Page 19 of Blindsided

My phone starts buzzing in the drawer, and I yank it open, forcing everything to go skidding around in my haste.

Seeing it’s a video call, I press the green button, and a mass of brown hair fills my screen.

“Are you alive?” I chuckle. I think she’s lying in bed. Her hair is covering her entire face, making it hard to see details.

“No.”

“Pity. Then I guess I’ll throw out the coffee I bought you.”

Tilly’s head snaps up, her eyes focusing on the screen. She looks exhausted and beautiful at the same time. It makes me want to wrap her up in my arms and spoil her. I want to hold her as she sleeps and bring her breakfast in bed before she wakes up.

Wait, what?

No. I don’t do that. I’m a one-night stand kind of guy. Not the lazy Sunday kind of guy. And with my best friend’s sister? Definitely not.

But she fit perfectly in my arms that one morning.

Shit. I’d been doing so well at shoving that memory away. Sort of. There were a couple of weak moments in the shower when I couldn’t stop thinking about how good her ass felt pressed against me. And how her full tits filled my hand. God, my cock gets so hard when I imagine what could’ve happened had I not jumped out of bed.

“You wouldn’t!” Tilly’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts. It’s a good thing, too. A boner at work is just asking for trouble.

“There she is.” I grin at her. “Does this mean you’re done being a show pony?”

“Oh, my god. I’ve never heard anything so accurate. And yes. We fly home tomorrow.”

“Are you going back to your apartment?”

“Only to get Sergio from Mrs. Esposito’s and to pack my stuff. I’m going to stay with Desmond until I can find a new place.”

“I’m sorry, Tills.”

She shrugs, but her face shows how disappointed she is. “It’s just an apartment. I’ll find something else.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t be sad about it. Has Veronica found any other communications from your stalker?”

“Nope, and they’ve checked through everything. It doesn’t make any sense. Breaking into my apartment was drastic. You’d think there would’ve been more before that.”

“Maybe there was and you just didn’t notice?”

“Probably. Anyway, what are you doing?”

“I’m at work.”

Tilly grimaces. “Oh, crap. Sorry. I didn’t think about the time difference.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’d much rather talk to you than read this financial report.”

A blush creeps across Tilly’s cheeks, and it makes me grin. “Tell me about fashion week. What, exactly, do you do, and is the behind-the-scenes stuff as chaotic as the movies show?”

Tilly tells me everything about her week, her voice animated as she explains the ins and outs of being a model. I’m transfixed by every one of her expressions. How have I never noticed the way her eyebrows scrunch when she’s serious or the little quirk of her mouth when she’s amused?

I guess she’s always been off-limits in some way. When I was a teenager, she was only ten. Then I was too busy with college to notice anything past my own nose. Suddenly, she’d grown into this beautiful woman, and Desmond was more protective of her than ever before. She’s his little sister. What kind of friend would I be if I made a move on her?

A shitty one, that’s for sure.

And yet… I can’t deny there’s a part of me that has a crush on my best friend’s little sister.

“Hey, Matthew. You got a second?” Adam’s voice interrupts Tilly’s story about a couple of girls almost coming to blows over a bottle of nail polish. “Sorry. Didn’t think you had a meeting right now.”

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