Page 33 of Should Have Been Me

Jolie laughed. A full-on, stomach-aching kind of laugh that came from the deepest part of her belly. She held her middle as her head fell back, cackling at my expense as my balls drew up into my stomach in fear.

“Glad you find this amusing,” I grumbled as the cat on my lap let out a purr so loud it could have rattled the glass in the house. Then, to my utter bewilderment, it began to rub its head across my jaw.

“She likes you,” Jolie finally said after the longest minute of my life, in which I worried for the safety not only of my suit but the skin beneath. “She’s snuggling. You should feel very lucky, because she doesn’t do this with just anyone. She’s a bit... choosey. Usually you have to work for her affection.”

“Yes, well, as delighted as I am that she’s decided to like me after our last encounter, I think we might be better off enjoying each other from afar.”

Jolie rose from her chair with a playful roll of her eyes. She picked the cat up by her middle and removed her from my lap, snuggling the thing against her chest. “All right, you grump. I’ll save you and your precious suit from a vicious attack of cat hair. Let me put her in my room.”

Once she left, I looked down. My top lip curled up at layers of cat hair that were sticking to my shirt and slacks. I’d be lucky if the drycleaner in this town could get it all out. Lord knew it would be a pain in the ass to get out of my car.

A week ago that might have been enough to send me on a rant, but all I felt in that moment was minor agitation that my allergies were likely to be activated in a few minutes.

She returned a minute later, just as I was standing from my seat and dusting fruitlessly at my clothes, trying to get the cat hair off. “Here. I brought you a lint roller. Didn’t think you’d appreciate tracking cat hair into your car,” she said as though she’d read my earlier thoughts.

That tightness in my throat returned at her thoughtful gesture. “Um, thank you.” I took the roller from her hand and started swiping it down my front as she reached up to pluck at strands of cat hair near my collar.

The room suddenly felt half the size it had been a minute ago. That sunshine scent of hers enveloped me like an embrace, tugging at my chest and causing my dick to swell uncomfortably beneath my slacks. As much fun as I was having, and as badly as I would have preferred to stay, I knew it was best we call it a night. I needed to get back on solid footing, and I couldn’t if she was there, invading every one of my senses until nothing else mattered.

“It’s getting late,” I managed to choke out, the words harder to say than I had anticipated. Summoning up all the control I’d let slip through my fingers since arriving, I forced my body to move, bending to pick up my empty plate and stacking it on top of Jolie’s so I could carry them into the kitchen. She grabbed our glasses, following after me.

“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted when I started rinsing. When I didn’t stop, she placed her hand on my forearm to halt my progress. “Really, you don’t have to.” She smiled but I couldn’t help but notice it didn’t reach those glittering gray orbs I was quickly becoming obsessed with. “I’m kind of particular about my dishes. I’ll take care of this. You said it yourself, it’s getting late.”

At her last sentence, a need for self-preservation that had been driving me less than a handful of minutes ago faded into oblivion, leaving behind a rancid, sticky coating of shame. Being an asshole had never bothered me in the past. It was something that had always come naturally, a defense mechanism from my childhood that was so engrained in me now it was practically woven into the fabric of my personality. However, for the first time since I was a kid, I wished that wasn’t the case, because I felt like I’d hurt her somehow, and I hated that feeling.

Unfortunately, there was no way to take it back.

With a stunted shake of my head, I dried my hands on the towel she handed me, the air filling with awkward tension as we watched each other silently. My feet felt like they were stuck in some sludgy mess that made walking difficult as I headed for the front door, grabbing my jacket from where it was draped over her couch on the way.

“Thank you.” I had to clear my throat to rid it of the thickness that made those two words come out far more gruffly than I’d intended. “For dinner. It was really good.”

She flared her eyes dramatically before smiling a true smile, and I refused to think about the way that made my chest feel like a ton of bricks had been lifted right off it.

“Wow. I’m pretty sure that ‘really good’ for you is the equivalent of a five-star review on Yelp.”

I rolled my eyes at her teasing, the corner of my mouth trembling once more with the need to grin. “All right, smartass. I’ll see you later. Try to stay out of trouble, would you?”

Her grin turned downright cheeky. “I make no such promise.” Then she shocked the hell out of me by popping onto her tiptoes and pressing a lingering kiss to my cheek, close enough to my mouth that I felt the brush of her lips against the very edge of my own. My heart was beating like I’d run the hundred-meter dash by the time she lowered herself back down. “Drive safe. I guess we’ll talk soon?”

Unable to form words, I nodded before turning on my heel and heading for my car. By the time I climbed inside and started it up, my dick was like granite, standing so hard I could feel my pulse in it.

There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I was well and truly fucked, because if a kiss on the goddamn cheek was enough to guarantee I was going to have to fuck my own fist as soon as I got home, faking something more with Jolie Prescott was going to destroy my sanity.

17

JOLIE

The nervous energy that had been buzzing beneath my skin like a million tiny bumblebees grew more intense as soon as I made the turn the GPS indicated, pulling up in front of Vaughn’s house.

It had been two days since our dinner, and while we’d texted fairly regularly, we hadn’t seen each other since that night. It had been a bit of a blessing and a curse. My world had been feeling a little lopsided since he walked out my door, and the truth was, I really only had myself to blame. I never should have kissed him. It was only supposed to have been a mild, friendly kiss on the cheek that meant nothing at all. But at the very last second, my body had acted of its own accord, shifting direction so that I got a bit of his lips as well.

On the surface it had been totally innocent, but it had left my insides feeling like they were on fire. That low simmer deep in my belly only grew stronger as each day passed. I was grateful for the short break from him, desperate to get things back to center. However, that night seemed to have awakened something in me. My body was more aware than ever that it had been a long, lonely year since I’d been touched. I’d gone nearly three hundred sixty-five days without sex, my only release coming from an inanimate battery-powered object, and now it was all I could think about. Every time I closed my eyes to give in to my body’s baser needs, it was Vaughn’s face that popped into my head.

How was it that, even when he was being grumpy as hell, I still found him a million times more attractive than any other man I laid eyes on? In fact, there was something about that ever-present scowl of his that turned me on more than usual.

I’d spent the past two days telling myself that avoiding him was for the best, yet every time my phone pinged, excitement coursed through me, shoving my stomach into my throat. It was the very same sensation I got every time I rode a rollercoaster. That mixture of thrill and fear that created something heady and addictive. The few times it wasn’t him on the other end of the message, my heart sank with disappointment.

I told myself not to read into it, no matter how date-like that dinner at my place felt, it hadn’t been real. In fact, the only reason I was sitting in my car in front of his house instead of at my own after a long, tiring day at work, was because we both agreed we needed to put in a little face time in town. The gossip on us hadn’t died down one bit, but when Ryan had returned from a coffee run earlier that morning, she informed me she overheard some people talking, and they seemed to be of the opinion that Vaughn and I had already broken up since we hadn’t been seen together since that morning at the café.

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