Page 76 of We Met Like This
I nodded.
“And you?” he asked. “Does your bed have stories to tell?”
“I wish it had more because that would mean that my weakness for the past couple years wasn’t someone who was completely wrong for me.”
“He never went home with you?”
I swallowed.Let him in, Sloane had said. It was hard when I’d been keeping this part of my life a secret from most people for so long. When I felt so ashamed about it. “No,” I said.“That might’ve meant we were committed, and he would never admit to that.” I picked at a hangnail on my thumb. “We snuck out of town occasionally like the secret that I was. And I constantly had to lie to my family about where I was going and who I was going with. And then when we got home, it was like it never happened. He usually started ignoring me, until I made him see me again.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, his hand brushing along my arm.
“Me too,” I said.
“I know it’s not the same, but both times I was cheated on, it was the secrets that hurt the most. The person you thought you cared about lying to you. I get lies and secrets. They hurt.”
My throat felt tight. My family was still in the dark about Rob, obviously. I had decided it was pointless to tell them now that it was over. But maybe that meant I was a horrible person.
“And I get feeling unseen,” he said as his other hand brushed along my other arm until both my hands were in his. “It’s a lonely place to be.”
I nodded.
“Maybe we both have trust issues.”
“We’re not supposed to touch,” I said softly.
“Friends touch,” he returned.
I closed my eyes and listened to our breathing sync up. In and out.
“You can trust me, Margot. I see you,” he said.
“I think you might. Three years ago, in your car, I would’ve sworn you had been handed a study guide on my body. It was impressive.”
“You know what my study guide was?”
My hands felt weightless in his grip. “No, what?”
“You. The way you moved against me when I hit the rightspot, the noises you made when my mouth was on you. And that was in a car, Margot.”
A slow fire had started in my belly with his words and was slowly expanding through all my limbs. “I know. Imagine how much better it would be here, where we have full access to each other.”
“I have,” he said.
I bit my bottom lip trying to tamp down my desire. “Is this how you talk to all your friends?” I said, mimicking what he’d asked me earlier.
“Yes, all of them,” he said, copying me.
We stayed that way for several minutes, holding hands, perfectly still, not looking at each other, just breathing.
Then with the slightest tug, he pulled me forward, into his arms. “We already established that friends hug, right?” he asked.
“Yes.” My hands wrapped around him to his back, where they moved up and down it. “I am also known to rub my friends’ backs.”
He gave a breathy laugh. “Such a good friend.” His feather-soft touch traveled from my back to my waist, where he grabbed hold of me. I thought he was going to separate us, be the first to sayuncle, but he didn’t, he pressed me even closer to him. So close I could feel just how much he didn’t want to let go.
I sucked in some air as all the little hairs along my arms and up to the back of my neck stood on end.
My hands paused in their exploration of his broad back and, finally, I looked up and met his eyes.
