Page 32 of Unbelievable You

But Stace was just…soft. Not her body, necessarily. Her body was all muscles, but something about her told me that she’d be an excellent cuddler. That when she hugged you, she really went for it. She’d probably pick me up and hold me so close that I couldn’t breathe. That kind of thing.

Not something I’d ever fantasized or considered, but after I saw her at the park, I couldn’t stop wondering.

Cade and Reid even noticed when we went out for dinner. Eloise was under an intense writing deadline, and Reid didn’t have to work so it was perfect. I’d missed both of them. The three of us had been so close and I couldn’t help but feel like we were drifting apart. Just a little.

It was only natural that our friendships would ebb and flow as we got older, but if I stopped having them in my life altogether, I didn’t know what I’d do.

Cade had hugged me tight, as if she had missed me as well.

“Hey, you seem sad,” she said, pulling back to look at my face.

“I’m fine,” I said, swallowing back a few uncomfortable emotions.

Reid hugged me too, but it was brief. Reid wasn’t much of a hugger or a toucher, and I understood that.

We ordered our first round of wings, cheesy fries, and chips with spinach artichoke dip. The beer was pretty weak, but that was fine.

“How’s the deadline going?” I asked Cade.

“I think my girlfriend is starting to crack. She keeps waking up and making notes in the middle of the night and she’s actually started talking in her sleep. I keep telling her that the book doesn’t have to be perfect, but she’s been agonizing over every single word. I wish there was something I could do other than to bring her food and force her to eat and drink enough water so she doesn’t get dehydrated.”

Cade had circles under her eyes so it seemed that the deadline was taking a toll on both of them.

“And then you have the tour coming up,” Reid said after she gulped some beer.

“Yup. Still freaking out about that, but I bought a bunch of clothes and a new suitcase. I don’t know. It’s going to be a lot.”

I wanted to ask if she’d talked with Eloise about what they were going to say to the public, but I kept my mouth shut. I wasn’t going to interfere or continue to bring it up.

“You’d better give us all the behind-the-scenes content,” Reid said.

“Oh you know I will. Is it bad that I’m most looking forward to staying in the nice hotels and the room service?” Cade asked.

“And the hotel sex. Don’t forget about that,” Reid said, grinning.

“Oh my god, Reid. We’re probably going to be too tired and busy for sex,” Cade said, but her face was scarlet.

“If you don’t have any sex on tour, I’m going to be disappointed in you,” Reid said, pointing at Cade with a fry.

“Have sex, don’t have sex, it doesn’t matter to us,” I said, nudging Reid.

“Listen, one of us should be getting regular sex,” Reid said.

I turned in my seat to look at her. “What about you? What’s stopping you from getting regular sex?”

Reid let out a grumpy sound. “My job? My sleep schedule? My…personality?” The last one made Cade snort.

“Those sound more like excuses to me,” I said. “You literally work in a bar where people hook up in the bathroom and you can’t get laid? Seems like a skill issue.”

Reid gave me a viscous look. “You know I can’t hook up at work. That’s how I get fired.”

Cade scoffed. “I have seen several other bartenders getting laid at Sapph.”

So had I.

Reid growled and downed the rest of her beer. “Listen, if I knew you were both going to gang up on me, I wouldn’t have come.” Reid was the kind of person you could tease only so far before she got seriously pissed and then you might not hear from her for a few days. She blamed her prickliness on sleep deprivation all the time, but it really was just her personality. Once you got past that, she was loyal and truly kind and talented at most things she tried.

“We’re sorry. We’re not ganging up on you,” Cade said, reaching across the table to squeeze Reid’s shoulder. “Do you want us to help, or do you want to just bitch without judgment?”

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