Page 3 of Out in the Country

“Want some water?”

“Sit.” Tugging at my hand, he pulls me down to sit next to him. His arm drapes over my lap, and his fingers trace small circles against where they rest at my hip. The sensation is mind-blowing, and I suppress a whimper and will my cock to relax.

He’s drunk.

He’s my best friend.

He’s straight.

“Thank you for tonight.” The words are sleepy, but his eyes are bright as he watches me.

“Of course.” I want to sayanything for youbut that lands in the inappropriate best friend category, and we’ve already ventured into that too many times this weekend.

“I wish you’d let me…” His voice trails off as a lazy smile graces his lips.

“Let you what?” I whisper because I don’t want to break whatever is going on between us.

“Everything.” The word is barely audible as his eyes fall shut, and he sighs as sleep overtakes him.

The jerk.

I want to throttle him, but he looks so sweet with his mouth hanging open, and I know deep down that I don’t want to know.

I mean I want toknowbut I can’t. Drunk Everett is too damn tempting for his own good. Instead, I push the hair off his forehead and carefully remove his hand from around my waist. Finding a blanket in the closet, I drape it over him and allow myself one last long look before I put this entire night into the box of things that will never happen with my best friend.

1

HAYDEN

“Icannot believe you agreed to take a shift three days before your weddin’.” I drop into the chair next to Harper at the nurses’ station as she updates something on the computer screen. Her red hair isn’t something you can replicate in a salon, and it’s piled high on top of her head in a messy bun.

“I’m callin’ inallthe favors,”—she look at me and winks—“especially yours.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“And I don’t want to think about this place for a second once I clock out today.”

“Darlin’, that’s meevery day.”

“Well, I mean, you do have that hunky roommate to go home to so…”—she lets the words trail off with a mischievous grin—“makes sense to me.”

“I never should have told you about Nashville,” I grumble. “Everett is my best friend. Mystraightbest friend.”

“Your straight best friend who tried to kiss you.”

“He was drunk and he’d met his favorite band and there was just a lot of emotion going on. And he didn’tactuallytry to kiss me.”

Harper rolls her eyes like she buys my story as much as I do tellin’ it. “So you won’t mind if I try to hook him up with my cousin, right? Considering you’re bringin’ him to my wedding as your plus-one and all.”

“Of course not.” The words are like sandpaper leaving my throat, which is ridiculous because nothing has changed between us.

There have been no more attempted kisses or suggestive comments. We’re simply…us. And those flirty smiles and touches from Nashville are definitely not the reason I told Jonah that I had to cancel indefinitely and haven’t been out on another date since.

“Hmmm.”

“Don’t, okay? I can’t risk losin’ him over some silly crush I let myself indulge in every once in a Tennessee moon.”

“Isn’t it once in a blue moon?”

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