Page 59 of Freshmeet
“Huh.” My eyes narrowed as she brushed her breasts against his bicep.
“What?” Kat stopped while Mona kept walking. “Oh. Huh.”
“I mean, we’re not together, together.”
“But he is here with you.”
“That he is.” As I tried to decide my next move, Connor and I locked eyes. His shoulders relaxed, and he raised the arm Meg was propped against to wave, causing her to stumble back.
“I guess you don’t have anything to worry about.” Kat patted my butt and shoved me toward him. “Come find us in a few.”
I waved her off and weaved between drunk bodies until I joined the tiny circle. Jamie pulled me into a hug, drowning me in the scent of “dude” soap and cheap beer. It wasn’t pleasant. “My sweet Sarah. I wondered where you’d gone off to.”
“Just hanging out. I was about to go for a swim.”
“Emily here yet?” Meg asked, taking a step closer to Connor, but he reached out and tugged me away from his brother, putting me in front of him.
You’d think that would’ve been enough for Meg to back off, but nope. She was so close, her vanilla-scented whatever smacked me right in the nose. I really wanted to stomp on her foot, but I couldn’t overcome the years of manners instilled in me by Margot Tilney.
Resting his free hand on my stomach, Connor inched me away until his front was flush with my back. All I could focus on was the weight of his hand across my belly and the cold coming from his red cup against my arm. He flexed his fingers, his thumb brushing across the exposed skin between my high-waisted bottoms and bikini top, sending goosebumps all over. I tilted my chin up, our lips just inches from one another, the blue of his eyes drawing me in until I forgot where I was.
“Well?” Meg’s loud voice broke the trance.
Without looking at her, I said, “Yeah. She’s swimming.”
“We should go join her.” Meg’s voice was tight.
Connor bit the inside of his cheek, and it took all the training my mom had given me to not roll my eyes. Instead, I smiled sweetly at Meg and nodded. Pressing back into Connor, I brushed a light kiss on his jaw. “You coming?”
“Sounds good.” He squeezed my hip, then let me go. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
Yet again, he’d leveled up our relationship, gone full-on boyfriend, and I was giving a very convincing girlfriend impression.
Whatever. We’re cute.
Distracted by all things Connor, I stepped right into a hole.
Before I could face-plant, Meg grabbed my arm and pulled me up. “Watch where you’re walking.”
“Thanks.” I carefully stepped away from her, putting some necessary distance between us. The alcohol in my body whispered, pushing me to tell her to back off Connor. I needed to resist the urge.
When the guys were out of earshot, Meg asked, “So, you and Connor?”
“Yup.”
“How long?” Meg wasn’t facing me. No, with a tense smile on her lips, she looked everywhere but at me.
“This is our first date.” I sounded light, confident, and not at all like this conversation made me want to crawl out of my skin.
We reached the narrow dock, and neither of us slowed down. Pushing past, I took an elbow to the ribs but shouldered myself past Meg and made it to the end first.
It really is the small things in life.
Blowing a piece of hair out of my eyes, I adjusted my boobs and turned on Meg. “Listen, I don’t want to do this.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Meg twisted her hair into a bun that was as artful as it was messy.
I took her elbow and moved us away from the edge of the dock. “This passive-aggressive back and forth. I know you liked Connor, but he wasn’t interested.”
