Page 50 of Somebody To Love

CHAPTER 20

At the knock on her door, Penny’s heartbeat sped up. The darn thing raced, pumping blood throughout her body, heating her internal temperature until sweat gathered on her brow. Or maybe she was hot because she knew who stood behind that door. She knew that steady knock, the firm hand. As of last night, she had intimate knowledge of the owner of said hand.

“Get it together, Penny,” she admonished herself, making her way to the door. “Nothing has changed.”

Not entirely true. Some things had changed. Big things. But that didn’t mean she had to get all hot and bothered every time her best friend came to the door. Just because BJ was here didn’t mean he came for sex.

Please let him have come for sex.

Even though this was all supposed to be for procreation purposes, she discovered she enjoyed the more…extracurricular aspects of their intimacy.

When she opened the door, her smile and expectations of the night washed away as she took in BJ’s somber appearance.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just a long day.”

He plastered on his fake smile, the one he used when he didn’t want to talk about things. Well too darn bad! They had years of friendship between them, no matter what dimensions this physical addition to their relationship brought on. He didn’t get to fake anything. Not with her.

“BJ, come on. It’s me.” She grabbed his hand, tugging him inside and shutting the door behind him. Once she had them both seated on the couch, she placed their clasped hands in her lap. “We’re best friends. You can always talk to me.”

Tugging the band from around his bun, he shook his head. Thick, wavy locks of soft brown hair fell around his face. Her fingers itched to stroke through them, feel their silky heaven once again, but now didn’t seem like the right time for such familiarity. Instead, she waited patiently as he tugged his own hands through his hair, laying back against the couch with a sigh.

“It’s Ace and Charlie.”

“What about them?”

“Nothing for you to worry about. Just annoying family stuff.”

Her heart clenched at his words. Silly. He hadn’t meant to upset her, but it did all the same. She knew his family wasn’t technically hers, but sometimes she wished they were. At times, it seemed like she was a stranger in her own family. Her parents and sister loved her, she knew that, but she didn’t really fit in with them. She didn’t exactly fit in with the Jacksons either, but they accepted her for who she was. They didn’t try to change her or make fun of her. And she fit with BJ, so much so that they were trying to make their own family. An unconventional one, sure, but a family all the same.

Perhaps that was why it pained her to hear him wave off his family problems as if they didn’t concern her. They were friends—and lovers, for the time being. He concerned her and anything that hurt him also concerned her.

“You don’t have to keep stuff in. Not around me.”

His head turned on the back of her couch, eyes gazing at her with worry. “I don’t want to upset you.”

Ah. So his siblings had said something displeasing about her. No doubt having to do with their new closeness. She figured that would happen after the kiss at dinner, but he hadn’t seemed to want to hide anything, so she went with the flow. Plus, somewhat distressingly, she was finding she couldn’t resist any form of physical affection from him.

Not good. That’s not what this is supposed to be about.

Shrugging off the deep introspection that would only lead her down a dark path, she squeezed his hand. “I’m not that young girl you saved from the big bad bullies in high school anymore, Bravo. You don’t need to be so overprotective of me.”

“I’m not overprotective.”

Laughter bubbled out of her. “Oh really? So last month, when that big dog jumped on me at the farmer’s market and got mud all over my clothes it must have been Ace in a BJ wig who gave the sweet puppy’s owner such a stern talking to I thought the poor guy might wet himself.”

He raised one dark brow. “Okay, first, that beast was in no way a puppy—”

“Great Danes are big, even as puppies.”

He ignored her interruption, continuing, “Second, the guy needed to learn to control his giant of a dog if he was going to bring the animal out in public. I mean, the dog was cute, but he could have knocked you over and hurt you. That reveals bad dog ownership, not a bad dog.”

“See?” She smiled as he proved her point.

He shook his head, lips curling in the faintest of smiles. “Okay, fine. I might be a teeny, tiny bit overprotective when it comes to you, but isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be with friends?”

She guessed. She only had him to judge by. Sad, but true.

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