“His exact words were‘Eve’s too stubborn to text you herself, but she could really use a dickstraction tonight.’” She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off. “Those werehiswords. Not mine. Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“I’m going to kill him,” she said as I devoured my taco.
I smirked at her from across the table. My smile dimmed,noting the way she was only picking at her food.
Something happened today. And for some reason, I wanted her to confide in me. I needed to prove that I could be more than her fuckboy.
“So, you wanna tell me what you need my dick to distract you from?” I took another bite, holding her gaze.
She groaned, realizing I wasn’t going to let it go until she gave me some information.
“I witnessed something kind of horrific at rehearsal today.”
“Was Cheryl worse than usual?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Her face paled, and her eyes welled up with tears.
Oh shit. What did I say?
“She died,” she said, looking down at her plate to avoid my shocked gaze.
“Who died?” I asked stupidly.
“Cheryl. At rehearsal today.” Her voice cracked like ice thawing.
I’m an idiot.
I pushed up from the table and walked over to her.
“Come here,” I demanded, pulling her out of her chair to hold her.
Her frozen exterior melted, and she turned liquid in my arms. I sat down in her chair and tugged her onto my lap.
“Tell me what happened.”
“She had an allergic reaction and went into anaphylactic shock. They worked on her for a long time. It was...” Her head whipped back and forth like she was trying to get images out of her head. “It was hard to watch. Hard to see something like that.” She swallowed hard, her bottom lip quivering slightly.
“You should have called me. I could have taken off work early. Made sure you got home okay.”
“I’m fine. The shock of it didn’t wear off until I told Brian, and I occupied myself with baking and cooking all afternoon. I keep replaying things in my head, wondering if anything would have made a difference.” She shuddered slightly. “Can we nottalk about it anymore? I just want to forget it happened. At least for a little while.”
I wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Okay, we don’t need to talk about it anymore.”
She sighed against my chest. She wanted a distraction, and I sure as hell could give her one.
I buried my nose into her neck, breathing her in. “I can think of a few ways to help you forget.”
She peered up at me hopefully. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
My palm trailed down her shoulder.
“Well, I thought I could start by tasting every inch of you. I would start right about here.” My finger brushed over her ear.
“And then I’d make my way over here.” I drew a line down her jaw to the full curve of her mouth. “I’d kiss you until you were panting.”
I placed a quick kiss to her lips and then dipped down to her neck, whispering into her skin. “Then I’d taste you right here until you were writhing and grinding against me.”
Goosebumps cropped up on her bronzed skin, and I smiled at the effect my light touch had on her. I latched onto the curve ofher neck, sucking at her skin and drawing a gasp from her lips.
