“Hey,” Stella said, beaming at me from the counter with a mug of coffee in her hand. “All packed?”
My gaze dropped to the kitchen tiles as a different kind of guilt washed over me. The depraved kind since I’d just come all over my shower wall, thinking of her wet and naked. Even with her in sweats, my eyes traveled the outline of her perfect body until I forced my head up.
“I think so. I really don’t need much. I’m used to living out of a small suitcase.”
“I know what you mean. You learn to downsize. This is the first time in a while my clothes are actually in drawers. I made coffee in case you want to take some to the airport. I found disposable travel cups in the cabinet.” She handed me a cup. “Still a lot of cream and sugar, right?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said, grabbing the cup from her hand, my fingers grazing hers over the plastic lid. “Youdon’t have to do that,” I said, motioning to the pot. “I appreciate it, but you don’t have to worry about me.”
“So I’m supposed to pretend you don’t live here too and keep my coffee to myself?” She clicked her tongue against her teeth, shaking her head. “I guess you don’t want the egg sandwich I made either.” She held up the foil-wrapped sandwich. “I was up early and wanted to get familiar with the kitchen, so I made myself breakfast and thought I’d share, even though it’s not in my job description.”
A smile ran across my lips at her arched brow.
“Thank you. Again.” I took the sandwich from her and stuffed it into my bag. “Breakfast does suck at an airport.”
“It does.” Stella nodded. “Is something wrong? You look a little out of it.” Her eyes narrowed at me.
“I’m fine,” I said, my eyes darting around the kitchen.
I just came hard against my shower wall thinking of sinking balls deep inside you, so I can’t make eye contact right now.
“Just trying to get my head in the game for a road trip.”
“Pun intended, right?” The corner of Stella’s mouth tipped up when I finally forced my eyes to meet hers. “I hope you’re not worried about us. Just fix the guys, and I’ll take care of Bennie.”
“I’m not, and I know you will. Just…” My gaze roamed her face. The gorgeous eyes, the warm smile curving her lips, the innocent way she looked back at me, unaware of what she was doing to me.
I clenched my eyes shut for a moment, as if that would reset whatever was happening to me. I needed to write this off as a mix of gratitude, friendly affection, and a self-imposed dry spell that was testing my sanity.
Even though I knew it was much more than that.
“Thank you,” I finally said. “For coffee, for breakfast, and for all of it.”
She set her mug down and stepped up to me, pulling me into a one-armed hug.
“If you thank me one more time, I’m going to slug you. What are friends for? This helps me too. I’ll text you during the day just so you can see everything is going smoothly. I mean, if that’s okay. I don’t want to bother you.”
“You’d never bother me. Text all you want. I’d like that.” I kept my arm around her waist as we eased apart, our gazes locked for a long minute until my phone vibrated in my pocket.
“The car is here. See you in ten days.”
Her smile shrank as she stepped back.
“Have a safe flight. Hope you guys win.”
“Me too,” I said, hoisting my carry-on bag over my shoulder as my gaze trapped hers. After decades of knowing Stella, I was painfully aware this was the first time we’d shared an awkward goodbye. This was stupid. Whatever was happening inside my head didn’t have to make everything weird.
But it was, and I had no idea what to do about that either.
Stella slapped my chest, snapping me out of my panicked thoughts.
“Go. You have players to fix.”
“Hopefully not too many,” I said, trying for a laugh. Her smile was easy and relaxed, her chestnut locks swishing on her shoulders as she shook her head at me.
Fuck, she was beautiful.
And I was screwed.
