Page 38 of Should Have Been Me

“Great,” she chirped happily. “This’ll be so much fun.”

Ethan followed after her hesitantly, and I turned to the man clutching me. My eyes must have projected the question I wanted to ask, because he gave me a single abbreviated nod before releasing me so I could return to the seat I’d vacated. Just like he had the first time, he scooted until there was no space between us, but this time, instead of placing his arm across the back of the bench seat, he made no pretenses about hooking it over my shoulders as he returned to the study of his menu.

Across the table Eliza shot me a giddy grin, holding two thumbs up over the edge of the table. My stomach sank at her approval. It didn’t sit well with me, lying to her, but I did my best to shake it off. Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how I looked at it—my focus was stolen away from the guilt churning my insides when Vaughn began sliding his fingers up and down my arm from shoulder to elbow, over and over. Goosebumps pebbled my skin and a zing shot from my nipples straight between my thighs at the featherlight touch.

I cleared my throat and tried my best to be discreet as I shifted in my seat, clenching my legs together against the ache that had formed there. It was a gentle caress, for crying out loud. There was no reason for my panties to be as wet as they already were.

Even though my brain was shorting out, I was still with it enough to notice that our table had grown quiet, and not in the comfortable way it would have been if it were just Vaughn and me. “So, uh... h-how do you two know each other?” I asked, looking between Ethan and Vaughn.

The tension melted away as Ethan spoke up. “We grew up on the same block.” He chuckled and shook his head good-naturedly. “Used to run around getting into all kinds of trouble. Remember that one summer when we found that squirrel out in the woods behind your place?”

I shot a glance Vaughn’s way and could practically see the wheels churning in his head as the memories started piecing together.

“That’s right.” His mouth started to hook upward, and I held my breath as I waited to see if he might actually smile, but he caught himself before it got that far and reined it back in. “You thought you could talk your grandmother into letting you keep it as a pet, only she screamed bloody murder when you walked through the door with it and you ended up dropping it.”

Ethan’s laugh was unrestrained and carefree, and I couldn’t help but wish Vaughn was able to do the same, to let go long enough to... be happy. Truly, unreservedly happy. Because the better I got to know him, the more I realized he deserved it.

“What happened to the squirrel?” Eliza asked, as interested to see how the story played out as I was.

“Didn’t it take something like, two hours for us to catch that squirrel?” Vaughn asked, his voice sounding lighter than I’d ever heard it before as he recalled the past. Almost on the verge of laughter. Something about hearing that made my own chest feel lighter, and the smile I hadn’t realized I was wearing stretched even bigger.

“Yeah, it did. She grounded me for a week for that stunt. Didn’t let me keep the damn thing, either.”

At the sound of my giggle, Vaughn’s head turned, his gaze catching mine before sliding down to my smiling mouth. Those ocean eyes of his darkened, his nostrils flaring on an exhale. Before I knew what was happening, his hand came up, his index finger and thumb cradling the tip of my chin and tilting my face up so he could press his lips to mine. It wasn’t a kiss, really. More of a brush of his lips as our breaths tripped over each other’s. Back and forth, back and forth, but it was still enough to cause stars to burst behind the backs of my eyelids once they fluttered closed. Still enough to make my belly flip like an Olympic gymnast and my skin to grow tight everywhere.

My chest rattled on a stuttered inhale, and it felt like it took an eternity for my eyes to peel open once Vaughn broke that tender kiss. It took a moment for my fuzzy vision to clear so I could see him clearly, but once I could, it was as if I were seeing him in a whole new light.

“Oh my god. You guys are so freaking cute.”

My body jerked as the busy restaurant full of people faded back into focus. Until Eliza had spoken, I’d forgotten all about our new dinner companions. I buried my face in the crook of Vaughn’s neck on a groan, my face heating up to the color of a stop sign.

His arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me so close to his side I was practically in his lap, but with his heat enveloping me and his smell filling my lungs stronger than it ever had before, the embarrassment I’d been feeling a moment ago quickly melted away.

“All right, baby,” Ethan said in a warning tone that was mixed liberally with humor. “Stop trying to embarrass her already. She looks like she’s about to melt into the booth’s vinyl covering.”

Vaughn’s arm moved, but before I had a chance to miss the hold he’d had on me, his large, rough palm slid onto my leg beneath the table, a good few inches above my knee. His fingers curled around my inner thigh in a hold that made my inner muscles tighten and my lower belly hollow out.

His hand clenched, the tips of his fingers digging into my flesh in a way that made the apex of my thighs wet and achy, desperate for him to slide his grip just a little higher.

“My girl’s made of tougher stuff than that,” he said, the meaning of words throwing me off kilter just as much as the affection I heard laced within them. “Isn’t that right, Calamity?”

I curled my lips inward to temper the ridiculously giddy smile that wanted to break free as I nodded. “I’d have to be to put up with you, City Slicker.”

That earned me another corner lip tremble, and I nearly swooned on the spot. A voice in the back of my head was screaming at me to slow my roll. That I needed to get my head out of the clouds and remember what this really was before I ended up getting hurt. Only, I was afraid I was already too far gone to care.

20

VAUGHN

It was official, the tenuous hold I’d had on my control—as well as my sanity—was gone. Completely. I lost it somewhere between the impromptu double date with Ethan and his wife and that goddamn smile Jolie had given me after Ethan shared that story from our childhood. The one that made it impossible not to kiss her in the middle of a busy restaurant.

I couldn’t keep a level head when she looked at me like that, those gray eyes lighting up and sparkling in a way I knew I would never get enough of. The whole evening had been one hit after another to that wall of ice that had formed in my chest years ago, making it impossible for anything else to fit inside. Now half that wall was lying in a crumbling heap, leaving me exposed and raw.

After that brush of our lips, I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her. The need to touch her had formed into this visceral thing that refused to be ignored. Like an itch deep beneath my skin that I couldn’t seem to locate no matter how hard I tried. And from the way she’d squirmed beneath my hand when I had it resting on her thigh, shifting ever so slightly like she was trying to get it to slip higher, I knew she was feeling the same way.

Hell, I could still feel the heat of her arousal coming from between her legs, and as I drove my car through town on the way back to my house, it was taking everything I had not to reach over and slip my palm beneath her skirt to see if she was as wet for me as I was hard for her.

I was surprised to find I’d actually enjoyed sharing our dinner with another couple. I liked watching Jolie interact with her friend. The affection they had for one another was clear, and I was glad she had that. I had even enjoyed catching up with Ethan. The more stories from our past he regaled the women with, the more I was able to recall those earlier years when I’d lived in Pembrooke. It was as if the dam had broken and the memories came flooding back. Happy memories. Even cherished ones I’d completely forgotten about.

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