Page 41 of Just This Once

“I swear to God,” I warned him right there, lifting a threatening finger. “If you say her name right now, I will punch you in the throat.”

Because he could really only go in two directions with Hope talk. He’d either want to explore the meaning behind my dream—and there was definitely no meaning behind it; it meant absolutely nothing—or he wanted to remind me that she wasforbidden. And I already knew she was fucking forbidden. She was Alec’s damn sister. Plus a menace to society. No good could come from getting tangled with her. I was fully cognizant of that. I didn’t need a friendly reminder that would only piss me off more.

Lifting both hands, Foster chuckled softly. “Okay. Alright. But seriously, wasshethe reason you drank so much tonight?”

“Huh?”

Foster shrugged. “It’s been a minute since you’ve gotten that blitzed. Since Raina’s coma, anyway. I was worried something might have triggered this, but if you’re only freaked about some new attraction you’re suddenly feeling for?—”

“I amnotattracted,” I cut in sternly, unable to believe he’d still gone there after I’d explicitly warned him not to.

Union only lifted his eyebrows as if he knew better.

Growling out my anger, I flung up my hands and muttered, “She fucking flirted with me. Okay?”

Foster only shrugged. “Yeah, she flirts with me sometimes, too. More so with Archer. Because she knows it unnerves us. She’s an apex predator, man. She senses weakness and goes straight for its jugular.”

“Yeah, well, she’s never flirted withmebefore.”

“You must’ve done something today that tipped her off and let her know it’d get under your skin, then,” he said a little too logically for my taste.

“I didn’t—” I started adamantly, only to pause and remember that moment at the car when she’d tried to be all tough and load the luggage by herself when her battery had clearly been drained to zero. “Okay, fine. There was likehalfa second at the airport,” I admitted begrudgingly. “Where I hadonedamn thought. But it passed as soon as I had it.”

Except it hadn’t. The thought neverpassed. It had stuck and stayed, and it was still swirling through my head. But I wasn’tgoing to mention that because I was still pretending it wasn’t happening.

Foster shrugged. “Bro, half a second is all it takes for her. Langston’s merciless; I’m telling you.”

I scowled, instinctively wanting to defend her, and I had no idea why. I usually gave her a harder time than anyone. Why did I give a shit if Union wanted to malign her?

Probably because hearing him suggest that she’d only flirted tounnerveme didn’t…sit right. She’d been in those moments just as deeply as I had. She’d gotten just as aroused as I had.

Iknewshe had.

“So do you want to try again tomorrow?” Foster asked, making me blink because I was still thinking about Hope. It took me a second before I realized he’d already lost interest in that conversation and had changed gears back to the dream sharing shit.

I grimaced. “Man, I just had my hand on your lady’s?—”

“You were asleep,” he defended. “And she didn’t seem traumatized by it, so…”

I groaned out my resistance anyway. “I still need to hold off for a while. After I unwind a little. Let’s wait until I at least get laid again.”

“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “Gotcha.” A second later, he cleared his throat. “So hair-pulling, huh?”

Fuck. He just wasn’t going to let this go.

Yes! I’d dreamed about pulling Hope’s hair. So the fuck what?

“I mean…” He shifted closer so he could ask in a quieter tone, “Like, do you pull it hard?”

I blinked at him before dryly answering, “Yes. She wants you to scalp her bald.Really, man?”

He shifted a step in reverse, clearing his throat again. “So…gently, then?”

“Seriously?” I asked him with raised eyebrows.

“What?” He lifted his hands in a helpless gesture.

“For fuck’s sake.” Sighing out my exasperation, I grabbed a hunk of his hair. There wasn’t much there, but as soon as I got a good handful, I wrenched his head back and spoke directly into his ear. “Like this. With just enough force and aggression to let her know she’s got you good and wound up and wanting to fuck the shit out of her. You got me?”

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