Slumber Read Online Free Page B

you.”
    Ruby gaped at him. Probably really unattractive, but she was stunned. After the bedroom bitch and the scary make-out session, the last thing she expected to find at Cottingley Heights was real sympathy.
    She shook herself. She had a job to do, and she needed to get on with it. “I’d better get back to work. Thanks for helping me out.”
    â€œNo problem,” he said. “They call me Tam. What are you called?”
    She hesitated. “My name’s Ruby,” she answered after a few seconds. Even though he was nice—and hotter than the sun—something about him bugged her. But she couldn’t put her finger on what. Maybe it was the way he spoke: his language just this side of formal, his accent American but kind of unplaceable. Or maybe it was the way his black eyes focused on her, unblinking. As if seeking something inside her.
    He didn’t seem to notice her awkward pause. “Ruby,” he said thoughtfully. “That’s a pretty name.”
    Ruby stiffened. Was he coming on to her too? “Thanks,” she answered shortly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to work.”
    â€œI’ll give you a hand.”
    â€œNo, you don’t have to, honestly. You’ve been super-cool already, and I don’t need a knight in shining armor.” I’ve been getting by without one all these years , she added to herself.
    â€œI know I don’t have to.” He flashed his dazzling smile. Without waiting, he started clearing bottles off the hall table that seemed to have served as an impromptu bar, dropping them into the half-filled recycling bag Ruby had left there earlier. Ruby watched him for a startled moment.
    Well, if he wants to help clean up his own mess, that’s good, right?
    She shrugged, fetched a garbage bag, and continued picking up debris from the floor: a discarded silk blouse striped with a honey-like substance, a soggy Louboutin pump that had been used as a champagne glass, judging by the puddle in the bottom.
    Into his own bag, Tam tossed a bent light fixture that had been pulled out of the wall like someone had been swinging from it. “I really should talk to the others about dialing back the mayhem. It’s not good for property values. Good thing the neighbors live far away.” He looked at her expectantly.
    Waiting for her to answer him. As in, have an actual conversation. With the cleaning lady.
    Okaaay.
    â€œHave you lived here long?” she asked at random.
    â€œFeels like centuries.” He brushed a pile of confetti off a table and into the garbage bag with an efficient sweep of his arm. “You seem kind of young to be cleaning people’s houses full-time. Are you a student?”
    Oh shit, was he trying to find out if she was ditching school? Was he going to rat her out? Then in the next instant she realized that was ridiculous. If she was supposed to be in class, so was he for sure. “I’m a junior,” she hedged.
    â€œI bet you’re buried in the college app process right now. NYU, right? The drama school?”
    She paused mid-clean and stared at him. “How did you know?”
    â€œI guessed. You’ve got movie-star looks. Isn’t taking a shitty job like cleaning houses what all actors do before they make it big?”
    A laugh sputtered out of Ruby before she could stop it. “Yeah, I guess so.”
    â€œThe shittier the job, the bigger the career, they say.”
    â€œThen mine will be massive.”
    â€œI’ve got a couple of ditches that need digging out back if you really want to blow up.”
    â€œI’ll stick to cleaning toilets, thanks all the same.”
    He chuckled, and she couldn’t resist a giggle. He seemed so friendly, so real. She had a hard time imagining how Tam could be involved in the over-the-top partying. Plus, he was hot. As in, really, really hot with broad shoulders filling out the button-down shirt, and a narrow