“Yeah,” I respond, my voice croaking with tiredness. “I finished on time today.” I keep my eyes glued on hers, hoping that this won’t be the end of the conversation.
I don’t know how the fuck we’re supposed to be friends. A college course on friendship would help so I could at least know where to start with it all.
But friends is best. Friends keeps everything civil with the kids, and ours have been through enough already. The last thing they need is for their parents to be acting frosty with one another.
Their parents…
Piper remains on the couch, so I go in with the question I’ve been wanting to ask her. “How did the hospital visit go?”
“Good.” She rolls up her sweatpants, baring a bandaged foot. “Thank God it was a sprain and not a fracture.”
“And you can walk?”
“Just about.”
We fall back into silence—dangerous territory. It’s nighttime and the kids are upstairs. Perfect chance for us to commit a crime, yet again.
After what happened last night, my restraint is holding on by only a thread. She looks good when she’s disheveled. Hair in its natural state. Eyes tired, wide as they stare up at me with the perfect mix of innocence and playfulness. I notice her gaze lingering, like she’s undressing me in her mind.
All she has to do is say the word.
Don’t you dare make this even more complicated, Rourke.
“Where are the kids?” I look at her pointedly.
“Upstairs,” she says, choosing to keep it vague. “Why?”
“No reason…apart from the fact that you sent them to bed hours before their bedtime.” I raise an eyebrow. “It seems like you’re taking a page out of my book.”
“Who says they’re asleep?” She hitches an eyebrow of her own, mirroring my expression. “Jumping to conclusions are you now?”
“No conclusions.” I straighten up and try to regard her as something different. A friend. How might one view Piper Hart as a friend? All my eyes can focus on is her cherry-red lips, and her cleavage, which glows warm and inviting under the soft lamplight.
Interestingly, her chest is rising and falling with shallow breaths. I study the area for another moment and imagine her on my couch. Naked. Her pert nipples are the same blushed color as her lips. I can bet they’re pressing hard against her bra now, begging for my tongue. She can never get enough when I get my mouth around them.
My cock wants to get inside of her right this second, but another part of me wants to comfort her after what happened today. Reassuring back rubs can go a long way—I can vouch for that after receiving them multiple times from Piper, back when we were dating.
“I can’t resist you when you’re looking at me like that,” she says.
“Look at you like what? Like you want me to fuck you? I see it in your eyes.”
“Friends don’t talk about having sex with one another.” Piper sticks her nose into the air and tries to ignore her feelings. Unfortunately, her body language always tells the truth, no matter how much she tries to hide it. Her cheeks are nearing the same hot-pink color as her lips, and her chest is heaving even faster than before. I have a mind to rip off her shirt and bury my face in between those breasts.
But I have an even better idea.
“We’ll be friends,” I promise her. “On the condition that you’re not wet.”
“Excuse me?” She snaps her head around to look at me.
“I understand and respect your decision. But friends can only be friends if there’s no sexual attraction there. A woman shouldn’t be getting wet and short of breath for her friend, now should she?”
“I’m neither of those things.”
I give her another pointed look. “Show me.”
“What?”
“You heard what I said.” I lean over and make sure she can smell my cologne. “I want you to show me.”
