An unbidden image of him and Jeanine flashes in my mind and I hate it.
“You look tired,” I say with a specific intention. “If you want to skip this hangout and go on to bed, it’s totally fine.” Aka,Get lost, buddy, you’re distracting me.
A grin plays on his mouth. “Totally fine, huh?” He touches hisindex finger to the spot right in the center of my forehead. “Your face is so loud.”
“Yourface is loud,” I counter, slapping his hand down, concerned that my siblings are all listening to us like this is the newest podcast they can’t turn off. So I sniff him. “And you stink. You should go get a shower.” Another sniff but longer this time because he doesn’t smell bad at all. Miraculously, he smells like mint gum and earth. Still no cigarette smoke, thankfully.
James still hasn’t looked away from me. Is he drunk already? Suffering a heat stroke? Why isn’t he acknowledging the room? “I smell so bad you had to sniff me twice?”
“Umm, excuse me,” Emily blurts out, holding up a hand. “Is something going on here? Better yet,whatis going on here?”
Oh great. If Noah keeps all his thoughts inside, Emily is his antithesis. Every thought she’s ever had spills out in the most direct way possible. It’s inconvenient ninety percent of the time. And right now, I’d like to give her a big, uncomfortable wedgie.
The last thing I need is for my family to know I’m wildly attracted to James. I would never hear an end to their opinions. Most likely, they’d ask me to leave him alone. Not because they don’t love me but because they know my track record. They’d think I was chasing something I’d only lose interest in. That I’d hurt him.
And I’m worried they’d be right.
I’m forming the world’s worst lie when James speaks up first. “Actually, I’m glad you guys are here. We have something to tell you.”
“We do?” I direct my panicked expression at his face.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side. “Madison and I have fallen . . .”Cue the longest pause known to man.“. . . into friendship.”
A sigh slips away from me.
Emily lifts a brow. “Friendship?”
James winces, really getting into character. “Afraid so. It was never supposed to happen.” He looks at my brother. “And I don’t want to blame it on you, Noah, but—you’ve been sort of wrapped up in your wife lately and neglecting me.”
Noah’s lips press together—unamused.
Now that I’ve got the hang of where the plot is going, I’m ready to play along. “It’s true. I tried my best to resist it . . .” I say, casting my eyes up to James and patting his chest.Oof,bad idea. I forgot how solid he is, and now I just want to trail my hand under his shirt and experience what his skin feels like stretched over his muscles.
He finishes my sentence: “. . . But too many lonely nights inevitably lead to—”
“Cinnamon sugar toast,” I say in a mocking, shame-filled tone.
And the thing is, I know we’re only playing. That this is a dramatic production about friendship. But the way he’s looking at me coupled with how my palm is absorbing the beats of his heart like they belong to me, it doesn’t feel like we’re acting. It feels like we’re actually confessing something to each other under the guise of sarcasm.
Does James feel it too?
He blinks and breaks the spell, looking out at my family. “We’re really sorry, guys.”
“We never intended to hurt you,” I add, pulling my hand away.
I half expect us to take a bow, but my family has their own encore, apparently.
Noah crosses his arms. “Oh no—they’re alike. How have I never noticed this before?”
Emily nods slowly. “It’s true. They both live for drama. And James . . . he suddenly looks like he has the urge to get drunk and dance on a table, belting ‘No Scrubs’ at the top of his lungs.”
“Hey.That happened one time. Quit bringing it up.”
“And Maddie—” Jack says, pushing his glasses up his nose to get a better look at me. Kinda upsetting how someone can look so hot in glasses actually. (I certainly don’t.) “Is it just me, or does she look like maybe she’s already set an alarm for the morning?”
“Not fair,” I interject. “You’re insinuating he’d influence me in a positive way! He has plenty of bad traits.”
“You’re gonna have to dig pretty deep to find them,” says James with a smirk that used to irritate me. Now I dream about it.
