Page 32 of Somebody To Love

He dropped the teasing, cupping her face to gaze directly in her eyes to let her know how serious he felt about this.

“Something is happening between us, Penny. I don’t know what it is or if anything will come of it, but I want to explore it. I want to give you a baby, but the way you want to do it…it doesn’t work for me. For us. It’s too detached, too cold. That’s not us, honey. You and me? We’re a team. Always have been. We might not be in love, but what we have is better. Closer. And if I’m going to be a part of this kid’s life, help you out when you need it. I want to be there from the very beginning in every way possible.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. He could see her brilliant mind going a million miles an hour behind those pretty hazel eyes.

“I…I need some time to think about all this.”

“Of course, but until you decide.” He pulled her closer, his hands sliding from her face to grasp the back of her neck. “Think about this.”

Bending his head down, he kissed her.

Holy hell! How could every kiss be better than the last? It didn’t make sense. She tasted like strawberries. She liked flavored lip gloss, but he never suspected he’d enjoy them, too. Damn, he knew the scent of strawberries would forever get him hard now. He wanted to feast on her, eat her up, devour her until this driving need inside him was sated. Where had this come from? Had it always been there, lying just beneath the surface? This ravenous hunger for his best friend?

Penny clutched at him, gripping his shirt in her fists to pull him closer. Hell yes! He roared inside. Grateful he wasn’t the only one being carried away by this unexpected sudden attraction. She made a soft moan that he swallowed, going rock hard as her tongue rasped against his own, reminding him of what he really wanted to do right now.

But he wouldn’t take this any further. Not until she had time to think. He knew his best friend. He’d dropped a whopper on her, and she needed time to get that wonderful brain to process all the angles of their new plan. As much as he wanted to strip off her clothes and spend all night making her scream his name in pleasure, he wouldn’t.

Not yet.

There’d be time enough for that later. If she agreed to his plan. For now, he reluctantly pulled away, taking pride in the soft, panting rasps coming from her. The glazed look in her eyes, the flush on her face caused by excitement instead of embarrassment. Damn, she was beautiful. How had he never noticed it before? He knew Penny was pretty, but he’d never looked at her and wanted to take her to bed before.

He did now.

But not now. She needed space, time. With one last gentle kiss to her perfect lips, he whispered a soft goodbye, and left.

CHAPTER 14

The alarm on Penny’s cell beeped, reminding her she had a dress-fitting to get to. Yet she stood there staring at the door, mouth wide open like some kind of surprised cartoon goldfish. She had to be sleeping. That was the only reasonable explanation for what had just happened. Because no way in hell had BJ dropped by her place and casually proposed they have sex with each other.

Okay, so it hadn’t been all that casual. In fact, the man had a pretty solid reasoning behind his request. And it had been a request. A genuine one she could turn down with no fear of losing his friendship or his agreement to help her. Because she knew him. She also knew if he would have stayed any longer, she would have been willing to strip naked and jump him at the snap of his fingers.

Her body hummed with awareness, nipples hard and tight, beginning to be touched. One kiss from BJ and her brain disengaged, female hormones completely taking over. He wouldn’t have even had to ask. Two more seconds of that kiss and she would have been demanding he take her.

But he left.

Because he knew her. Knew she needed time to process. Time to reason this out.

“Dammit!” Did he have to be so dang wonderful on top of all the sexiness? It wasn’t fair. How was she supposed to resist all that?

Don’t resist. Go for it!

Her libido needed to calm down. It had been too long since she’d been intimate with a man. That’s all this was. She needed an orgasm that wasn’t self-achieved, and BJ just happened to be the only available man in her vicinity.

That explains you jumping him, but not him willing to jump you right back.

Okay, fair point. Her best friend had never shown any inclination to get down and dirty with her. Why now? Was it the whole baby thing? Maybe. He pointed out that they made a good team and she also had to give him credit for the money saving option of his plan. Not that she needed to desperately save. She’d planned everything out, accounted for a few tries as her doctor suggested. But it would be nice to put that cash toward the baby. Maybe start the college fund early.

His idea wasn’t totally irrational. Except for the part where she and her best friend had sex!

Her alarm chirped again, reminding her she had to leave now if she wanted to make it to the dress shop on time. Grabbing her purse, she hightailed it out of her apartment to her car. Kismet had many tourist-type clothing boutiques but zero bridal shops. Cassie had chosen one in Denver. Thankfully, traffic on I-70 was light. Rush hour at this time of day headed away from the city, not into it. She made it just in time for the appointment.

After parking her car in the small lot, she hurried inside the shop, relieved to see Cassie and Charlie already seated on a plush couch.

“Penny,” Cassie smiled, standing as she came over to them. “I’m so excited you’re here.”

Yeah right. More likely, the woman was excited to get married. She liked Cassie, but it wasn’t like they were close. Unfortunately, Penny didn’t fit in with most people. But they’d known each other for years and were connected through the Jackson family. When Cassie asked her to be a bridesmaid, she couldn’t say no.

Secretly, she’d been thrilled. She’d never been a bridesmaid, not even for her own sister’s wedding. In truth, she never thought she’d get the opportunity. With Cassie and Charlie, she could almost pretend she had girlfriends. It felt nice, even if it was mostly pretend.

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