She’s a lot lighter of a person than she used to be, no longer keeps to herself, or has a reason to be sad.
“Alright, next question,” Lizzie remarks, pulling the card off the top of the deck. “Never Have I Ever had sex in the lasttwenty-four hours.” She places the card back down on the table, eyes flicking around the room. Olive is the first to drink, which isn’t as surprising to me as it would’ve been a month ago. Next, Harley and Cassandra, followed closely by Bea, Laney, and Robbie not far behind. “God dammit, everyone here is getting laid.” Lizzie rolls her eyes, and Cole swigs his beer while Cassandra’s eyes pop out of her head.
“Oh, hell.” I chug mine back too, and my best friend catches on that Cole and I have just done the devil’s tango. Hopefully, the sounds we were making were drowned out by the blender she used to make our cocktails.
“Now I need to change the sheets in the spare room.” She pretends to be frustrated as she kicks me under the table, unable to hide the smirk on her face if she tried. “Which room?”
“The one with the missing condom,” Cole replies way too coolly. The room erupts with laughter at his admission, and I allow myself to enjoy the rest of the night, ignoring the way my heart pounds erratically in my chest with Cole seated directly beside me.
He fits in soeasilywith people I consider family, but I told myself I wasn’t allowed to think of him in that way.
At least not for the rest of the night, anyway.
That’s a future Jenna problem.
Tonight is all about learning things you should never learn about people you consider family, but apparently we’re doing it anyway.
Chapter nineteen
Jenna
“I can’t believe youchristened that bed before I got the chance to,” Cassandra whispers to me in her kitchen. I’m helping her clean up the mess we made, while everyone else says their goodbyes.
“And bathroom,” I whisper back, placing the last wine glass into the dishwasher before closing the door on it.
She gasps. “No you didn’t!” Her cheeks are flushed from the alcohol, and her lipstick is smudged because her husband can’t keep his hands off of her.
She was never this relaxed with Austin. The difference Harley has made in her life is like summer and winter.
These days, she’s sunshine in human form, and it’s easily my favorite thing in the universe to see.
“I did, and now I don’t know what to do.” I sigh, drying my hands on some paper towel. “He made me promise that we could do this as much as we wanted for the next three months, and Idon’t know if I have it in me to commit to that,” I say, and she scrunches up her nose with a little chuckle.
“Commit to what? Regular sex? He’s not asking you to fall in love with him, Jen. He’s just asking to bury his face in your—”
“Woah, okay. I don’t need to hear the rest of that sentence,” I warn her with a slight shake of my head—taking her still full glass of wine off her, and emptying it down the sink.
“All I’m saying is, you guys are pretending to be in love or whatever at work. Why can’t you both reap the benefits a little?” She wiggles her brows at me.
“That’s what I’m trying to convince her of doing, but your best friend is impossible to get alone,” Cole says from over my shoulder.
Goosebumps prickle every part of my skin, and the way his eyes trail over my body tells me he knows.
“I agree with my wife and my new friend here. I don’t know why you’re trying to fight it, Rogers. The guy is a catch,” Harley says, patting his new friend on the shoulder before drawing his wife in for a long, drawn-out kiss.
“Am I the only sober one here?” I ask, looking around the room at the abundance of empty bottles that sit on the bench top.
“Looks like it,” Cole says, inching closer to me, his fingers fiddling with the fabric of my blue sundress, and I take a step back. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I ask as my back connects with the wall behind me.
“Don’t pretend like tonight didn’t happen. Don’t pretend like you didn’t want it as badly as I did, and don’t pretend like it’s never going to happen again,” he says, his arms resting above my head against the wall at my back.
“I-do you need a ride home?” I whisper to him, and he nips at my lip.
“Why do you think I sent Tate home an hour ago? I needed an excuse to get you alone. I just thought I’d have to beg a little.” He smirks, kissing the corner of my mouth, and I sink further back.
“I’m not above asking you to beg.” I kiss him back, forgetting that I’m surrounded by people who won’t let me live this down for the rest of my lonely life.
