Page 99 of From Best Friend to Bride
This time when he shook me off, I let him.
Because I couldn’t move.
I was frozen, rooted to the spot, completely immobile.
But my brain? That was going at a thousand miles a minute. Those two words rattled around like an echo in a cave, and all I could do was stare at him, blinking frantically.
“What? Don’t like the answer?” His voice was tinged with a bitterness that licked at the air around us. “That’s why I told you to drop it. But you just kept pushing.”
“No, I—” I paused, then ran my fingers through my hair, dipping my chin and focusing on the rug. “I didn’t think you’d admit it,” I murmured.
It was his turn to still. “Is that what you’ve been doing? Seeing if I wake up with a bloody erection?”
“You acted so weird the other day, and Lucy suggested it might be that, so…” I trailed off, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.
Fred hooked two fingers under my chin and forced me to meet his gaze. “Have you been talking to your sister about me?”
“Um.” Heat rose in my face, matching his pink cheeks. “You snapped at me, and it was weird, so…”
“I thought we’d moved past that, what with the tub of ice-cream with your name written on it in Sharpie and new memory foam insoles for your work shoes.”
“And it’s been three business days, so I forgive you,” I countered. “But I just… needed some advice from someone who’s been in this situation, that’s all.”
“I don’t think anyone has pretended to be in love with and marry their best friend to fulfil their grandmother’s dying wish,” he said somewhat dryly.
“Marriage, you pillock!” I shoved his hand off me and put a little distance between us. “It’s an adjustment, real or fake, and I needed someone to speak to. She’s the one who mentioned your penis first.”
He raised his eyebrows and folded his arms across his chest. “And what did you tell her?”
“Nothing. That it couldn’t be true because you didn’t see me like that.”
“What if I do?”
I swallowed. “I don’t know.”
Fred sighed, relaxing his shoulders a touch.
It didn’t relax his erection though.
Nope.
How could he just stand there talking to me while his cock was pitching a tent in his trousers? God only knew I was twitching with discomfort at the thought he might know I was even slightly turned on by him.
He was openly turned on, and he didn’t seem to give a shit at all.
“Would you like me to lie to you, Deli? Tell you it’s just a biological thing and nothing at all to do with you?”
I opened my mouth but quickly closed it again. Would that make this better? No. Would it change the fact I knew the truth? No.
I shook my head.
“Right. Then yeah. I don’t know what you want me to say, but yes, I’m attracted to you, and you’re the reason I wake up most days like this.” He gestured to his crotch, drawing my attention back there again. “But you don’t need to look like a deer in headlights. I’m perfectly capable of restraining myself. In fact, this is my problem, and I don’t intend to make it yours. I know this changes our relationship a bit, and I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“No.” I shifted from foot to foot. “It doesn’t. Besides, it’s not exactly an insult.” I rubbed the back of my neck and stared at my feet before I looked at his cock again.
Not that I was an expert on penises, but it looked like a pretty damn good one.
I glanced up to where he was looking at me with mild amusement, his eyebrows raised.
