HER: Nope. I’ve known that dead muscle in your chest for far too long.
HIM: Ouch.
HER: Please. Dead muscles can’t be offended.
PRESENT DAY
The entire walk home from thebar, I’d had three competing thoughts circling in my mind on vicious repeat. First was Tejas’s warning about how the town was taking bets that Maisey and I weren’t really a couple. Second was how to keep my hands off her while she was in my house, tempting me every second of every day. But the third was the most destructive thought of them all.
That one had been in my head since seeing the towel drop in her room, since seeing rosy tips and small, firm breasts. That thought had me wondering why we couldn’t do the entire friends-with-benefits thing. Why couldn’t we assuage this scorching need and still remain friends?
For all we knew, giving in might be exactly what we both needed. Maybe it would kick the desire in the ass so we could concentrate onceagain on being just friends.
Doubts whispered in behind it, because what if touching Maisey only made me hunger for more? What if having her made it even more impossible to see other men looking at her? What if our hearts and souls decided they needed forever? Worse, what if hers did and mine didn’t?
That was usually when my lungs seized. That was usually when the ash of my past stole my breath. But tonight, the grip didn’t seem quite so vicious. I was still able to inhale the cool, pine-scented air.
So, what did it mean?
Every single thought went sailing the moment I walked in the door, and Maisey ran into my arms and kissed me. Was still kissing me. And not a simple peck. The kiss she gave was fierce and claiming. The kind of kiss that said we were truly a couple who’d missed each other in the few hours we’d been apart.
And the truth was, I had missed her. The entire time I’d sat listening to Tejas bemoaning the Swift Rivers’s dating pool, my mind had been on her. On what she was wearing, and what she was doing, and if she was reading a book that would have her aching with need that I could easily offer to sate.
I’d wanted to be home, kissing her just like this, drowning myself in her sweetness, getting lost in the heat that had burst into existence between us. I wanted to let the inferno loose until it consumed us, consequences be damned.
So I was ecstatic she’d taken the first step.
Until a laugh from the kitchen drew us apart.
Our gazes remained locked as Vader leaped and danced around us in a circle. I never took my eyes from Maisey as I reached down to pet the top of my dog’s head, trying to calm him. My attempt was as ineffective on him as my conscience was at calming the hunger crawling through me.
Until Fallon taunted, “I guess that ought to put an end to any doubts you had, Andie,” and Maisey blushed.
Then it wasn’t calm but disappointment that took over as realization hit. She’d kissed me to prove to others that we were real. That we weren’t just an agreement put together to satisfy the city officials.
It was the same problem I’d been grappling with on the way home. But maybe the actual problem was in not making this real—or real enough.
We could twine our bodies and our lives a bit more, couldn’t we? I was still breathing clear air tonight. That had to mean something, didn’t it?
I took a deep breath, as if to prove I could, and then wove my fingers with hers. Maisey stiffened ever so slightly before she gripped me back, and we made our way into the kitchen.
“I just spent three hours telling Tejas the same thing I’ll tell both of you.” I took turns fixing her friends with solemn looks. “Maisey and I are real. Get used to it because this isn’t a flight of fancy or some ridiculous romance book with a fake-engagement plot.”
Maisey made a weird noise I ignored. Instead, I tugged her into my side, kissed the top of her head, and then stared down her friends once more. “Any more questions?”
Andie laughed. “No. I think that pretty much takes care of it.”
She got up, steadied herself on the table, and it was then I noticed the margarita glasses and the ingredients spread out along the counter next to the blender. They’d been drinking. Maybe Maisey’s rush of affection at the door was as much alcohol-induced as it was to ward off the doubters.
That hint of disappointment I’d felt grew larger. I’d wanted the way Maisey had greeted me with a kiss to be real. I’d wanted her enthusiasm and her embrace and her devotion to be mine.
But could I give her enough in return to satisfy her? To keep her heart whole? To ensure she didn’t end up lying in a pool of blood?
“And, with that, I think it’s time for us to head home,” Fallon said.
“You been drinking too?” I asked, and she shook her head. She seemed sober enough to me, but her lips were quirked upward, as if she was trying not to laugh.
She and Andie gathered their phones and bags and headed for the door. Maisey dragged herself away from me to follow them. They all hugged goodbye, and Andie said, “I’ll send you the dates we have available first thing in the morning, and you can pick the one you like best.”