Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75916 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
I shrugged, because if it wasn’t a big deal to Dane, it wasn’t going to be a big deal to me either. “Sure, I’d love to come.”
An hour or so later, Dane was driving me home. He parked the car at our condo. “Are you sure it’s okay to do the family Thanksgiving thing? I can make up some excuse if you’re not comfortable with it.” Please be comfortable with it.
“What? No, it’s fine. Hailey is crazy about you.”
“Well, and you sort of like me too.”
“Sort of.” He winked. “Come here.” I leaned closer to him. He cupped my face sweetly, gently, before pressing his lips to mine. It started out a slow, patient, relaxed kiss, but it was us, so it went zero-to-sixty pretty quickly. We were both moaning, our tongues tangling, and my dick was suddenly hard.
“Do you want to stay?” I asked.
“I probably shouldn’t.”
“Not what I asked.”
“I want to, but I still probably shouldn’t.”
But then…then he turned off the car and unclicked his seat belt. Dane went with me upstairs, and he visited with Seth while I did homework.
When I was finished, he went to my room with me and stripped out of his clothes. We climbed into my bed, turned the lights out, and Dane pulled me to him.
“Can I ask you something?” I said after a few minutes.
“Of course.” His hand stroked up and down my back.
“Seth…he’s my best friend, you know?”
“I do.”
“And we’re a bit…affectionate. And I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes he has nightmares, and he ends up coming into my bed.”
“Oh… Are you asking me if that’s okay?”
Well, fuck. I was pretty sure I was, which was totally a boyfriend thing to do. “Maybe?”
There was a long pause, and my pulse started going a little crazy. Finally, Dane said, “I trust you.”
And I knew that wasn’t easy for him to say. Not after everything he’d been through.
“It’s not anything. I swear. There’s nothing sexual between us. If you asked me to tell him not to, I would.” Because I obviously really, really want to be your boyfriend.
“I trust you,” he said again. “And you should invite him to Thanksgiving dinner with us.”
I knew I was beaming at him, but I didn’t care. We were doing boyfriend things, and he was inviting my bestie over for the holiday. “Okay.”
Then he pulled me on top of him and kissed me until I forgot about everything else.
32
Dane
“Why the hell is your brother pacing?” Mark asked in an amused tone as he stirred the gravy on the stovetop. He’d been home for a couple of days, and I could see how thrilled Bree and Hailey were to have him around. But right about now I wanted to pound him one for pointing out the obvious. I had already finished prepping the mashed potatoes for Bree and now felt the need to fix the runner on the table as well as straighten all the silverware. Again.
Bree snickered. “Because the guy he’s crazy about is coming to dinner and—”
“I am not!” I felt my cheeks burn. What was my problem? Of course I was crazy about Jesse. We were spending more and more time together and acting like we were in a relationship, even though neither one of us was brave enough to bring it up. If we did, more than likely it would be the beginning of the end. Best to just pretend it wasn’t really happening for now—until one of us eventually tired of the other.
Or wanted to hook up with someone else.
I gripped the napkin ring hard at the thought of Jesse with anyone else.
I’d told him I trusted him when he’d asked me about Seth, and that had killed me. But as time went by, I realized that Jesse was a good person and absolutely trustworthy. He understood I’d been burned badly in that department and had decided to ask me about Seth when he could’ve kept it a secret.
So yeah, I trusted him, and it seemed he trusted me too. Besides, I would never dream of breaking our agreement and stepping out on him. The thought of it didn’t even appeal to me.
When the doorbell finally rang, Hailey beat me to it. “It’s Desse and his fwiend Seff.”
As I came around the corner, Seth looked as awkward as I felt in that moment. But the more I’d heard about him, and about his nightmares, the more I felt like he needed to be included too. Who knew what his history was, and besides, he really was a sweet guy and a good friend to Jesse. Jesse seemed grateful for the invitation, and Seth did too.
“Oh my God, I’m salivating from the smell alone,” Jesse said, his stomach growling at that exact moment, and we shared a smile that calmed me instantly. Lately he had the effect of ramping me up and soothing me at the same time. Confusing.