♙
Most people would assume that sharing a bed with someone had to involve some level of romance. But that thought had never even crossed Seth’s mind. All he had done was try to comfort the girl and ensure that she was okay. He had been adamant that she needed to get away from her parents for the night, and that the only person on the street who would be willing to cross her father would be him. It was not hard to tell that she needed some sympathy and a shoulder to cry on, and he had been more than willing to provide her with both.
It helped that Vanessa had not been home in a number of days haven taken off in the middle of the night over some ridiculous argument involving his brother. If his wife had have been there, he was sure she would have demanded that Kate turn around and go back home. Vanessa was not necessarily the jealous type, but it had become quite apparent that she was growing tired of being second place on the list of her husband’s priorities.
Neither Seth nor Vanessa had expected guests within the first few months of the move, and so the room that had been created with the purpose of acting as a guest room was still filled with unopened boxes. It just did not seem right to Seth to turn her away due to there being no room, no place for her.
“I’ll take the sofa.”
It was a friendly request in order to make the girl feel comfortable or at least ensure that nothing unpleasant happened between the two of them that could potentially ruin the relationship the two of them had formed. But the sobs that escaped Kate had managed to wake Seth from his slumber in the guest room that was adjacent to the master bedroom.
“Shit.”
The logic part of him begged him to stay asleep, ignore the wails escaping the girl but the sensitive part of him was desperate to check on her. As much as he tried to suppress the sympathetic side of him, it just seemed to come out almost naturally whenever he was with the girl.
But the last thing that he had expected upon walking into the dimly lit bedroom was for Kate to reach for his hand, eyes swollen and red due to the mixture of tears and mascara. Although he knew there would be Hell to pay if Vanessa returned home and witnessed this sight, he couldn’t just turn his back on her when she seemed to need someone so badly.
“It’s okay, I’m here.”
He smiled solemnly as Kate pressed her head against his chest, a delicate hand resting beside it as her eyes flickered to a close. Seth should have shrugged her off as soon as she drifted to sleep but he couldn’t, she deserved to have some company even if it meant having to share a bed with the preacher’s daughter.
But this was all innocent.











