Page 63 of Loving You

Touched.

Grazed.

Skimmed.

It doesn’t matter what word I use, the moment our skin touched, it was like something had happened. An electric current of some kind and it sounds so stupid that I can’t even say it out loud. I feel silly even thinking about it.

One touch isn’t supposed to do this to me. One touch isn’t supposed to cause me to lose my mind. One touch shouldn’t make me question whether I should kiss my fake boyfriend. And one touch sure as hell shouldn’t have me reach into my bedside drawer to relieve the tension that damn thigh graze caused.

We arrived at Grandma Betty’s house about thirty minutesago, and she’s been talking nonstop since we got here to Miles about her first car.

Natalie and Tobias are sitting on the floor doing tummy time with the twins, and I’m just watching it all, while also letting my mind run wild over what should be nothing.

“So, what do you two have planned for this summer?” Tobias asks as he coos at baby Dixon.

“Please tell us—I need to live vicariously through you for the next couple of months,” Natalie adds.

“Just hanging out,” I say as calmly as I can.

Definitely just hanging out and not anything more.

Even though it’s been a while since a man touched me, and perhaps it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

Then again, we all know how my last fling ended, and I can’t go through that again.

At the same time, Miles refuses to commit to anyone who doesn’t plan to settle down here, so we’d be on the same page, right?

I drop my head back on the chair and sigh. Why am I even thinking about this? It’s not an option.

“Oh, please tell me you’re doing more than just hanging out,” Natalie whines. “This”—she points to the twins—“is what happens when you just ‘hang out’ alone.”

I gasp as if that’s completely absurd. “Oh, that’s not …we?—”

“I beg you not to finish,” Tobias says and gets up. “I’m going into the kitchen to see if Miles needs rescuing from Grandma B.”

He pauses to kiss Natalie’s forehead and then he’s gone.

“Have you two not had sex?” Natalie asks immediately.

“That’s your first question about our relationship?”

She rolls her eyes and smiles. “Look at him, Quinn.”

“Oh, I know what he looks like, Natalie.”

Oh god, do I. With and without a shirt.

“So, he’s the one who wants to wait?”

“We,” I start to say, but I can’t come up with anything fast enough. “Yes. He wants to take it slow.”

Have you ever known a person who didn’t like you or who only tolerated you? Then you find yourself in a situation where you make it worse, but at the same time, is it really worse if they didn’t like you to begin with. No? Just me?

“That’s kind of sexy,” Natalie whispers.

“Way,” I agree.

“Way what?” Grandma Betty joins us in the living room. I glance behind her, but the guys aren’t with her. “They went to look at Mike’s Harley in the garage.”

---