Barry raised both eyebrows, not believing me for a second. “Oh?”
“Yeah it’s, um, I think we are in a pressure cooker.”
“Go on.”
I waved fruitlessly between us. “Were you thinking about kissing me?”
He blinked, dropped his head to the left, then shrugged. “Was thinking about it.”
“And see, that’s the problem.”
Barry’s dimples made their appearance and he sat up,leaning his elbows on his knees toward me. “Were you not thinking about it?”
“No, obviously I—” I cut off and shook my head. “This is exactly why we shouldn’t spend so much time around each other. Hormones are out of whack, emotions are…elevated, it’s probably very normal to want to have sex with each other.”
“You want to have sex with me, Harvey?”
I made a startled noise in the back of my throat and drank half a glass of water before I could start choking.
“It’s just—you being here, and being so…tall and hot and nice and good at cooking, it’s distracting. And confusing me. I’m confused, I think.”
“Confusing how?” he asked, amusement sparkling in those damn hazel eyes.
“My mind knows very clearly that getting involved is a bad idea?—”
“And why is that again?”
“—but my body, on the other hand, keeps wanting to do many bad and irresponsible things.”
“What kind of things?”
“The kind of things that got us into this mess in the first place.”
Barry smirked, he was way too satisfied with this news. I dropped my face into my hands and let out a long groan. He was impossible. This whole situation was.
“Hey, hey, come on.” Barry put his hand on my knee, and I peered up at him between my fingers. “If you want me to leave—really want me to go—of course I will.”
I dropped my hands back into my lap, and Barry leaned closer still. My breath caught, too loud and clear to play it off as anything other than being put as off balance as he always seemed to make me.
“But I don’t think you do, really,” he said, and his eyes were back on my mouth. I made a concerted effort not to bite my lip.
“No?”
“No, Harvey.” Barry came closer, and I thought he really might kiss me, but instead he just reached past me for the blanket spread out over the air mattress. He lay back against the couch, same as he was before, but his leg was pressed fully against mine now. He nodded for me to do the same and, tentatively, I did, matching my position to his and letting him cover us both with the blanket.
He gave a big yawn, that smirk still present.
“I say you sleep on it, though. Decide later.”
I chuffed a laugh and pulled the blanket up over my shoulders. The heat of his body was a comfort to me.
“You’re going to distract me with a delicious lunch, I see right through your nefarious schemes.”
“My schemes are never nefarious,” he murmured, and his eyes were already closed. Junior jumped up and settled onto the spot where our thighs met. “Take a nap, Hannah.”
“Your parents are really lovely,” I said, almost a whisper.
“You’re lovely,” Barry said, or I think he did. I was already drifting to sleep.
