Page 73 of Just Friends
“Need help getting in?” I asked.
I always offered because my truck isn’t exactly small, but she always turned me down.
“I can do it,” she said, stepping onto the foot rail.
Rising to her tip-toes, she reached for the grab handle with an outstretched arm. The stretchy material of her leggings thinned, and the faint outline of her cute panties appeared, leaving a husky knot in my throat.
That’s a nice ass,I thought, my tired eyes lazily glued to the frilly trim of her panties.
I always knew Piper was hot—that’s nothing new. But ever since the kiss, the way I noticed her hotness was definitely …different.Before, I could kind of tune it out, but now? Now I noticed it more, and I noticed it harder, too. And something in me kinda neededmoreof it … whatever that meant.
She snagged hold of the grab handle, and her cute butt wiggled out of sight as she swung herself up and into the passenger seat.
Her butt’s spell over me now broken, I gently closed her door. I went around to the driver’s side and hopped right in.
“Yeah, yeah,” she murmured. “Make it look easy, why don’t ya.”
“I’m not gonna lie,” I said with a quiet cockiness, “it’s pretty easy.”
“Yeah, for you!” She reached across the bench seat and playfully back-handed my chest. “If I was as tall as you, I’d slide right in, too.”
“Well, it’s pretty easy to slide right in when you’re tall,” I joked.
“Wait.” She groaned. “Was that a sex joke? No—don’t even tell me. I don’t want to know.”
I turned the key and the big, supercharged engine fired to life. We rolled out of the garage with a roar.
“Spa resort, here we come!” Piper sang.
Once we left the city, Piper held her phone up to the window and snapped a photo of the open road. From the side of my eye, I noticed her sending the picture in a text message.
Wonder who she’s texting?
She set her phone down. A moment later, her phone wentdingwith a reply. She read it, smiled, and tapped out a reply.
The drive to the resort was a little over two hours outside of Dallas. I figured we’d have a lot of time to talk—and maybe that’d even be enough time for me to figure out what was bothering me. But the further we drove, the stronger the quiet between us grew.
There was no quiet between her and whoever she was texting. Every minute or so, her phone woulddingwith a new text, and she’d pick it up in a rush. Whatever she read brought a little smile to her face; sometimes, a soft giggle. She’d tap out a reply, then stare out the window with a resting, contemplative smile, as she waited for the other person to continue their conversation.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter until the leather creaked beneath my fingers.
I bet it’s Nate,I thought, a sickening feeling in my stomach.It’s gotta be.
Yeah, I’ll admit it: the thought that her jerk-off ex was in the process of stealing her away from me forever had me fuming …
Ugh. He’s winning her back, isn’t he?
I hate that guy so much.
18
Piper
Jax’s truck was anything but quiet.The big truck growled with throaty satisfaction as it chewed up the road in front of us, tires humming on the highway. The stereo played some of hisfavorite electronic music, and the bass-heavythumpsshook the core of my heart.
Yet the loudest sound of all was the stifling silence between us.
I turned to stare at him, hoping he’d catch me looking.He gripped the wheel with one hand, veins bulging in his thick forearms. The other hand was balled into a fist and held against his mouth, as if he were deep in thought.
