Page 81 of Just Friends
“This weekendisfor the girls, isn’t it?” she asked with a coy smile.
“Yeah, guess you’re right.” I snickered. “Speaking of girly, check out that princess bed.” I pointed at the bed, a canopied king—the bed we’d be sharing later tonight.
“It’ssocute,” she gushed.
But before I could coax her into testing out our mattress together—and maybe seeing where things went from there—she let out a nervous little laugh and hurried to the bathroom instead.
“Double vanity,” she cooed from inside the bathroom. “Very nice.”
“Cool,” I called back, a bit disappointed.
She marched across the room and threw open the double doors to our room’s balcony. “Now I wanna check out our view.”
I followed her outside. The Texas summer heat smacked my face like a blast wave. It was a windy day, but the breeze didn’t offer any respite; instead, it felt like a hair dryer blowing in your face.
I sidled next to her and joined her in looking over the railing. We had a view overlooking the estate’s sparkling, bright blue pools.
She stared over the balcony railing. “Bet that water feelssonice right now.”
The wind howled as it blew another gust of hot air into my face.
“God, it has to,” I said.
We studied the people down below, swimming and sunbathing by the poolside.
Wanting to grab her attention, I leaned closer and let my shoulder briefly graze hers. “Hey.”
“Hm?”
“I’m glad you spoke up back there.”
“What do you mean?” she asked quietly, keeping her eyes focused on the pool.
“At the front desk,” I said. “ ’Cause, yeah, you’re right. I do want to spend time with you this weekend.”
“Oh,” she said. She caught my eye before she quickly looked away. “Heh. Yeah. Same.” Flustered, she added, “Well. Obviously. You already knew that.”
She’s nervous.
I wasn’t used to seeing her get flustered around me—but I knew what it meant when girls got tongue-tied around me. I slung my arm around her shoulder. She loosened under the weight of my arm and I pulled her closer. She looked up at me with her big, beautiful eyes, as if she wanted to know what I’d do next.
Hell,Iwanted to know what I was going to do next, too.
Fuck it. I’m gonna do it. I don’t care.
A stray lock of her hair, blown about by the wind, fluttered in her face—but before I could brush it away from her lips and kiss her, a booming voice shouted from the poolside.
“Hey! Big Rig! Is that you up there?”
Piper peered over the balcony, searching the crowd. “Who’s that?”
“Sounds like Reavo,” I said.
With a silent sigh, I scanned the crowd at the pool, too. I spotted the guys a second later, crowded around the outdoor bar: Reavo, Dane, Hath, Frenchy, Vedros, Vaughn, Niko …
I gave the boys a wave.Thanks, ya fuckers.
Dane cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted,“Get down here already!”He gestured for us to come down and join the party.
