Page 48 of Faking I Do
Wanting to reassure her, I took her hand again. She didn’t pull away. I ran my gaze over her fingers. “I’ll always be there for you, Lacey. We’ve got a history together and your family has always been there for me. Even when mine . . .” I stopped. The shit my dad and pops had going on was too near the surface to share.
She stood, pulling my head to her chest, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. “I know.”
My hands went to her back, rubbing small circles over her spine. She smelled like someone had spilled a gallon of vodka all over her then sat her out in the sun. Her shirt stuck to my cheek. I was tempted to flick my tongue out and see if the circles really did taste like salt. But this was Lacey. So what if she’d grownup in the time she’d been away? It didn’t matter that being this close to her made me painfully aware of just how much she’d changed from the gangly girl she’d been.
“For what it’s worth”—she leaned back and searched out my gaze—“I’m sorry.”
I pulled back, my cheek sticking to her shirt. “No need to apologize. I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. We’re like . . .”
“Family.” The way she said it made me think she didn’t like having to claim me as some sort of kin.
“That’s not a bad thing, you know.” My hands fell from her back as I stood.
She shrugged before she stepped away. “It can be.”
CHAPTER 24
LACEY
I tookin a breath through my nose. The smell of home washed over me. Silly girl. It wasn’t home. It was the scent of Bodie’s shirt that made me feel warm and snug inside. I was playing with fire right now and I knew it. Nothing good would come out of me and Bodie hooking up. But a whole lot of bad sure might. As much as I wanted to hold him close, nestle his cheek against my chest, and let us both forget about everything waiting for us back home, I couldn’t. He’d never think of me as more than Luke’s little sister. No matter how much I might want him to.
“What’s wrong? What did I say now?” He stood, his chest filling my vision as he rose to his full height.
“Nothing. It’s just been a long day. Do you care if I use the bathroom first?” I tried to rewind to a time when I didn’t crave Bodie’s touch. When being this close to him didn’t make me want to throw myself into his arms. It didn’t work. For as long as I could remember I’d had a major crush on Bodie Phillips.
He studied me for a moment, making my skin feel like it was baking under a hot July sun. “Go ahead.”
I stepped into the bathroom, eager to wash the frustration of the day away and douse the warmth being alone with Bodie had sparked. Without a change of clothes I wouldn’t be able todo much, but at least I could scrub the makeup off my face and freshen up a little bit. Too bad I didn’t have a shirt to change into. I’d give about anything to swap out the stupid Lick Me shirt for something more comfortable and less of a reminder of how I’d failed the family name.
When I finished in the bathroom, I opened the door a crack. “I’m coming out now.”
Bodie’s answer came from close by. Too close. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“Are you decent?” I couldn’t afford to surprise him with his pants down. The sight of him fully clothed sent my hormones into a tailspin. No telling what might happen if I actually caught a glimpse of forbidden skin.
“Pretty much.” He held his shirt in front of the door. “Sorry I don’t have anything else to offer, but if you want to change, I just put this one on before I left tonight.”
Nothing would make me happier than to trash my stupid T-shirt, but could I spend an entire night surrounded by the remnants of Bodie’s body heat and still be able to hold myself in check? The scent of fabric softener drifted past my nose, a much better option than the mixture of hopelessness and despair my shirt had absorbed in the holding cell. I snaked my hand through the crack in the door and grabbed it. “Thank you.”
“You bet.”
A moment later I stepped out of the bathroom, Bodie’s shirt hanging halfway down my thighs. Just having the opportunity to wipe off my face and swap my shirt had given my mood a little bit of a boost.
“Wow.” He stood by his bed, his gaze drifting over me.
“What?” The sheer intensity of his stare made my cheeks warm. I briefly met his gaze then sucked in my breath as my eyes roamed over his bare torso. I’d been right—his pecs were carvedfrom granite. No wonder every time I’d pressed against them it felt like solid rock under my hands.
“Nothing.” He ducked his head but not before I caught a flush of pink on his cheeks. Maybe we both felt a little out of our element. Instead of making me feel better, that thought caused a bolt of awareness to crackle through me. Bodie probably just felt uncomfortable being saddled with me for an evening. He couldn’t have the same kind of thoughts about me that I’d had about him.
I shed my shoes and jeans while Bodie took his turn in the bathroom. As I curled up in a ball and pulled the covers up to my chin, I tried not to think about the events of the evening. But I couldn’t hold the memories at bay. My stomach tightened as Adeline’s last words looped through my head. “You’ll never make this work. I should have known better than to try to work with you.”
My chance to save the town and redeem my family name had disappeared with Adeline’s temper tantrum. Not that I blamed her for being upset. I had single-handedly ruined the bachelorette party. Why couldn’t I have just let the guy suck on my shirt and called it good?
I clenched my hands into fists then released them, trying to alleviate some tension. I couldn’t because I didn’t want some stranger, granted a very good-looking stranger, putting his lips anywhere near me. It was my right to decide who had access to my body. And the only man whose lips I wanted roaming over me didn’t want to have anything to do with me. At least not in that capacity.
The bathroom door opened. “I’m coming out.”
“Okay.”
