Page 38 of Surprise Best Man

“Listen. I don’t know how bad your work situation has been, really. But I heard that phone call so this wasn’t the first time your boss ever spoke to you this way. That’s not OK. I think you were right to do what you did.”

“Maybe. But now there’s the matter of, you know, paying for things, and not being out on the street.”

”You’ll be fine.” He didn’t miss a beat. “People like you are resourceful. You’ll find a way of getting back on your feet.”

“Nice words. But…I don’t know how you can be so certain.”

“Because you’re smart and you’re talented and you’re ambitious. And remember, you’re talking to a guy who dropped out of college to drive around in a van with a bunch of dudes playing 80s hair metal. I know a thing or two about taking risks.”

I couldn’t believe it, but it was working. Between Sean and the view and the nachos and the beer I was feeling far less down than I would’ve imagined for someone who’d just quit her job.

“And if it gets bad…” He grinned.

“With a view like this and some nachos,” I said, having a feeling where he was going. “How bad can it be?”

“Well said.”

We went back to our meals, working our way through the tacos and then the nachos and polishing it all off with our very cold, very tasty beers.

And when I finished I put my hand down, surprised to find it was touching something warm.

Sean’s hand.

We met eyes, saying nothing, my hand in his.

And I was totally content to leave it there.

Chapter Sixteen

SHANIA

When I woke up, I felt good. Damn good. I sat up, stretched my limbs, and let out one of those weird noises that you only make when you stretch that was like half-squeak half…something else.

The sun poured into the room, and the bed was so, so soft.

Too soft.

As in, “bed that was way too soft to be my crappy Ikea one that I’d been sleeping on for the last six years.”

And then I noticed…it. Er, him.

Lying on the bed next to me was Sean fucking Maddox. Considering the amount of times I’d said his name like that, I was starting to think that ought to be his real middle name.

He opened those gorgeous eyes of his, a small smile playing on red lips.

“There she is. Good nap?”

“What?” I asked, feeling totally discombobulated. I’d always loved that word and used it whenever I could, even in my own head. “We took a nap?”

Sean cocked his head to the side, confused.

“Did you sneak some whiskey shots when I wasn’t looking or something? How do you not remember what happened?”

“I hate naps,” I said, rubbing my hair and looking down to notice that I was naked, my boobs hanging out for all to see.

Well, for Sean at least. I quickly wrapped my arm around them.

“They always make me feel like I came out of a coma.” But then, because I wasn’t drunk, it all came right back to me. Our hand-holding at our little spot had quickly turned into some serious kissing—kissing that was interrupted by a family arriving at the exact wrong moment. Or maybe right, if he and I wanted to avoid ending up on some less than savory lists.

We’d gathered our stuff as quickly as we could and hurried the hell out of there, only keeping our hands off each other because at the speed we’d been driving, any of that sort of business would’ve resulted in us getting wrapped around a telephone pole on Rodeo Drive.

Once we’d gotten back here, it was a like a circus act or something. Kissing and touching and licking and sucking and… Yeah. That all happened.

And that more than explained the need for the nap. Between the stress and the heavy food and the very, very enthusiastic sex, I’d been wiped out.

Sean curled his arm around my hips and pulled me close. Part of me wanted to put some distance between us, but the more insistent part of me wanted to let him hold me. Like he’d been before, Sean was calming to be around. I felt…safe.

“You feeling all right? You look a little shell-shocked.”

“I guess I still am. I mean, I lost my job and got laid all in the same day.”

”And had some really good nachos, too,” he said with a small grin. “Man, I remember the first time I had Sambrosa’s nachos…so good they put me in a state.”

I gave him a playful swat with the boob-covering arm, my tits bouncing around with the impact and making me feel silly and exposed. He noticed this, pulling the covers up. I took them and covered the ladies up. And yet, I considered, we had fucked again. So it wasn’t like he was seeing anything he hadn’t seen already.

Or squeezed, or sucked, or licked…

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