Page 62 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Nothing’s wrong. I can’t drop by to see you? You came by on Wednesday to see me,” I answered, frowning.

My eyes flicked down to her lips for a split second. When I glanced up, I caught her mirroring me—staring at my lips in return. Ever since we slept together . . . most of everything had been normal between us, except for moments when we look at each other like this.

Our mornings have been usual with just us, our coffee, and breakfast. But one glance from her with a certain glint in her eyes, either at me or my lips, would make my gaze dart to her lips as well. Sometimes, the same look would be from me, and we would just stare at each other with thick swallows. Neither calling the other out nor making a sly remark.

It would be too much to topple the world we had built up around our friendship and the clear lines we established after last Saturday night.

And yet, these last few days I have been consumed by a profound longing to just be with Shoua. She’s my best friend, but my brain reacted as if I had never laid eyes on any other woman before whenever she was around. Wherever she went, my eyes followed. Whatever she did, I wanted to do it with her. Wherever she was, I wanted to be with her.

“I just wanted to see you,” I said again.

“But we see each other all the time.” She finally looked into my eyes with raised brows. Upon seeing my frown, she let out a small laugh. “Why do you look so down, Anthony?”

Shoua reached out to touch my shoulder, but I wanted her hands all over me. There was so much I wanted from her, as my heart pounded harder. The smile on her lips pulled a little bigger. Her finger reached up to ghost over the corner of my lips. I almost leaned in just to feel her warmth on me again. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”

I blinked. I was smiling?

“I’m excited to head up to the lake this weekend,” I said instead of telling her why I was really smiling.

“Me too,” she said, nodding. “I still can’t believe you lied to me about us staying at a cottage miles away from the lake. I was expecting all eleven of us to squeeze into a three-bedroom house.”

I snickered. “Gotcha! And Jonathan! Don’t tell Julie that we’re staying in a house, though. She still thinks we’re going camping.”

Shoua let out a laugh. “You’re such an asshole.”

“You know me! I always try my best when it comes to Julie. But it’s not my fault her boyfriend’s in on it too.”

Andy and me grew up close to Julie and I’ve always loved joking around with her. She was very much my little sister and, as an older brother, I couldn’t pass up the fact that I could still get under her skin as an adult.

“You two are so annoying. You’re both lucky Julie loves you too much and puts up with your crap all the time.”

I could hear her crunching the mint she popped in her mouth earlier as she relaxed even more into her seat. I chomped down on mine too as she quickly responded to a few texts.

“You better not tell her,” I warned, glancing at how fast she was texting.

She glanced at me with an inquisitive, raised brow. “Or what?”

My mouth twisted into a smirk. “I’ll think about it when we’re sleeping in the same room at the lake house.”

She blinked slowly in my direction. Amused, but undeterred. “No, we’re not. Julie and I are going to sleep in the same room as we always do. So, you’ll be stuck bunking with your brother.”

I let out a low chuckle. “Nah, from what I could recall, Andy said that they’re sleeping together in the same room. He can’t live a day without Julie now that he’s got her.”

“Well, he’s going to have to because I want to stay up late and talk with Julie.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that. Andy’s bound to room with her even if you two start off rooming together. You know how slick he can be at times.”

“You and your brother are unreal,” Shoua scoffed.

I snickered, leaning close to her. “But you know you love me.”

“A little too much, to be honest.” She shook her head at me as she glanced at her phone. “Anyways, I should be heading back inside. Your lunch break is almost over, so you should head back too.”

My jaw dropped in disbelief. I had barely seen her for twenty minutes and she was already telling me to leave? She could at least give me another ten minutes before she shooed me away. I frowned again.

“Why does it feel like you don’t want to see me at all when you’re at work?”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” she said. “I just don’t want my colleagues to assume anything from what they already know about us. We’re friends, Anthony.”

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