“Six. When I realized you weren’t going to come home at a decent hour, I set the alarm for nice and early. Now stop pretending you’re going back to sleep and tell me all the dirty details!”
Sighing in surrender, I haul myself into a sitting position. “There are no dirty details.”
“Oh, Phil.” She shakes her head. “Please don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not!”
“Honey, lips don’t get as swollen as yours are when there are no dirty details. Unless someone punched you in the mouth, in which case, give me those details so I can go commit a felony.”
My hand flies up to my mouth, which, okay, is tender and puffy from all the kissing it did last night. With Griff. Because Griff and I are dating and we kiss each other.
“Oh my god, you’ve got heart eyes,” my best friend breathes. “Is that because you’re remembering last night? Did justthinkingabout him give you heart eyes?”
“I do not have heart eyes,” I argue, though if my face is reflecting how I’m feeling, I probably do.
“Phil’s in luuuuurve,” she sings, and I blush. The teasing expression drops from her face so fast, it’s a little creepy. “Phil… are you…?”
“It’s too soon for that,” I insist. Never mind what the jumble of emotions and hormones is telling me—I’m not ruled by them. “But we’re… dating. He’s going to disclose our relationship to Damian today.” Fuck, I didn’t stop to think this through last night. “Is that okay with you? I should have asked?—”
“Pfft, shut up. There’s no point in us working this hard if we can’t also be happy. Anyway, Damian won’t care—he knows you well enough to know you wouldn’t use Griff to get clients, or vice versa.”
I’m sure she’s right, but I still should have talked to her first, and I say so. To my surprise, her face goes all soft, and she gives me a hug.
“This is nice,” I say into her hair, which has taken on a life of its own and is trying to invade my lungs. “But why?”
“Because you’re the best person and I love you,” she mutters into my neck, so I hold on tighter until she’s ready to let go.
Finally she sits back, sniffling a little in a way that makes me suspicious, but after careful study, I conclude that she’s not actually going to cry.
“Is everything okay?” I ask. “You don’t usually get emotional when I hook up with someone.”
“Aha! So you did hook up!”
I roll my eyes. “Is that all you heard?”
“Nah.” She flips her hand in a dismissive wave. “But I’m fine. I was thinking about my love life last night, and I had to face some stuff. Plus, you know how I get with PMS. None of that’s as interesting as you and Griff hooking up.”
Since I do, in fact, know that PMS makes her either ragey or weepy, with no in-between, I decide not to push about her love life. She’ll tell me when she’s ready, anyway. “Griff and I didn’t hook up like you’re thinking.”
“You didn’t?”
I shake my head. “No sex.” Does it count as sex if you’re frotting but nobody comes? It wasn’t deliberate, just something that happened while we were making out that felt good.
Really good.
Honestly, I’m surprised we had the willpower to stop. If Vivi hadn’t wandered in with her eyes of judgment, we probably wouldn’t have.
“Just kissing?” Calla asks. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m kind of surprised. You’re not usually hesitant about sex.” Her eyes get wide. “Is Griff?—”
“I don’t even know whatever scenario is in your head right now,” I interrupt. “We didn’t have sex because… well, it just didn’t happen. Circumstances. We didn’t decide not to or anything.” I hesitate, feeling my cheeks get hot again, then add, “It’s kind of nice, though. The tension, I mean.”
She nods. “Like that first high school crush feet-kicking butterflies with hormones feeling?”
It’s a collection of words that should make zero sense, and yet somehow it perfectly describes what I’m feeling. “Yeah.”
“I get it. So how long?—”
“Oh, we’re gonna fuck as soon as we get the chance.” Griff asked me to spend the weekend with him, and I said yes so fast, I almost got dizzy.
