Page 48 of Falling Together

“Yeah.” Nolan nodded as if he understood. “You were being really loud.”

“I… umm…”Shit. Shit. Shit. Think, Blair.“Sorry. I tripped.”

“You tripped in the shower? Are you okay?” Erin asked as she joined them in the bathroom as well.

Is this a fucking party?Blair could feel her face turning red as Erin watched her, waiting for an answer. “Yeah. I’m… I’m good.”

Erin wrinkled her eyebrows as she studied Blair’s face. “Are you sure? You look frazzled. Did you hurt your—”

Blair saw the exact moment realization hit Erin’s face. Erin knew she was lying, and she also knew exactlywhyBlair was lying.Shit.Why did this woman have the ability to see right through her?

Erin’s eyes went wide, and her face turned even more red than Blair’s felt. “Oh.”

Blair swallowed hard then gave her a guilty smile. “Yeah.”No sense in lying at this point.

Erin put her hand on Nolan’s shoulder and ushered him out of the bathroom. “Let’s give Blair some privacy while she recovers from herfall.”

After Nolan was out of the bathroom, Erin walked back in and leaned close to Blair. “You’re making this really fucking hard on me right now,” she said in a breathy whisper that made Blair want to jump right back into the shower.

As soon as Erin left the bathroom, Blair closed the door and stared at herself in the mirror as she tried to regain some semblance of control. “You got this, Blair,” she spoke aloud. “You’ve been around sexy women before. You’re not a dude. You can totally keep your hormones under control.”

She laughed at her reflection. She was being ridiculous right now.

“Bear?” Nolan called from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”

Blair tried to answer, but no sound came out. She cleared her throat to try to find her voice. “Yep. I’m good. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay. Who were you talking to?”

Busted. Again.Blair rolled her eyes at herself, then stretched her arms as she tried to think of yet another lie. “I was, um, just singing.”

Luckily, Nolan didn’t question her again, so she brushed her teeth, threw on an outfit, and gathered herself together enough to head back into the hotel room.

“Feeling better?” Erin asked as soon as she walked out.

When Blair looked at her, she found her staring at her with a shit-eating grin.Oh, she’s loving this.Blair could see the glee written all over Erin’s face. She finally felt like she had the upper hand, and she was definitely going to milk it for all its worth.

Two can play this game. Blair smirked right back at Erin, crossed her arms over her chest, and lifted one eyebrow. “I’m doing very well, thank you. Feeling nice andsatisfied.”

Erin’s smile slipped momentarily when she swallowed hard in response to Blair’s choice of words, but she quickly recovered. “Glad to hear theshowersatisfied you so well.”

Holy shit. This woman is trying to kill me.

Before Blair could think of what to say in return, Nolan interrupted their moment. “It’s raining!” he screamed as if he had somehow just noticed it. “No! What are we supposed to do?”

Blair watched Erin snap out of their naughty little game at the exact same time she did, both of them turning their attention to Nolan.

“Don’t worry,” Erin said gently. “There are plenty of fun things we can do inside today.”

“What fun things?” Nolan asked between deep breaths.

Erin opened her mouth as if she was going to answer, then gave Blair a look that showed she actually had no idea.

Blair knelt down next to Nolan and took his tiny hand in hers. “When we were walking on the boardwalk last night, I happened to notice that there is an arcade right next to our hotel. I don’t know about you, but I love arcades.”

Nolan’s face lit up and he began to bounce up and down. “I love arcades too!”

It hit Blair at that moment that there was one slight problem. The arcade wasn’t open yet. How was she supposed to tell Nolan he had to wait after she had gotten him so excited?

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