Page 16 of The Only Reason

“Hello?” I whisper.

“It’s me, can we talk?” Grant asks.

“Sure, I’ll come to you,” I say quietly and we hang up. I quickly brush my teeth and run a brush through my hair so I don’t look as bad as I feel. I need some coffee or a gallon of water, stat.

Grant’s waiting outside his room when I open my door and I can tell he’s in the mood to talk. I don’t blame him. I have been kind of hot and cold with him since we got here. Hell, since the plane ride. I just didn’t know what to do about our little possible problem. Now that there isn’t anything to be worried about, I am positive about what I want to say to him.

“Are you ending this?” he says as we walk toward the only Starbucks nearby.

“I am.” I nod.

“Because you know how I feel?” he asks. I know he has feelings for me, and I thought maybe I had some too, but I know now that when we aren’t having sex, those feelings are purely platonic.

“No. I like you, Grant. I just don’t feel the way you do about us.” I sigh. I know it would be easy to, we could work. But I don’t want to settle for what could work when there is so much more out there.

“Is it because of her?” he mumbles. For a second I don’t know what he means, but then it hits me.Dakota.Have I been that obvious about my little crush?

“No, I—I’ve been thinking about it for a bit. I just wanted to be sure. I don’t want to lose you, Grant, you’re still my best friend.”

“Yeah. Of course.” He forces a smile that as his best friend, I can tell this is going to be harder on him than I originally thought. Yet another reason why you shouldn’t be friends with benefits with your best friend.

We order our coffees and we decide to get extras for the group. God knows they’ll need it after the night we had. Seven coffees later, we’re on our way back to the hotel and Grant helps me knock on everyone’s doors. Grace and Harry extend their arms and let us know they’re going back to sleep. Grant takes his coffee back to his room and offers to bring Kate and Austin’s up to their room. I take him up on it because I’m dying to sit back down and have a sip of my own before we’re expected to do things today. Heading back into the room, Dakota is still asleep so I try to creep in but the door clicks a little too loudly behind me. She sits up in bed, stretching with a long yawn. Her curly locks are in a disarray around her face, some of them flat, some of them poofy like a lion’s mane.

“Is that for me?” She perks up.

“Yeah, it’s Starbucks but it’s the best I could do.” I chuckle. It isn’t my favorite coffee, but hey--desperate times.

“I hate Starbucks but I swear this is going to be the best coffee I’ve ever had. I have such a killer headache,” she says, reaching for it. I hand it to her with some milk and sugars but she starts chugging it black.

“Damn.” My brain is like ‘name something non sexual that turns me on’.

“Sorry, I’m used to having like five minutes during shoots with no bathroom breaks.” She laughs. “I guess I could afford to sip this one.”

“We’ll hopefully have some better coffee at brunch.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Is that soon?”

“We have an 11am reservation, which back home sounded late. But now I’m wondering if they still serve brunch at 2pm,” I joke.

“I don’t blame you. At least I have time to shower beforehand, I feel so icky from all the dancing,” she says.

“You go ahead, I’ll hop in when you’re done.” I smile.

“Okay. Thanks for the coffee.” She takes it with her and heads into the bathroom.

DAKOTA

The moment the bathroom door clicks shut, I let out a heavy breath and grip the edge of the counter, staring at my reflection. My hair is a rat’s nest and I have make-up smudged in the corner of my eyes.

I peel off my crop top, letting it fall to the floor before stepping out of my panties and climbing into the shower. I turn it as high as I can possibly stand it. I need to wash off the flight, alcohol, dancing, and the way Violet’s body against mine had me aching for more. I curl my hands around my neck, dropping my head back, and groan.

Violet is off limits. Whether she is in a relationship with Grant or not—which, I’m pretty sure that’s a no-go—I still have no idea if she is even interested in any girls, especially me. I could swear she was flirting with me. And the way she smiled at me, not my camera, but through it and straight into my soul had me begging for more. And the way she blushed when she saw me in just my crop top had me convinced she wanted more.

I let the thought of running my fingers down her skin, wrapping around her waist, pulling her close against me, letting my breath skate across her chin as I kiss my way to her lips. Her plump lips…

“Hey, you doing okay in there?” I hear Violet call out, sounding nervous and pulling me back to reality.

“Um, yeah, sorry. Just washing off the, uh, flight,” I yell back and grab the travel shampoo bottle. I am the nervous one, feeling like I’ve just gotten caught with my hand in the cookie jar, indulging myself in a sweet forbidden treat.

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