Often.
In particularly sharp detail.
Okay,maybeonce or twice. Maybe.
I wasn’t about to admit to anything else, even in the safety of my own mind. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about Devin’s body at all.
Except last night, when it’d been pressed up against me, so quietly trusting. Like I wasn’t any kind of threat at all.
Like afriend. Which I was. I was Devin’s friend.
He wouldn’t have slept curled up against me like that if we were anything else. If he had ahintthat I wanted more, that I’d ever eventhoughtabout wanting more.
That was the answer. It’d been staring me in the face the entire time.
We were friends.
That was it. That was all we’d ever be.
I wanted to pretend my heart didn’t sink at the thought, even as I basked in the relief of beingcertainDevin wasn’t interested, but I couldn’t ignore the tug entirely.
IwasDevin’s friend. Always would be.
I’d just been hoping that friendship might also include a few other things someday.
The chance to sink my teeth into that perfect ass, for example.
“Yeah,” I agreed belatedly. Whatever I’d just figured out internally, I was still meant to be playing the part of doting boyfriend. “Yeah, that’s the good bit.”
Chris laughed, patting me on the shoulder and heading over to Alex, groping his ass before spinning him around for a kiss.
Should I have been doing something like that for Devin?
Before I could come up with an answer, Devin approached me.
“Do I get a kiss for good luck?” he asked, batting his eyelashes up at me.
He was soperfect, and I was so big and clumsy and…
“Sure,” I said, cutting that line of thought off. I didn’t need to start feeling sorry for myself now.
Devin grinned, then put both of his neoprene-covered feet on my work boots, standing up on tip-toes to press a soft, sweet kiss to my lips.
It was amiracleif everyone present couldn’t hear my heart pounding. The sound of it was louder in my ears than the river ahead, falls and all, so loud it drowned out everything else.
“Wish me luck?” Devin prodded, and I could barely hear him past the rush of blood.
“Uh. Good luck?” I said, blinking at him, slowly coming back to reality. “Don’t die,” I added, sterner than I meant to.
Devin snorted. “That’s the idea,” he said, grinning at me before stepping back again. “Keep my clothes dry,” he said, serious, before turning and jogging a few steps to catch up with the others.
12
Devin
“Four minutes, thirty-seven seconds,”Alex called out as I hauled myself out of the kayak, shaking my hair off like a dog.
I couldn’t afford to get my towel wet yet, but as I looked at Morgan sitting with Julie, smiling over at me, I really,reallywished I could.
