“Yeah. You woke me up, too.” I fought a smile. She held on to the damn instrument like it had all the answers. Hell, maybe it did. “I’m heading back to bed. You coming?”
She glanced away from me for a second. Her tongue came out and wet her lip, and my blood pumped faster. Flashes of last night hit me hard. “I’m up already. I should go.”
I sighed, running my fingers through my hair.Shit. I don’t want her to go.“It’s up to you. The invitation is always open.”
She clutched the guitar tighter and stared at me. I would’ve given anything to know what ran through her mind at that moment. “I should go.”
“Yeah, you said that.” I clenched my jaw in annoyance. “Let me drive you back.”
“Oh, you don’t have to. I can walk.” She eyed her outfit of the night before. “Hmm. On second thought, I could use a ride.”
I gave her a tight smile and drove the short distance to her apartment. I couldn’t fucking believe we weren’t talking about what happened. She hadn’t said a word about it, yet she commented on the breakfast she wanted and how excited she was for quad-day. Nothing about last night.When did I become the one wanting to talk?
“You look like you’re holding in a fart, Ronnie. What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as I pulled into her lot. She laughed at her dumb joke. “You’re going to get wrinkles with that frown you got going on.”
I gave her a fake smile. “Better?”
“Nah, you look goofy.” She sighed and undid her seatbelt. “Want to head to quad-day with me? It’s a perfect opportunity for pictures and public displays of affection.”
“Sure.” I ignored my chest tightening. “Sounds good.”
She studied me, those brown eyes not blinking. “Aaron. Do we need to talk?”
“Hell, I don’t know,” I admitted, feeling like a goddamn idiot. “Maybe?”
She chuckled and put her hand on my thigh. My entire leg tensed. “Ronnie, I’ll force you on another roller coaster if you don’t knock it off. Seriously, how far is that stick up your ass?”
That snapped me out of my funk and I glared at her. Her face flushed and she just grinned at me. “Jesus. You’re such a pain in my ass.”
“Eh, I can live with that. Now, let’s talk about sex. Clearly, you need to.” She removed her hand from my leg and ran it over the guitar. Her mood shifted and my back tightened. “Do you…do you regret last night? Is that why you’re upset?”
“Fuck no.” I turned to face her, feeling like a huge asshole. “No. No. Not it at all. Last night fucking rocked.”
Her lips curved into a small smile, a slight blush appearing on her neck. “Okay, good.”
I hated feelings. They complicated everything and caused pain. Having all these thoughts and concerns going through me was confusing. I hated myself for worrying her but also hated how relaxed she was. I couldn’t win. “Sorry I’m being weird. I assumed you’d want to talk about it. And when you didn’t, I didn’t know what to do.”
“Ah, I see.” Her plump lips toyed with me. Desire shot through my body, the urge to kiss the shit out of her scaring me. “I’ll reiterate what I said last night. I was high from orgasms and there is a high chance I mumbled it. But we both like sex. We are in a fake, committed relationship until January. I see no problem.”
Yes. Fuck yes!My dick twitched, but the unwelcome pinching in my core made no sense. My voice came out rough, almost a bark. “It’ll still be fake.”
“Yes, Aaron.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “I know. I do prefer we keep this secret.”
“Secret?” I repeated the word, tasting poison.Why does she want it secret?
“I think it’d be best if our friends didn’t know we’re hooking up. They’ll pester us and tell us it’s wrong. I prefer not to deal with that. You cool?”
Her brown eyes showed no hidden emotions. No warning signs. It soothed me. I nodded. “I’m good with it.”
“Sweet.” She patted my face with a high-pitched laugh. “We sneak around to help our addiction to sex, do our planned public displays of affection and still be best friends. Easy enough, yeah?”
“Yeah.” I grunted. It was theperfectscenario. I shouldn’t have complaints. Yet something bothered me about it. I had no idea what, though.
“Try not to look happy about it. Please. It’s great for my self-esteem.” She flicked my nipple and held on to her guitar. “Wear the gray shirt today. It makes you look dreamy.”
“Dreamy?” I scoffed. “Get out.”
“Bye, boy-toy.” She flipped me off as she walked to her door. My nerves calmed down at her gesture. My spitfire best friend had never left, she just enjoyed the hell out of sex.Huh, this could turn out to work better than I thought.
