Page 45 of The Friend

He laughed as she looked up at him from beneath her lashes, a mischievous smirk playing about her glossed mouth.

“Come on. My room this time.” He tried not to hurry but, like this afternoon, they could barely restrain from breaking into a run in their haste to obtain privacy.

Abby’s sweet laughter washed over him as he stabbed at the elevator button so hard it zinged, and he waited until the mirrored doors slid shut before silencing her with a kiss. He hadn’t meant to touch her until they reached his room but his resistance was at an all-time low and all she had to do was glance in his direction and he lost it.

“Hey, they have cameras in these things,” she murmured, breaking the kiss to nibble along his jaw, dipping her tongueinside his collar, the flicker of her tongue against his skin making his cock twitch.

“You’re right.” He gritted his teeth, knowing he should stop her exploring him with her tongue, all too aware there wasn’t one damn thing he could do about it as his body tensed with every teasing flick against his damp skin.

Thankfully, the doors slid open with a loud zing and he slid his arm around her waist, all but dragging her the short distance to his room, sliding his card into the slot at the speed of light and ushering her into his room.

“Wow.” She stopped, her eyes wide as saucers as she took in the scene before them.

“You like it?”

Nodding, she turned to face him, her smile lighting the room better than the countless candles covering every surface. “It’s incredible. Did you do all this?”

More than pleased with her reaction, he shook his head. “The resort lent a hand. I wanted to go all out tonight. Make it a night to remember.”

The kind of night he wanted to repeat over and over with her, if she’d let him.

Tugging her further into the room, he said, “There’s more.”

He had the pleasure of seeing her mouth open in a small, adorable O, the surprise turning her eyes a sparkling sapphire.

“You remembered?” Her voice came out on a wistful sigh as she squeezed his hand tight.

“Yeah, pretty hard to forget the night you told me your idea of a perfect date,” he murmured, tracing her lips with a fingertip, remembering being parked in his beat-up sedan at the end of her street backing onto a park after the graduation dance, torn between wanting to repeat the mind-blowing kiss they’d shared earlier that night and hightailing it out of town.

Abby, his buddy, he could handle.

Abby, with stars in her eyes and romantic ideals dripping from her lips, had scared the hell out of him.

“I can’t believe you remembered.” She reached up to cup his cheek. “The candles, the hot pink gerberas scattered around the bed, the strawberry sundaes, the chilled Chardonnay, and the handmade truffle chocolates are fabulous, but you’re all I need to make this a night to remember.”

He’d roughed it in the wilds of Africa, he’d faced an angry elephant, he’d even been attacked by a cheetah once, but nothing made him feel so out of his depth as Abby’s blatant adoration at that moment.

He’d wanted to make tonight special before divulging the truth to her. He’d wanted to make it an unforgettable night. But seeing the honesty in her eyes blew him away and he realised he was playing with fire.

This was Abby, the girl who’d befriended the town joke, who’d stood up for him when other kids teased him about his dad, who’d done countless small things to make his life in Pier Point bearable.

Would she buy his turnaround?

Would she want him in her life beyond this week?

As more than a friend?

“Saying stuff like that can go to a guy’s head,” he said, his hand covering hers and effectively pinning it to his chest where his heart bucked like a wild animal.

“I’m counting on it.” She slid her hand out from under his, fiddling with the top button of his shirt, never taking her eyes off his.

The button gave with a decisive pop and she laughed. “Oops, looks like I’ve ruined this shirt.”

“Then you better take it off.”

The spark in her eyes lit his fuse in a big way, blood pounding through his veins until he couldn’t think of anything but her fingers toying with him, everywhere.

“Need some help?”

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