Page 7 of What About Us
A little flutter dances across my belly. The same one I got the night he kissed me. Dammit. I plaster a smile on my face and nod. “So excited. I can’t wait to squeeze him.”
She sets her slice of pizza on her knee and cocks a brow at me with a smirk.
I point a finger at her. “Don’t start.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and huffs. “I’ll stop when you admit there’s something there.”
My breath rushes out on a groan. “Seriously, it was one kiss. A really good freaking kiss, but it didn’t mean anything,” I say, mostly to convince myself. I tip up my beer, needing to occupy my mouth before I say something else to out myself.
Wren gives me a cynical look. “I’m just saying. Friends don’t kiss on the mouth. Or dry hump.”
I elbow her lightly. “We didnotdry hump. And I told you, he was upset. And it was barely a peck.”
Lies. That kiss nearly melted my panties. I was lucky he didn’t use tongue. My ovaries would have dropped right out, while wearing sombreros and dancing the Macarena on the parquet flooring right there in Hudson’s apartment. If he’d used tongue, I absolutely would have dry humped him. But the little wiggle I did on his lap was hardly a dry hump. Ibarelyfelt how hard he was.
She eyes me for a second, and I swear she can see right through me. She’s known me for years, and even though she’s only been back in Timber Forge a year, she damn well knows my twitchy eyebrow gives away any half-truth I tell. I reach up to scratch my eyebrow, willing it not to twitch.
My glance flicks to hers. Throat dry, I croak out, “What?”
She scoffs. “You two are the only two people I know who are in a relationship but don’t know it.”
I shake my head in denial. “We are not in a relationship.”
She snorts, shooting me a look. “Maybe not, but you’re always touching each other and picking on each other. You steal his clothes, and you both talk about sex like you’re talking about the weather. It’s like me and Hank, without the actual sex.”
I force nonchalance into my voice and shrug. “We just have a really close friendship.”
Sculpted brows tug down over skeptical brown eyes, then she bites into her pizza. “Ok, whatever you say.”
My stomach swoops as I think back to that night. I’d been so turned on that when I got back to my room, it took everything in my power to stop thinking about it. I thought about having a little battery-assisted fun, but that just seemed wrong. I could not get into the habit of flicking the bean to thoughts of my best friend’s tongue—or other things—in my mouth.
When we came back to Timber Forge for the holiday two days later, I told Wren about it. I wasn’t going to, but when I saw her, it kind of just slipped out. It was an emotional time, and it happened. Even as small as it was, it was amazing, and I won’t lie and say I don't think about it often, but there is nothing to say. We’re friends. Hudson and I never discussed it again.
Wren’s phone vibrates on the table. She lets out a half whine, half laugh and rolls her head along the back of the couch to look at me. “Wanna get that for me?”
I laugh and lean forward, swiping her phone off the table. “Ginger,” I say and hand it to her.
Settling back against the cushions, she accepts the FaceTime call and Ginger’s face fills the screen. Her shock of curly, auburn hair is pulled up into a perfectly coiffed messy bun. She lets out a low whistle when the video on our end connects.
“Giiiirl, you look beat,” she says.
“Gee, thanks,” Wren says and tilts the phone so I fill the screen, too. “Insult Finn, too.”
“Hey, Ginger,” I say around another big bite of my pizza.
“Hey, Finn. Did you see the changes I made this morning? It should make it easier for you to see any new bookings from the mobile site.”
“I did. Thank you. It looks awesome.”
Ginger is Wrenley’s college best friend from California. She recently quit her longtime position with a big marketing firm in Napa to run her ownsocial media and web design business. She’s extremely talented and she has an exceptional eye for detail.
When she found out I was looking for someone to build a website for Timber Haven, she immediately jumped in to design it for me, and even set up social media accounts, complete with the most beautiful branding. We’ve spent a lot of time on FaceTime the last few months working out all the details. With all the upgrades she built in, it would have cost me a fortune. So, I’m grateful to her.
“What are my two favorite women up to?” she says.
“I came over to help Finn put the finishing touches on the room for Paige. They’ll be here tonight.”
“Oh, shiiiit.” She wiggles her eyebrows up and down, grinning like a psycho. “First time you’ve seen him since he had his tongue in your mouth. You gonna return the favor? Maybe let him get to second base this time?”
