Page 50 of Only This Once
“Oh, hey, you missed a button.” She reached for his shirt to fix it. Her fingers brushed against his chest with each adjustment to the buttons, making the tingles spread until he was lightheaded.
She wore those silky sleep pants with a faded t-shirt again, he noticed, even though she’d slept naked in the bed with him. No, he couldn’t think about her being naked. Getting an erection right now would make everything worse.
“So you slept okay?” he asked, trying to distract himself.
“Well, not really. But that’s my issue, not yours.” She finished with his buttons, smoothing the shirt over his chest before letting her hands drop. “I enjoyed our date and last night, Jinx. Really.” Her eyes captured his again, and she looked so calm.
“Me too,” he mumbled, tension tightening his shoulders. All he could hear was the reminder that their one and done was now over.
She grinned at him. “Oh, I know you enjoyed it. You’re sexy when you fall apart. Do you know that?”
He flushed. “I’m not sexy.”
“Yes, you are.” She leaned forward, brushing a soft kiss over his lips. He wanted to linger, but she was already pulling back. “So, do you think it helped? Will you be able to pick up girls now?”
His chest tightened, and he ended up telling her the truth. “I’m pretty sure being with you ruined me for being with anyone else.”
She laughed as if he was joking. “I really am good at sex, aren’t I? Lots of practice.” She slapped his arm. “But don’t worry. If you continue to be willing to follow directions like last night, you’ll do fine.”
Jesse didn’t want to be with anyone else. “I should get out of your hair,” he said, searching his pockets to make sure he had his keys and wallet. He needed to get out of there before she offered to be his wingman again.
“You’re not in my way, but I do have to head out soon. Lunch at my parents’ today.” She started heading toward the closet but paused. “Did you want to come with me?”
He blinked at her. “To your parents’ house?”
“Yeah. My mom loves when we bring more people. You know how she is. She loves to host.” Julia shrugged, as if it wasn’t up to her to understand it, and disappeared into the closet. “My parents would enjoy seeing you. You used to come by pretty often with Phoebe.” She’d grabbed her clothes but paused with them in her hand after saying his sister’s name.
“Have you talked to her lately?” he asked. He’d been avoiding Phoebe after what she had said the week before. He knew hecouldn’t do that forever, but since she hadn’t called him, he figured it worked for now.
“No.” The word came out clipped. “Not really.”
Jesse wondered if his sister had given Julia an earful, too. He bit his cheek, not knowing the right thing to say.
“Don’t worry about it.” Julia tossed her clothes on the bed. “I’ll forgive her eventually.”
“You don’t have to.” He met her eyes as she looked toward him. “She said some shitty things about you.”
“Like what? That I sleep with anything that moves? She wasn’t lying.” Julia’s smile looked sharp this time. “I mean, I was pretty clear with you about my history, so it’s not like it could have come as a shock.”
“The way she talked about you wasn’t right,” he repeated stubbornly. There’d been way too much judgment in his sister words.
“That’s sweet, but you really don’t have to worry about me. I’ve got thick skin.” She dragged her shirt off, giving him an eyeful of her gorgeous breasts. There was something so intimate in watching her put on her bra, even more so than when she’d stripped her clothes off.
He rubbed his tingling palms against his pant legs as she pulled a shirt over her head.
“So, do you want to come with me or not?” she asked, beginning to change her pants as well. “No pressure.”
“You’re really not sick of me?” he asked.
Her glare was the one he remembered whenever he worried about tagging along with the older girls as a kid. “I could never be sick of you, Jinx. Trust me, if I didn’t want you there, I wouldn’t have bothered to ask. I don’t play games like that.”
That was true. If she was tired of his company, she would have said so.
Jesse already knew his answer. There was nothing quite like being around her, and he’d grab hold of all the time she’d give him. “Sure. I’ll come,” he said out loud. Then he glanced down at his outfit. “But shouldn’t I change first?”
Julia’s eyes slipped over him, and she made an appreciative hum in her throat that sent his mind spinning. “I like the way you look in that shirt.”
His flush returned, and he warned himself not to take her seriously. Julia had been more than clear. They weren’t dating.
