Page 121 of The Skinny

“I promise, Zel. And, for what it’s worth, I do that, too. A lot.” He leaned back and pulled me with him to lay on the bed, our feet still on the floor. “Just in case you’re wondering, becauseIwould be, Juliette wouldn’t begrudge me this connection, thisfriendship,that we have.”

“I’m glad. I’d hate for you to tie yourself into knots.”

“I think you and Juju would’ve been good friends. That’s not something I’d ever say about Maeve. If I’d realized that sooner, it would’ve saved me a lot of heartache and a shit-load of money.” He propped himself up on his elbows. “That’s what I had to figure out before I could come back here. If I could trust my instincts about us.” He gave me a half-smile. “They were screaming, ‘Run away!’ loud enough, you’d think I’d’ve gotten the message.”

“You’d think I’d’ve gotten the message after the first time I jumped you and youdidrun away.”

He laughed. “We’re hard-headed.”

I folded my hands behind my head and stared at the ceiling. “I understand not trusting yourself. I understand feeling something is wrong, then questioning if your instincts are right. Trust is so fucking hard, especially when you’ve been drop-kicked by the people who’re supposed to be holding you up.”

“We’ve got that in common, too.”

“Yeah, we do.”

The garage door rumbled, and Tobias’s eyes widened. He sat upright. “Shit.”

His reaction didn’t surprise me, considering his and Aithan’s history with women.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I sat up, too. “All we did was talk.”

He pointed at the bed. “In the downstairs guest room?”

The door from the garage into the house creaked. Drew and Aithan’s voices carried into the kitchen.

“Crap. Zel, what the hell am I gonna say to Aithan?” Tobias looked like a deer in headlights as he stood and slipped his arms into his Oxford. “He’s gonna assume I — we —”

“Yup. Your best friend’s gonna assume you fucked his girlfriend.”

“I have no excuse for being alone with you.” He covered his mouth with his hand. “I really wasn’t thinking things through when I drove up here.”

I stood. “Relax, Tobias. We’re friends, remember? You don’t need an excuse to visit. It’s not like they haven’t noticed me shaking my skirt at you, and you know they’re okay with us being together in whatever way we choose.” Even ifIwas unsure about what we’d chosen.

He frowned. “Yeah, but knowing and doing are totally different things.”

“But we didn’t do anything except talk,” I repeated.

He pulled a face. “We kinda did a bit more than that.”

“Doesn’t—”

Pounding on the bedroom door made both of us jump. Aithan growled, “Tobias, get your pants on and get your butt out here.”

Fuck. I swallowed. Had I misread him, too? Had Aithan changed his mind about being okay with Tobias and me?

Then Aithan added, “There’s a ton of groceries to carry in. If you’re gonna be balling Zelda, you gotta help with the housework too, you lazydupkiem.”

Drew’s laughter came from the kitchen.

I exhaled.Those bastards.“He never took his jeans off, but I’ll send him out after we finish talking, Mr. Fitness. Don’t get your panties in a wad.”

Tobias finished buttoning his shirt just as Aithan threw open the door.

“Go help the old man.” He jerked his thumb as Drew passed, heading back to the garage. Aithan’s hungry gaze fixed on me. “I’m gonna teach this woman how to—”

“How towhat?” I arched my brows at him and folded my arms over my flour-dusted shirt.

“How to put her men in their place?” He offered me a Drew-like toothy grin.

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