I turn on the water, and when it’s hot enough, I step under the spray and let it pound on my head and stream down my face.
And here, in this three-by-six-foot box with the water hammering down on me, I can admit that she’s still beautiful. Fuck, that curly blond hair should be wrapped around my fist. Her lips, so full and pouty, should be on my cock.
“Jesus.”
I fist the base of my dick and give it a tug with thoughts of my wildfire front and center.
The way her eyes light up and she smiles when she’s being particularly sarcastic.
The way she bit her lip when I spoke to her at the pharmacy.
The way she looks wearing those shorts with her long legs on display.
And I grunt out her name as I come against the tile.
Fuck.
I need to stop this. Nothing good can come of it. She chose, and it wasn’t me.
But goddammit, a part of me still wants her.
It’s fucking torture.
Chapter Five
JULIET
“Thanks for the ride, you guys.”
Ava grins at me through the rearview mirror. When they heard I had to take my car to get fixed—again—Harper and Ava offered to pick me up on their way to book club, which was so kind, and I was not about to pass it up. There aren’t exactly a lot of rideshares around here. I usually have one of the girls from work do it and pay them an hour's wage for it, but this way, I didn’t have to bother them.
“Why do you take it all the way to Silver Springs?” Ava asks. “Even my brothers won’t go to that shop. They use Brooks. He’s right down the street from you.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly welcome there.”
Ava frowns. “Why?”
“History.” I shrug, and Harper sighs. I don’t know how much either of these girls knows about my history with Brooks. I assume that Blake has told Harper all about what went down and why we broke up. “I wish I could afford to replace that stupid car. It would have been cheaper than all of these damn repairs.”
“I bought my car from Brooks,” Harper says. “It’s not pretty, but it runs great.”
“Well, hopefully, this will be the last repair for a while.”
“I hope so, too,” Harper replies. “Your dress is adorable, by the way.”
I glance down at the red sundress that I splurged on earlier this summer. We’re having some warm late summer days, and I decided to break this out for book club since I don’t get to wear it to work and haven’t had any other occasions to get a little dressed up.
“Thanks. You guys … I’m a nervous wreck.”
“Why?” Ava frowns at me in the mirror. “Didn’t you read the book?”
That makes me laugh. “I read it. I loved it. Thanks to Billie’s recommendations, I really enjoy Laura Pavlov’s stories. No, that’s not it.”
“Then what?” Harper asks as Ava turns down the main street to the bookstore.
“I’m not good around people,” I finally admit, and even that makes me nervous. Boy, I was conditioned more than I realized. “I was in a relationship with someone who restricted who I could talk to and interact with. I haven’t had friends since college. So being social isn’t easy for me anymore.”
Ava parks, but none of us gets out of the car for a minute. Damn, what are they thinking? Did I say too much?
