Page 76 of Just Friends

Alex extends his hand, holding it out to me in invitation. “Are you coming?”

This is classic Alex and Hazel. Spontaneous and fun. Like middle-of-the-night Waffle House runs and milkshakes for breakfast, but it also feels different. Like books read in bed under a shared blanket and butterfly necklaces clasped around necks.

It feels the same and different, thrilling and terrifying, and I like the contradictions. So I take his outstretched hand, loving the way his fingers feel curled around mine.

My heart pounds beneath my sternum as I stand to my feet, the top of my head hovering just below Alex’s chin. I can feel his stare branding me, and when I meet his eyes, they’re dark and depthless, making warmth pool in my stomach, in the hollow of my throat, down the lengths of my thighs, and the tips of my fingers.

“I should probably get my swimsuit,” I say, my voice a breathy whisper.

I expect a nod, for his hand to drop mine and to feel his gaze heavy on my retreating form as I head back to the cottage. But instead, he quirks a brow, and one corner of his mouth lifts in a dangerous smile. “You’ve seen me naked, Lane. Fair is fair.”

My mouth falls open. Not at his words so much as the teasing, flirty tone behind them. Alex has never talked tomelike that, and until this moment, I’ve never realized what I was missing. Hearing his voice like this is intoxicating, and I have no idea how any of those women I set him up with were able to resist him.

He knows what he’s doing too, because I would have gone back inside for anything less than the challenge he delivered.

“Fine,” I say, lifting my hand to the button closest to the waistband of my pants. It slides through the hole easily, and Alex’s eyes track the movement with startling intensity. I slide up to the next one and free it before moving onto the third. When this one breaks free, Alex swallows hard.

“You okay?” I ask, and my own voice holds that same taunting, flirtatious tone. I’m surprised by it, but when I see how it affects him, the tightening of his jaw, the bob of his throat, the blackness that swallows his eyes whole, it makes my blood spark.

His hands flex at his sides, fingers curling into a fist before spreading wide. “Mm-hmm.”

“Good,” I say, flipping the next button through the hole. I’m four buttons down, and Alex is consuming every inch of exposed skin like a starving man. It makes me feel heady, powerful, and although I know I should think through this more, ask him what we’re doing and what it means, I also don’t want to break the spell. Not when he’s looking at me likethat.

Plus, the look on his face when he realizes I’m wearing a sports bra under this is going to be priceless.

His breath catches when I free the last button, and his hands twitch at his sides, almost like he’s holding himself back. I pause, my hands at my throat, clutching the thin fabric together.

Suddenly, I don’t feel as powerful. I’m equal parts desperate and hesitant, hopeful and scared. My heart pounds in my chest as I ask, “Alex, what are we—”

My words are cut off by the sound of the back door squealing as it slowly opens, followed by a hissed shushing noise. Alex’s eyes blow wide, matching my own, and we snap into motion as we see Wes and Lo sneaking across the deck, stripping their clothes as they go.

In every direction, there are flashes of skin in the moonlight as Alex grabs his clothes and Wes and Lo shed theirs. Clothes in hand, Alex pulls me by my arm off the dock and into the dark copse of trees. Wes and Lo would see us if they were paying attention to anyone but each other as they quietly stifle their giggles, tripping across the dirty sand toward the dock half-dressed.

Wes murmurs something to Lo, quiet enough that I can’t hear, and I’m glad for it. I think I’d never recover from listening to my friends’ dirty talk.

Alex’s hand lands on my waist, his fingers curling around my hip bone, and he tugs me a little closer in the dark. My body presses against his, where he’s leaning on a wide tree trunk. While he gathered his clothes from the dock, he didn’t take the time to pull them on, and I didn’t get a chance to button my shirt, so we’re skin to skin, our breathing heavy from the adrenaline rush.

Time stands still as we hover in the dark, waiting for Wes and Lo to get into the water, distracted enough that they won’t see us crawling back through the dark with our tails between our legs. We weren’t doing anything wrong or anything to be ashamed of, but I think we both feel like this is too fragile to let anyone else know about yet.

Wes whispers something about leaving a sock on the dock and Lo’s laugh pierces the air, but I’m focused on Alex in front of me, his hand still heavy on my waist, his fingers flexing against my skin.

I expect him to let go, for us to forget what happened or almost happened out there on that dock in the moonlight, so I’m surprised at his hot breath tickling my neck as he asks, “You okay?”

I want to say yes immediately, to brush it all off and act like it was no big deal, but Wes and Lo were a slap of reality. Them specifically, here in the exact spot they risked and ruined their friendship all those years ago. It obviously worked out for them, if the splashing and laughing are any indication, but it took them alongtime to get there. And I don’t know if I’m ready to risk that with Alex, to risk losing him temporarily or permanently just to see if there’s a possibility ofsomethingbetween us.

So I decide to be honest. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “I’m…scared.”

I feel his nod rather than see it, his facial hair scraping against the curve of my neck. “Me too,” he says.

My eyes meet his in the darkness, catching and holding. He looks as vulnerable as I feel. The moment stretches, holding us in its firm grasp, and I feel like we’re in a bubble, stardust and magic and dangerous hope crackling in the air between us.

A breathy moan echoes across the water, and our eyes widen together. Alex’s hand tightens on my waist, spinning me around so I’m facing the house. “Time to go.”

Twigs and fallen leaves crack beneath our feet, but Wes and Lo are too distracted to notice. Instead of risking the squeaky back door, Alex leads me around the front by my hand, and the planks of the porch creak beneath our feet. In the darkness, he pauses to pull his shorts back over his black boxers before we yank the door open and slip inside.

We collapse against the front door after shutting it quietly behind us, stifling our giggles. The room is dark, lit only by the moonlight peering through the windows and the warm dim light above the oven. If Wes and Lo had bothered to look, they would have noticed our couch bed was empty, the blankets untouched.

“They can never know,” I whisper between huffs of laughter.

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