Page 72 of Doc Showmance
“You’re feeling something for me that’s more than friendship, but you’re scared. I do remembereverythingthat happened last night before I passed out, but, sure we’ll resume ourfriendship.” I sat on the bed and clicked on the TV. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I had a headache. How about we flip through channels and find some eighties or nineties movie? We can sit here doing nothing until my parents pull us back in. I’m thinking they’ll have a dinner event planned.”
She kicked off her own shoes and snuggled in close to me when I lay back. My body thrummed with excitement from her fresh scent and curvy body curling into mine. “Who said you could use me as a pillow?”
“I did.”
I paused my channel clicking onBack to the Futurewhile I tried to figure out if it was movie number one, two, or three. Didn’t matter. It worked. The fact her firm breasts were pressed into me, and her palm fell across my chest… This was the epitome of mixed messages. Felt like she was the one pushing this into becoming something more.
She rolled away, stood, and dropped her jeans.
What the…
“What are you doing, Amber?”
“Changing,” she answered casually. “Those pants are tight. They’re not right for lounging and watching TV.” She slipped on flannel pajama pants from her suitcase and kept on the form-fitting shirt.
The vision of the thong that trekked through the two perfect globes of her ass imprinted on my brain. How could I focus on anything but that? She had a beautiful body, one I wanted to explore.
She leaned forward to flip her hair over her head and secured it into a messy bun.
“There,” she announced. “If I could trust you not to lose control, I’d take off my bra, too.”
There’d be no stopping me taking this to the next level if she did that. Sound would not come out of my throat.
Friend zone.
Must remember that.
“Do you want to take your bra off?” I asked hoarsely.
“I won’t. I know you have limits. Do you want to take your pants off?”
I did, but they were effective at hiding my hard-on. “Good attempt to get me naked.”
She curled into me again. I caught a glimpse of her grin.
“This doesn’t feel like you’re trying to keep us platonic,” I whispered.
“I haven’t decided about us yet. I’m keeping my options open.”
“I don’t understand you. You just said all this is fake.”
“You said at some point that this didn’t feel fake. I remember you said I had that feeling, too. How about you shut up and we watch the movie?”
I honestly had no idea what was going on between us. I didn’t know if she wanted me to make a move and cross the line. I had no clue.
All I knew was that I liked her right here. This was comfortable. I trusted her, unlike most people I knew in this city. I’d let her stay here for as long as she wanted to be.
27
Amber
Something shook me. I blinked to find the TV playing the thirdBack to the Future. I was a bit disappointed to have slept through the second one. My arm was across Ian’s chest and my cheek pressed tight into his side, slightly south of his armpit. Pit smell usually bothered me, but his didn’t. My scientific brain rationalized that as being something about me liking his pheromones.
“You awake yet?” Ian’s low voice vibrated through me.
“No,” I grumbled. I didn’t move. I liked how his body warmed me. The strength in him wasn’t only physical, but a resilience borne of a different kind of harsh beginnings than I’d had. Yet, like my childhood, his had punched his self-worth into the dirt and demanded he choose between caving or conquering the fear of striking out on his own and failing. Which, of course, he hadn’t when he sought an independent life.
“We must show for dinner at my parents’ place. I got a threat from Marianna. Kind of getting tired of her trying to orchestrate from afar.”
