Page 66 of No Summer Hotter than You

“Yup,” Andy said with a wide grin. He wrapped his arm around Julie’s waist and pulled her closer to his side. He sent her a flirty wink and she shook her head at him with a smile. “I kiss my best friend every day.”

“Correction: You kiss your girlfriend every day. Anyone want anything to drink?” Anthony asked. I was grateful he changed the subject so quickly. After we shook our heads, he went into the kitchen. “What are we having for dinner?”

“Sorry, I completely forgot to grab dinner on the way home,” I said, frowning.

Andy shrugged nonchalantly with a mischievous grin. “Why don’t we just go out? Double date! I’ll drive!”

“It’s not going to be a double date!” Anthony and I practically shouted at the same time. He quickly walked out of the kitchen holding a flavored seltzer. He looked upset, his brows creased together with frustration tugging the corners of his lips into a small frown.

Julie let out an amused laugh as she raised a pointed brow at me. “Aren’t you two supposed to be a couple?”

“Come on, you two. Show us how well you play pretend. We want the front row seats to all the fun too,” Andy said. Then he cackled. “I don’t know why you are holding back on us. It’s only fair since we haven’t seen your performances, right?”

Julie, on the other hand, smiled. She quickly pulled me tightly into her embrace and pressed our cheeks together. “Can we please go on a double date? Pretty please?” she asked, her voice syrupy sweet.

Anthony shook his head. He grumbled something as he sipped his drink. His eyes casually landed on me, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a thick swallow of his seltzer. They flicked to my lips for split second as he had done earlier during lunch. My heart beat a little harder for that moment before he quickly tore his eyes away to Julie and then Andy.

“What?” he asked his brother.

Andy smirked, shrugging. “Nothing.”

Anthony arched a brow at him just as Andy mirrored the same expression back paired with expressive eyes that only the two of them could read. They seemed to be communicating nonverbally as they often did when we were younger. I was never sure if it was a twin thing, or if they just knew each other well enough to not to have to say a single word to one another.

“So? What are we going to do?” Julie asked, pulling away from our hug.

“Let’s go out, but we shouldn’t stay out too long. Shoua and me had a long day at work, and we all need to get up early so we can get on the road to the lake so we have enough time to set up camp,” Anthony said with a nod. He licked his lips, drawing my eyes to the curve of his mouth and the slip of that pink, slick tongue of his.

Julie grumbled a bit at the mention of camping and quickly got onto her phone as the three of us shared a knowing glance. She quickly pulled up a few restaurants to look through. “So, what do we all want to eat tonight? Chinese? Korean? Vietnamese? Thai? Something else?”

“Let’s just do Thai,” replied Andy. Then his gaze darted between Anthony and me. “Wait, are Julie and I going to get dinner and a show?”

The annoying smirk Andy was wearing almost made me want to hit him over the head as if he was one of my brothers or Jonathan. I loved him and we had been friends forever, but he could easily get on my nerves as much as my family did.

“No,” Anthony and I answered together.

Julie laughed. “Andy, just be patient. We have all week up at the lake to see them pretend.”

Andy chuckled along with her as Anthony and I shared a withering look. We have yet to test out our fake relationship since we had sex . . . which made me worried. Were we going to fumble when we were on such a good roll? Or would we put aside the tension between us and make it work?

I hoped it was the latter.

The next morning, I jolted awake with surprise before my alarm went off. I suddenly realized my panties were soaked, and images from a very sensual dream flashed before my eyes. Was I that aroused from a dream alone? It wasn’t as if I had been sex deprived lately, so I was shocked by how sensitive my body was.

I glanced over to where Anthony slept last night on the fold out futon mattress on the floor. Since Andy and Julie slept at Anthony’s, he offered them his only bed and naturally slept over at my place. He insisted on sleeping on the couch, but I told him should sleep on the futon in my bedroom instead. My room have always been cooler than the living room and he graciously took the offer.

I didn’t offer my bed, nor did he ask for it. If we had slept in the same bed, I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted to his overheated body being next to me after waking up from a dream of him pinning me down and thrusting hungrily into me—nope. I was going to have to stop thinking about that dream.

Thankfully, Anthony wasn’t in the room; he probably went for a quick early morning run. He mentioned last night before we went to sleep that he might do that. I took the chance and quickly jumped in the shower.

As warm water cascaded down my back, I thought about what happened between Anthony and me last Saturday. I’d be lying if I said I was doing completely well in the aftermath of our one-night stand. I never expected anything to come out of it since I knew there was nothing romantic between us.

That night was a slipup, which was why it was meant to be just for one night. But I was certain Anthony could feel the way our relationship had shifted just as much as I could. We were no longer the friends we used to be, nor were we more than that. We were in a weird limbo. Our relationship was fraying at the edges, and I didn’t know what to do to save it.

The only thing I could think to do was try to get over what happened between us, establish that we were still friends, and simply move on. At least that was what I was trying to do, but I couldn’t because Anthony kept coming to my work with lunch. He has been insisting on spending several hours with me every day.

He had even set aside his furniture restoration projects just to laze around the house with me. It wasn’t unusual for him to take a break from projects. But it didn’t usually happen when he was excited about a project, and I thought he was happy about his vanity table.

We were together so much that I didn’t have the space I needed to mull over my thoughts, and even though I thought I had a plan, I no longer knew what to do.

---