Page 55 of The Winning Ticket

I’m not even remotely sorry, and I chuckle while I put my phone back in my pocket and set about starting work. We’re starting in the kitchen today, or at least what will one day be the kitchen. At the moment, it’s still just the framework.

My phone buzzes again, and I look at it one last time, knowing that, although I want to, I can’t let this situation with Bri distract me.

Little B

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, JJ. I woke up horny as hell, and it’s entirely your fault.

Well, that wasn’t going to help with the distraction issue, was it? Now, I was going to spend my morning trying not to imagine her lying in bed and wanting me.

By the time we clock off, my good mood from this morning has disappeared. I cannot wait until the cooler months, as this summer seems to be kicking my ass. I’ve drunk so much water but just sweated it all out in the 40-degree heat.

I wish I was heading back to the apartment and could just jump into the spa with a beer and my girl, but instead, I have to settle for a cold shower and lie on the couch in front of the only air conditioner in my house. I really need to install one in my bedroom.

I do a double take when I realise that, in my mind, I’m referring to Bri as my girl. It’s only been two days, and already, I’ve blurred the lines between friends with benefits and a relationship. Who had I been kidding when I suggested this arrangement with her? As much as I try to deny it to myself and everyone else, I am so far gone with this girl, and it has only been two months since she walked back into my life. Was I fooling myself that it could one day be something more? Most likely, but now that I’d had a taste of what it was like to hold her in my arms, I couldn’t go back to how we were before.

Little B

How was work? Maddie and I miss you.

Her text comes through with a selfie of her sitting on her preferred sun lounger, perfectly angled so that she includes a cleavage shot in her bikini while she pouts at the camera and Maddie is licking her cheek. I bite down on my lower lip when I realise she’s wearing the same bikini from when we were together in the spa, and memories of pulling it off swirl through me.

Fuck, this woman really is going to be the death of me.

Jake

Work was hot. Wish I was there with you instead of dying out here.

I throw my phone on the kitchen counter and start peeling clothes off while heading towards the bathroom, where I blast the cold water and step under the stream, finally welcoming the chance to cool down.

After getting out of the shower, I pull on a pair of boxers and turn the air conditioner on as low as it will go before heading back into the kitchen to get myself a cold beer. I stand in front of the open fridge door and eye off the meagre ingredients inside, trying to work out what to do about dinner when I’m distracted by my phone ringing. Thinking it will be Bri, I snatch it up but am surprised to see Chris’s name flashing across the screen.

“Hey,” I say, putting the phone on speaker while pulling ingredients out of the fridge.

“Hey. Are you coming back into town this weekend?” he asks, never one to worry about small talk.

“I hadn’t decided yet,” I say, lying to both him and myself. There was no way I wouldn’t be on that highway come lunchtime Friday to spend the weekend buried inside Bri once again.

“We need to get suits for you and Will, and I figured with the girls going bridesmaid dress shopping, I could get you two both sorted at the same time.”

“Ah, okay, in that case, I guess I can head back. Who doesn’t love a chance to go clothes shopping with his best mates for penguin suits?” I ask with a grin, and Chris snorts.

“Yeah, I can tell you’re super excited about it. I got the same level of enthusiasm out of Will when I asked him.”

“Well, while we aren’t jumping at the chance to go clothes shopping, we are excited to stand up there beside you, mate, so don’t stress. We’re saving our enthusiasm for bucks night and the wedding.”

“Speaking of, have you two worked out what we’re doing for the bucks night?” he asks, and I laugh.

“No fishing for details, sir. We’ve got it covered, and we have Morgan’s approved list of activities because she scares us.” A list that starts with ‘NO STRIPPERS’ and a million exclamation marks afterwards.

Like Chris would ever look at anyone else other than her anyway – he has been gone for this woman since we were twelve years old, and he finally realised that girls actually didn’t have germs.

“Ah, yes, the list. I wonder if I should put one together for her,” he says, and I can hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Good luck with that, Mr Watson. We all know that Morgan is the boss of you,” I say, and he snorts a laugh.

“Only in some ways. While she might be in charge of a lot of areas, in the bedroom, that is all me, my friend.”

I groan. “I didn’t need to know that, mate. The less I know about your sex lives, the better.”

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