Scorched

“I…I don’t agree,” she quipped, and I realized my smile wasn’t working on her. Figured.

“Yes, you do.”

She folded her arms, and the swell above her top increased. Shit. I needed to stop staring at her breasts. “There are other bedrooms with their own bathrooms.”

“I like that one.”

“You haven’t even seen the other bedroom, Ta

I gri

Clearly exasperated, she stared at me and gave a quick shake of her head. Curls bounced everywhere. A moment passed. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing.” I patted the spot next to me. “Come here.”

One dark auburn brow rose. “Why?”

“Because I want to ask you something.”

“And you can’t ask me while I’m standing here?” She shifted her weight.

Sticking out my lower lip, I patted the bed again. “I can’t. I need you here, close to me. It’s the only way that it can be.”

“You are ridiculous.” Her voice was soft.

“Maybe.”

A long moment stretched out between us and then with a heavy, obviously a

“Nope.” Reaching out, I grabbed her arm and tugged her down beside me before she could do anything. “Now I’m happy.”

Part of me expected Andrea to pull away and bounce off the bed, but she did neither, and I took that as a positive sign. When her pink lips parted on a soft inhale, the need to taste those lips punched through me hard—a real kiss, not one she’d forget. It shocked me, the power behind that desire. I didn’t get it, but I didn’t want to question it in that moment. She was close. She smelled damn good. And we weren’t at each other’s throats.

“What did you want to tell me?” she asked.

My gaze followed the shape of her lips. “I didn’t want to tell you anything. I wanted to ask you something.”

The corners of her lips twitched as if she were fighting a smile. “What did you want to ask me?”

Our faces were inches apart when I looked up. “What are you making me for di

Andrea blinked and then she laughed—loudly and deeply, an infectious and rich laugh that warmed my skin. “I’m going to make these hamburgers I saw on Kitchen Nightmares. They used minced onions, breadcrumbs, and more. They’re really good.”

Ah, fuck me, another thing that was cute. She got recipes off of a reality TV show. “I’ll grill them.”

“You might have to fight Kyler for control of the grill.”

“I can take him.” Her top slipped down her arm, revealing the pale blue strap of her bra. I reached between us, slipping my finger under the edge of her tank top. As I drew it back up her shoulder, the backs of my fingers glided over her skin, causing her chest to rise with a deep breath.

Her eyes widened, and I swallowed a groan when the tip of her tongue darted out, wetting her lower lip. Neither of us spoke as I straightened her top. Emboldened by the lack of protest, I trailed my hand down her arm, reveling in the feel of her skin. I stopped where her hand rested on her hip.

“What…what are you doing, Ta

Such an important question, but truth was, I really didn’t know, because it wasn’t about what I was doing right that second. It was more than that, and as I’d realized earlier, something had shifted between Friday and today, and I really wasn’t sure what the fuck that meant or why or any of that.

So I smacked her ass.

Seemed legit.

A shriek squeaked out of her as she jerked into a sitting position. The cutest damn glare fixed over her features. There it was again, the word cute. “You mother—”

“No, Andy, I’ll be a father one day. I’m a boy. You’re a girl.” Rolling off the bed, I hopped to my feet and cast a grin in her direction. “But right now, I’m going to go check out this pool I haven’t seen yet.”

For a moment she didn’t move or speak, and I wasn’t sure she was even breathing, but then she flopped onto her back. Raising one arm, she extended her middle finger.

I laughed.

Chapter 6

Andrea

The hamburgers were chilling in the fridge, gussied up and ready to go on the grill later, and I’d taken my time getting them set. Everyone was out in the pool, and I was hovering in the kitchen, wasting time watching the local news on TV, and the only thing I discovered was that someone had spray-painted a mustache on some statue in some town I’d never heard of.

Breaking news around these parts.

I moved to the kitchen door, nursing a bottle of hard lemonade. From my vantage point, I could see everyone. The deck co

Syd and Kyler were on one side of the pool, trying to drown each other, or at least that was how it appeared to me. My gaze drifted to the left, and I swore under my breath.

Ta

Dammit.

My lips parted. There might’ve been drool forming, but I honestly didn’t think anyone would blame me for that.

Ta

His arms were braced behind him on the side of the pool. Muscles bunched in his shoulders, and his biceps were flexed. My gaze traveled over his broad, defined chest and the tightly packed abs that rested underwater. His head was thrown back against the ledge of the pool, face tipped up, and the sun kissed his cheeks and well-formed lips. He was gri

But I wasn’t lovesick.

And I was hiding.

Before I made the hamburgers, I’d changed into my bathing suit and had slipped my clothes back on over it. Why in the world I had thought it would be a good idea to wear a two-piece was beyond me. For some dumb-ass reason, I had reasoned that because it was black, it was slimming. Which was stupid, because honest to God there was truly no such thing as a slimming bathing suit no matter what the advertisements claimed.

At the moment, Syd hauled herself out of the pool, her hair glossy and black and her body… I sighed. She was a tiny girl, and she looked perfect in a bikini, completely at ease. I should’ve packed a one-piece, but I didn’t think I owned one.

Clutching the bottle to my chest, I glanced at Ta

And I’d never caught his, until now.

What the hell was he up to? His behavior in the car? In the bedroom earlier? Yeah, it was weird that he’d come over last night to apologize and make sure we weren’t going to ruin the trip for Kyler and Syd, but his impromptu visit hadn’t prepared me for the way he was acting. And I seriously doubted “behaving ourselves” meant hooking up.

Could I hook up with Ta

Apparently I could kiss him when I was drunk.

He lowered his chin, his lips spreading wide as he laughed at something Kyler shouted from the other end of the pool. I couldn’t hear it, but my tummy fluttered nonetheless.

Oh, yeah, I could totally hook up with him.

That moment, without warning, I felt it—the flutter in my stomach had moved to my chest. And it wasn’t a pleasant, delicious feeling. Oh no, it was sudden and sharp, kicking my heart rate up.

No. No. No. This is not going to happen.