Page 107 of Unforgettable

Carefully, I pried Amanda’s small hand from where she clung to my chest and rolled from the bed. She stirred for a moment but didn’t wake, and I let out a breath. I needed a second to myself and with my cluttered thoughts.

I stared down at the two forms. Amanda promptly rolled over to find Josh’s warm body. The sheets tangled around her waist and bared the smooth skin of her back to the moonlight streaming between the blinds. One of her arms slung over his back, and Josh was sprawled out on his stomach, snoring softly. The white sheets also hugged around his hips since he’d kicked off the comforter almost immediately after falling asleep.

Just as I’d done with Amanda, my eyes traced the lines of his exposed back. Compared to Amanda, his skin was slightly more tan, and the hours he’d spent in the gym recently were apparent in the contoured muscles.

Therein was the problem. My hands fisted at my sides, and I escaped the bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

With nothing better to do and nowhere else to go, I paced into the living room. Catching a glimpse of the snow rapidly collecting on the ground outside through the tall windows and past the balcony, I took a moment to stare outside.

It was relatively uncommon in the southern part of Texas to experience snow. And for it to stick to the ground was another miracle altogether. Sleet and flurries were one thing, but actual flakes that stayed around for more than an hour or two were a strange phenomenon.

There was a peacefulness in the snow. Maybe because it was quiet as it collected on the cold, hard ground. And it was the exact opposite of my racing mind.

I wished my thoughts were as peaceful as the snow.

I was jealous of fucking snow. What the fuck was wrong with me?

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. The filter in her fridge needed to be replaced, so the water was barely trickling out. As I not so patiently waited for my glass to fill, I glanced over the supplies we’d brought.

Thankfully the power was still on, but we’d brought candles and flashlights that I was sure Amanda didn’t have. We’d also thrown into bags some canned goods from our pantry and an extra case of water.

Over the past several days, Josh and I hadn’t agreed on much. Actually, we hadn’t spoken enough to agree or disagree on anything, but we did agree that Amanda was likely underprepared for the impending storm. We were both concerned enough to pack bags and plan to hunker down in her apartment with her.

In the truck on the way to her place, we’d barely said two words to each other, so it was obvious our stay would be tenuous. But we’d arrived, and as she always did, Amanda dissipated the tension between us.

But I’d undone it all.

All of her smiles and jokes and her overall infectious, happy demeanor were no match for my knack for complicating everything.

I had to go and make shit more difficult, complicate it more than it already was. A memory, or several, flashed through my mind. All of the times when my dad, the hard-ass he was, claimed I made things more difficult. There was the time in high school when I decided a college football career wasn’t for me. And then when I majored in kinesiology and only minored in business. Or when I wouldn’t let him invest his own money, riddled with stipulations, in the gym. One he claimed was likely to fail from the outset.

But as he always liked to say, I was a pro at making my very cushy life hard. And I’d done it yet again.

I’d made an already difficult situation a million times worse.

I’d kissed him. I kissed Josh in the spur of the moment. With Amanda pinned between us, pushing her ass back and welcoming my hard thrusts, I noticed Josh’s legs first. The position we were in meant we were bound to brush against each other, and I could feel the brush of his legs against mine. And then I noticed his lips. They were plump and swollen from kissing Amanda and I’d suddenly wondered what they’d feel like on my own. And before I knew it, it was happening.

And it was mind blowing. The kind of kiss I’d only felt once before with our girl. A kiss that altered time and the course of your entire life.

A terrifying kiss.

Water trickling over my hand pulled me from my thoughts. The glass was completely overfilled and water spilled down the refrigerator and collected on the floor.

Hoping not to make a bigger mess, I carefully walked the full glass to the sink and set it down before grabbing a handful of paper towels to clean it up. Swallowing my self-pity, I stooped down and wiped up the small puddle that had formed and cleaned up the front of the fridge.

It wasn’t healthy the way the two people I’d left in bed occupied my thoughts.

I stood and looked at the clock on the microwave. It was half past two in the morning, meaning I had a few hours to figure my shit out before they woke up. Figure out how to uncomplicate the situation.

I threw away the sopping wet towels and braced my hands against the sink, staring down at my full glass.

“I can hear you thinking from over here.”

I jumped at her voice, my heart beating frantically, trying to propel itself out of my chest. But after taking a deep breath, I managed a small yet forced smile. She was still drenched in a post-orgasm glow and the smile that pulled at her lips didn’t seem as difficult as mine.

She strode over to me with her long blonde hair in loose waves around her face. She only wore the T-shirt I’d discarded before I’d joined her and Josh on the bed. It was several sizes too big and hung loosely right above her knees.

“I could get used to seeing you in my clothes,” I said, my smile mostly genuine when she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my chest.

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