Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
And tonight, I let myself pretend he really did need me as much as I needed him.
8
TRISTAN
I woke to the feeling of bouncing on the mattress, and an incredibly delicious smell coming from the hallway.
I hummed, rubbing my eyes and turning over in bed.
“You got some real weird new wake-up routines over there, Blue?” I mumbled before opening my eyes.
But Jack wasn’t there. Instead, a massive fluff of white and grey hair stared at me from the other side of the bed.
“Sadie,” I said, reaching over to pet Lindsay’s sheepdog. “Crazy girl.”
Sadie started rooting around and jumping on the bed again, and I pulled in a long breath, slowly waking up. I wanted to sink back into my dreams, which had all been about Jack. Most of them revolved around sharing a bed with him. A couple of times throughout the night, I had woken up with my body pressed close to his, and I hadn’t known what I would have preferred—snuggling close to him for more sleep, or reaching down to his cock for round two.
I was a horny fucking mess. And for the first time, I was fantasizing about a man, who happened to be my best friend. It was like nothing else I’d ever felt before, but I was pretty sure that was part of what made it so goddamn hot. I’d been going through a lot of changes in my life lately, and finally accepting who I really was, and realizing that I didn’t have anything left to prove.
Maybe opening my mind to a new way of life had opened me to all sorts of other things, too.
All of these thoughts were making my head spin. And right now, what I needed more than a mountain of overthinking was a big plate of whatever amazing food was making the whole house smell so delicious.
“Come on, Sadie.” She jumped off the bed and bounded out down the hallway toward the kitchen, and I traipsed along behind her.
The first thing I saw when I walked in the kitchen was Jack, focused hard on the task in front of him at the kitchen island. He looked just as focused as he usually did at work, actually, but he was currently using his multi-tool to cut herbs, putting them into a bowl of cracked eggs I assumed would be used for an omelette.
Because of course Jack Damien would find a reason to use his multi-tool, even for brunch.
His hair was still a mess of dark blond, mussed from sleep in that fucking adorable way I couldn’t get enough of. And somehow even his usual white T-shirt looked stupidly sexy on him this morning, hugging his abs and biceps in all of the right places.
Or I was just going nuts, and Jack had always looked this good.
Yeah. That seemed like the only answer. I was going totally insane for my best friend.
“Morning, sunshine,” Mom said from above the stove. “I’ve already roped Jack into helping me with breakfast.”
“I can see that,” I said. Dad was also behind the countertop, cutting up a fresh pineapple. “This is incredible. You guys didn’t have to do all of this.”
It certainly wasn’t the standard cereal breakfast I’d had most of the time growing up. Mom, Dad, and Jack had set out two big platters of french toast topped with powdered sugar and banana slices, a tray of fresh cut fruit where I assumed Dad would be adding the pineapple, a big carafe of coffee, and bacon for everybody but Lindsay, who was a staunch vegetarian.
“With a little help, it was all easy-peasy,” Mom said. She reached for a big red mug and held it out toward me. “Coffee?”
“Coffee. Yes. God yes,” I said.
“Hey, he’s alive,” Shawn said, nodding at me as he came in from one of the back doors, already fully dressed and ready to go.
“Alive and in need of caffeine,” I said, pouring a steaming cup for myself. “You can’t give me any shit, Shawn. I still remember when you were in high school and Dad had to drag your ass out of bed in the mornings.”
“Only because Nathan would keep me up late at night playing those dumb video games,” Shawn said.
“I heard that!” came Nathan’s voice from the living room. “You loved those games.”
“That was before Tristan’s rebellious years,” Shawn said to Jack, leaning over the kitchen island.
“Oh God, don’t tell him about this,” I said.
“What?” Jack protested. “I already know about your rebellious years.”
“No. Not those,” I said. “What came before them.”
Shawn grinned. “Tris went through a phase of being the Sibling Police.”
I groaned, sitting down at the dining table and rubbing my face.
“Sibling Police?” Jack asked.
“I remember the Sibling Police,” Lindsay said, coming in with a grin on her face. “Tristan was the ultimate tattle-tale for that year. Anything he saw the rest of us doing, he would run to Mom and Dad to tell them everything.”