coughing under Shelby’s narrowed eyed gaze. “Just a tickle.”
She grabbed a bottle of water off the table and took a long swallow while trying desperately to remember what in the world they were talking about. Once the contractors were gone, Shelby swiveled on her chair, smirking at her.
“You need to get that?” She nodded down at Rosalie’s phone, even though it wasn’t ringing. Rosalie gave her a hard look.
“No, it’s fine.”
She managed a whole two minutes longer before she escaped locking herself in the bathroom. Kinsey had sent her a picture from a hotel bed bathed in the morning light, her golden torso bare atop rumpled, slept-in sheets, a sheer black bralette below her beautiful collarbones. Rosalie zoomed in and bit her lip hard.
Jesus Kinsey, I was in a meeting
Oh good! I was aiming for the middle of your work day.
Please tell me you went red
You know I did. You’re a bad person
