I bite back a smirk. “You’ll get a turn, trust me. Now go change so we can get going.”
She scowls, crossing her arms over her chest in preparation to protest. After she’s been glaring at me for a few seconds, I lift my finger up to my mouth and stick the tip of it between my lips to taste her. The fight dies on her face. She blinks at me and flushes crimson before shaking her head. She slowly walks toward the stairs.
Thankfully, my erection is mostly calmed down when she makes her way back down the stairs. She changed into black leggings and an oversize long-sleeved shirt that looks very familiar. It’s my favorite one—a soft heather gray with a faded vintage Miller Lite logo on the front.
Great. Now I’m going to be sporting a semi all afternoon.
She’s pulling her long hair back into a high ponytail when I notice the mark on her neck.
“Whoa, whoa, maybe you should, ya know, leave it down.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Just because we’ve been … messing around doesn’t mean that?—”
I hold up my phone to take a picture of her neck.Mine.Some deeply primal, possessive part of me very much likes how it looks on the side of her neck, right under her jawline. I flip the screen around so she can see it.
She gasps, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Sam Seymour! How dare you!” She yanks the ponytail holder out of her hair, cheeks reddening.
I shrug. “I can’t apologize if I’m not sorry.”
She tries to turn away and hide her smile, but I see it. I grab my keys and walk out the front door behind her as we make our way to the carport.
“Let’s take my truck.”
26
DOLLY
Every time I turn around, I feel Sam’s eyes on me. He’s supposed to be watching the twins and talking to the guys while they grill burgers out on Holden and Rosie’s patio, but his eyes keep straying back through the open back door to watch me as I help Rosie prep the side dishes.
Every time I catch him, he makes sure no one’s looking andwinks at me.My stomach does a somersault every time.
I feel like I’m fourteen again, strutting past him in my bikini, trying to get his attention while Duke yells at me to stop getting in the middle of their football game.
“Did you hear what I said?” Rosie asks, startling me.
I hiss, sucking in a breath as the knife I was using to chop onions goes right through my finger. “Ouch!”
Blood immediately gushes out.
“Oh damn. Here, I have a first aid kit in the bathroom. Dallas, can you watch this pot of boiling water for me?” She grabs a wad of paper towels and hands it to me.
Dallas turns around from where she’s kissing the skinned knee of one of her twin boys and nods her head of curly blond hair. “Sure thing.”
She walks over to the stove and winces when she sees the blood dripping from my finger. “Ouch, honey, that looks bad.”
I follow my best friend down the hallway toward the master suite. The house Holden built for her isn’t super fancy, but it’s a cozy, vintage-style ranch house—exactly what she wanted.
“Put pressure on it.”
I obey, leaning back against the marble countertop of her sink. She’s rummaging around in the built-in cabinet nearby.
“So, when were you planning to spill?”
My eyes dart up to hers. She levels me with that look only sisters can interpret—theI know you’re holding out on me, but I will crack youlook.
“Uh, I don’t know what you’re talking?—”
