Houston prodded Dennis’s leg with his foot. “What are you laying down for? I’m ready to go out.”
“I’m sitting this one out. I’m whipped today.”
“Don’t be an old man,” Houston said in disbelief. “These are the best waves all year.”
Dennis rested back in the sand and closed his eyes, dropping his hands on his chest. “You don’t understand. I’m married. Tammy kept me up all last night.”
“Jesus, that’s more information than I need.” Not to mention he was still partially erect from his teasing encounter with Josie an hour ago. He didn’t need sex talk right now.
“What, are you embarrassed? You’ve gotten a conscience or something? You used to be a big talker from what I remember.” Dennis snorted.
“Yeah, well, you can’t talk about what you’re not getting.” Not getting on a regular basis, anyway. He did envy Dennis and Christian that.
His buddies laughed at him, while he grumbled and pretended to check the wax on his board. “Besides, I never was one to blab about what I was doing with girls. That was you.”
“You need a life outside of that germ-filled hospital, Houston,” Christian said. “Kori’s got another woman all lined up for you.”
Oh, hell.
Houston frowned.
He’d been friends with Christian for twenty years, way before the guy had gone and fallen for Houston’s younger sister, Kori. While Houston had gotten over his buddy sleeping with his baby sister and had learned to appreciate that Kori was in good hands since she’d married Christian, it also meant that his friendship with Christian was always tied to his sister. Which he could do without.
But he had a definite soft spot for Kori, despite her tendency to think the answer to all his problems lay in marrying one of her friends.
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he was never gettingmarried, and that while he wasn’t above having some company for dinner, there was no woman he would ask out twice. More than one date, and they started to have expectations.
Expectations he couldn’t live up to.
Besides, he hadn’t met anyone yet who had intrigued him enough to want more than one date.
Except for Josie Adkins.
Whose alluring qualities centered around her lush curves and how soon he could lick every inch of them.
“All right. I’ll go on the date with Kori’s friend,” he told Christian with a shrug.
Christian clapped him on the back. “See, that’s what I like about you. You’re so easy-going. And all this matchmaking business keeps Kori’s mind off having another baby, which is what she really wants to do.”
“Two aren’t enough?” Houston loved his two little nieces, ages four and two, but damn, they wore him out. He had serious doubts about his personal ability to deal with that kind of constant diaper-ridden chaos.
“It’s plenty for me,” Christian assured him. “But Kori’s a born nurturer, you know, and with Abby out of the crib, she’s got an empty spot.”
“Buy her a dog,” Dennis suggested. “They shit just as much, but they cost less.”
Christian laughed. “Yeah, I’ll suggest it to Kori just like that. I’m sure that will win her over.”
As Dennis and Christian argued the merit of Labs versus Irish setters, Houston found himself wondering about Josie.
He didn’t know her very well, but he suspected she fell solidly into the category of a nurturer.
Which disturbed the hell out of him. He should count himself lucky that Josie looked inclined to say no to his offer of a single night of passion. She wasn’t the one-night-stand type, and he might have found himself entangled in a big old emotional messthat wouldn’t have fixed the tension between them, but increased it tenfold.
Yeah, he was feeling lucky all right. Too bad his rock-solid and sadly neglected dick didn’t agree.
He interrupted the dog conversation. “So you’re really sitting out this wave?” he asked Dennis.
When Dennis nodded, he said to Christian, “That’s enough bullshitting for me, boys, I’m heading out. You coming?”