Page 58 of He's The Reason Why

No, he needed something big. Something Marshall would hate so much it would keep him away from Piper for good.

“Got it.” Blake smiled at his friend with predatory triumph. “I win, and you have to do the changing scene inConnedbutt naked.”

Marshall froze. “Seriously?”

“Bare-ass, full-on, no-covering-of-any-kind, no-body-double, full-moon glory.”

He didn’t think Marshall would take the deal. He’d hit the one thing his friend hated above all else. Marshall was proud of his chest and his abs, and he’d do full frontal without blinking if he had to, but he had a thing about showing his bare behind.

A kiss from Mother Nature had left him with a birthmark on his left butt cheek that he hated so much he put a big bandage over it if he was even thinking of having sex, just so the woman he slept with wouldn’t see it.

That was the thing about best friends, they knew all your secrets.

“That’s…that’s cold,” Marshall said in a breathless whisper.

“It’s your deal. I just picked my stakes.”

It wasn’t that Blake was dying to see his best friend’s bare butt on the big screen, but he wanted to make absolutely sure he wouldn’t ask Piper out. Nothing guaranteed that Marshall would behave himself more than the promise of lasting evidence.

The door opened, and Piper came through carrying a black duffel bag over one shoulder and tapping out a message on her phone.

He glanced sideways at his best friend. “Deal?”

A slow, sly grin spread across Marshall’s face. “Oh, it’s on.”

Piper looked up from her phone. “Something wrong?”

Blake cleared his throat. “Rooms are upstairs. Follow me.”

Piper picked the smallest bedroom near the back of the house. She said it was because it overlooked the pool and had a cozy feel, but he suspected she picked it because it was the room farthest away from the rest of the house. It also happened to be directlyabove his bedroom, and the beds were in exactly the same position.

Marshall took over his usual space when he stayed overnight: the media room.

Blake got undressed and lay down on his bed, but wound up staring at the ceiling for at least an hour because he couldn’t stop himself from picturing Piper above him doing the same thing.

Did her go bag include something to sleep in? Or had she improvised with some combination of T-shirt and underwear?

What if she didn’t wear anything?

Didn’tthatimage send his pulse racing.

He turned on his side and closed his eyes. If she somehow levitated down one floor, she might be snuggled up against his back, or he might be spooningher. His imagination helpfully kicked in with what it would feel like to have her warmth pressed up against him, to let his hands roam over every soft curve of her…

He growled and tossed to the other side of the bed. For crying out loud, she wasn’t anywhere near him. She was at the back of the house, on another floor. He’d have to go past Marshall, up the stairs, and all the way down the hall to get to her.

Which would be a really, really, bad idea.

He was her coworker, things were clicking along well, and he had the deal with Marshall. He could not, would not break it for a hundred different reasons.

Why was it the second he promised to keep his hands off Piper, all he wanted to do was get them on her? Was it some sort of twisted cosmic joke? Fruit of the forbidden tree?

Or had he just been fooling himself?

His parents were a prime example of why messing around with a costar was a monumentally stupid idea. Everything might start out great, but in the end, it led to your mother in tears in the middle of the night.

He tossed and turned for another hour before he fell into a doze, which was interrupted by a text alert.

It was from Marissa, the location scout in Las Vegas.Ranch is on fire. Looks like major damage.

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