Page 99 of Flaunt
“Almond. Okay.”
I smile at her before looking at Becca again. “You know, I’m not exactly sure.”
Becca’s lips twitch. “I think I know.”
“Do you now?”
“It’s probably buried in the middle of Banks Carmichael’s bed.”
I laugh. “He’s been a pretty great distraction.”
Becca pauses to inspect her plum-colored nails. “These look great. Perfect. Thank you.” Then she scoots over to the empty chair between us. “So tell me all about it. I’ve been working so much that I haven’t had time to ask you how it’s been going over there.”
I smirk. “It’s been … going.”
Her eyes twinkle. “That good, huh?”
“You have seriously no idea, Becca.None.”
She glances at the nail tech. “So is it everything we used to sit around with margaritas and imagine it would be?”
“It’s more than that. Better than that.” I swoon, thinking of Banks’s patience and sweetness—and how the switch can change to dirty in one hot second. “It’s different too, though.”
“How?”
I give the tech my other hand. “I don’t know. It’s like he makes you forget about everything else.”
“Oh, I bet he does.”
I laugh. “Yes, like that. But also in other ways.”How do I explain what I mean? How do you explain Banks Carmichael?“Do you know how sometimes you can have dinner with someone, and it’s you having dinner and them having dinner? You’re at the same place, at the same table, and sitting across from each other. But it’s very much you having your pasta and them having their steak or whatever.”
“Yeah. And that’s a great way to put it, actually. I watch so many people come in at Smokey’s and they don’t even say a word to each other. Or every time I stop at their table, they’re talking about the same thing. Or the topics are always something really superficial—the weather, whether we’re getting a Cane’s chicken restaurant or not, how bad the traffic is.”
“It’s not that way with Banks. Whatever you do with him,you’re doing it with him. I swear he’s up your ass all the time.”
Her brows shoot to the ceiling.
“Not like that,” I say, laughing. “Just like, if you’re making dinner, he’s right there asking to chop things. If you’re folding laundry, he sits down and fucks up the towels so you have to redo them when he’s not looking. I’ve been filling out applications, right? Rather than doing it alone, he sat in the living room and turned on a movie. He’s just …there, I guess.”
“Don’t move,” the tech says.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
I turn back to Becca. “His little quirks used to drive me nuts, and I thought he did things to pester me. And the pranks that he does to his family? He actually admitted that he does them so they don’t take life too seriously. So they can laugh and do things together.” My heart warms. “I think it’s just his way of letting you know he’s there. He genuinely wants to be a part of people’s days, of their lives.”Of my life.
“That’s so damn sweet.”
“I know.” My grin turns mischievous. “And then he strips down, and suddenly, it’s not so sweet anymore.”
She shifts in her seat. “Well, on another note so this doesn’t get too R-rated, I decided not to go back to Texas.”
“You did?” I squeal. “Becca! Yay!”
“I’m just not ready to go. I want to be ready—I’m just not there yet.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
