Page 31 of One Day

“Why are you mad right now?”

“I'm not mad,” I tell her, watching the flicker of emotion cross her face as she tries to choose her next play. Before she can, I lean down until my lips are just an inch from her ear. “I’m just not playing this game with you.”

“I’m not—”

“You’re trying to make me jealous.”

She wets her lips, drawing my attention to them, and my chest burns brightly for her. “Is it working?” she asks, tilting her chin up at me.

“You’ll have to try harder than that, Sunny,” I whisper, dropping my gaze to her lips again before looking up and putting an inch more space between us. “I don’t do well with being told what to do.”

“I’m not telling you what to do.”

“You’re forcing my hand.”

Her eyes soften. “I’m not forcing anything, Cowboy. You are allowed to make whatever decision you want to make,” she says, stepping back into me. Her hand lands on the center of my chest. My breath catches as she leans in a little further, her lips grazing my ear. “I just happen to know that decision is me—naked and yours to play with.”

When she falls back on her heel, there’s a smug look on her face. Turning her back to me, she heads in the opposite direction, giving me the perfect view of her ass as she walks away.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SONYA

When Everett suggested I use Campbell to try and make Walker jealous, I wasn’t sure how it would go over. I thought for sure it was going to be a waste of time, and I certainly didn’t expect Campbell to agree to do it, but when I approached him, I barely had the words out of my mouth before his hand was on my waist, pulling me into his side.

I put no faith in the idea that hanging onto someone else would put a fire under Walker’s ass, but that’s exactly what it did. Or it had until he realized what I was doing. Because of course he knew. Walker reads me better than anyone.

It was like a switch flipped for him. The moment he saw what I was doing, the jealousy that had been pulling his muscles tight vanished, replaced with a different kind of fire. I know he’s going to make me pay for playing with him. It’s just a matter of when, and if the catch in his breath earlier told me anything, he’s close to deciding what it is he wants.

All I need to do is wait and see what that is.

Which is easier said than done when all I want to do is rip his clothes off. I don’t know when the desire became so bright in the wake of everything going on between us, but it’s there. Burning me up from the inside, waiting for the string between us to finally sizzle and our willpower to snap.

“Beks, come on.” I reach for her hand when she crawls into bed beside a tipsy Everett. “This isn’t your bed. Let’s get you upstairs.”

“No!” she whines, burying her face in one of Everett’s pillows. It’s not often Bekah lets herself slip up and get more than tipsy, but today is one of those days. I’d find it amusing if I weren’t the one responsible for her wellbeing right now. “Let me stay here. Evy and I can have a sleepover. Right, Evy?”

Everett smiles down at her, sprawled out in bed next to her. “She can stay, Sunny.”

“You sure?”

He nods his head when Bekah kicks at his comforter, worming her way underneath the covers. “I’m sorry my plan didn’t work out with Walker. I was sure it’d do the trick.”

I shrug. “If it’s meant to be, it’ll work itself out.”

“Fuck, how do you do that?” he asks, sitting up on his elbows to study me. My lips curl up at the irritated look on his face. “I aspire to be you, Sonya Cartelli.”

That only makes my smile stretch, walking around the end of the bed. I cup his face between my hands, leaning down. “You’re perfect the way you are,” I tell him, pressing my lips to his forehead. “I wouldn’t want you to be anyone else.”

“Okay, get that sunshine shit out of here.” He waves me off, but I can see the spark of emotion welling in his eyes. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes I can catch Everett off guard. Sometimes, he lets me see the heart he hides away in a vault. Sometimes, he needs to know he doesn’t need to be anyone but himself.

I used to get so much shit for always being so full of optimism. It’s how my nickname came to be. Even when I have every reason to be pessimistic, I can’t bring myself to do it. There are a lot of reasons I could choose to be angry at the world. A lot of unfairness exists that makes my heart ache, but I can’t dwell on the things that make me sad. I want to be happy. I want to make other people happy. If I can do that by being cheerful and finding the sunnier side of things, then that’s what I will do.

It’s who I’ve always been, and I don’t want to change that. I don’t think I even know how. My mom used to tell me it’s like sunshine is woven into my DNA, making me brighter.

“Couldn’t convince her to get out of Everett’s bed, huh?” Reid asks from his spot on the couch when I get upstairs.

With a sigh, I shake my head and sink into the couch next to him. “She wants to have a sleepover, and once she decides, you know she’s not going anywhere. Thankfully, Everett’s in a good mood and decided to let it fly.”

---