Page 64 of Dear #47, You're the Worst
Isn’t that obvious? I cough, covering my reaction with a low laugh. “You know, you talk a big game, Firecracker, but you were real cozy this morning.”
She spears a strawberry and points it at me. “I was asleep.”
“Yeah. Real peacefully. Right on top of me. You snore, by the way.”
Her eyes narrow to slits. “I do not.”
“You definitely do. It’s kinda cute, though.”
“Do you wake up every morning this annoying or is this a special treat?”
I grin and lean in just a little, close enough to catch a whiff of the expensive perfume she wears. “Only for you,sweetheart.”
Her breath catches, just for a second. Then she turns on her heel, muttering something I can’t quite catch, and walks away. I watch her go, satisfied with myself.
I’m winning. Whatever game this is between us, I’m definitely winning.
The rest of the day slides into something warmer, slower, more intimate than either of us meant for it to be.
Around noon, we get dragged to the massage cabin by Ivy and Jessa, who claim it’s a team bonding requirement. I scoff, saying there’s no way I’m getting oiled up by some stranger, but Juliet smirks and calls me a coward.
That earns her a challenge I refuse to back down from.
“Fine,” I say. “But if this is weird, I’m blaming you.”
“Everything’s weird with you,” she shoots back.
Tucked in the trees is the cozy massage cabin. Juliet ends up on the table next to mine, separated by a gauzy curtain that doesn’t quite reach the floor. When the massage therapist works on her, she lets out a groan so sinful it makes my fists clench.
“Jesus, Monroe. Thosesounds,” I mutter through the partition. “Are you trying to get me arrested?”
She hums, voice lazy and content. “You’re the one who insisted on being here.”
“I didn’t insist. You challenged me.”
“Same thing.”
For the next hour, I have to listen to her make sounds that should be illegal while someone works knots out of muscles I didn’t know I had. By the time we’re done, I’m wound tighter than when we started.
Afterward, we both look thoroughly worked over. Hair mussed, faces flushed, clothes slightly rumpled. When we get back to the main cabin, everyone teases us about the afterglow. I nearly deck Silas when he makes a stupid comment aboutcouple’s activities.
Later, we wander back to the media room where a few players and some of the staff are playing cards. Shane pulls Juliet into a game of poker, declaring her his lucky charm. She leans over my shoulder during my hand, whispering strategy tips that are both terrible and probably meant to mess with me.
“You should fold,” she murmurs in my ear. Her breath is warm against my neck and I can feel her body heat through the cream cashmere sweater she’s wearing.
Down, boy. No letting my thoughts wander there. “I’ve got a good hand,” I proclaim.
Juliet’s eyes sparkle and she shakes her head at me like I’m a petulant two-year-old who won’t listen.
“You’ve got nothing,” she purrs. “Trust me,honey.”
I know she’s doing it on purpose. I also don’t care. Having her this close, feeling the heat of her body pressed against my back, is worth losing a few hands of poker.
At one point, she laughs too hard at something Moose says. She loses her balance, throwing her arms around my neck to catch herself. The hug should be brief, but... It isn’t. My hands come up instinctively, one at her waist, one on her back, anchoring her there.
Neither of us says anything. The room continues around us, but we’re in our own bubble. She drags herself away, eyes flicking to mine, cheeks pink.
“Sorry,” she whispers. She bites that lush pink lip, sinking her teeth into it.
