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“Okay,” Andi says. Her eyes are flicking between mine like there’s something she wants to say but she’s holding back–or she’s waiting for me to ask her to say it.
I don’t ask. Whatever is on her mind after that, it can’t be good. I know my own mind is betraying all my intentions right now, and I don’t dare find out what she’s thinking. If it’s the same thing as me…
I shake my head and grab two towels for her and hand them over.
“What about you?” she asks, realizing there are none left.
“Don’t you need one for your hair?”
Andi laughs. “Not if it means you don’t get one. Here.” Her smile is so damn infectious. “You are kind of ridiculous. You know that, right? It’s like you’d lay down in a puddle to keep me from getting my feet wet.”
“Maybe I would,” I say.
“That’s not very friends with benefits of you,” she notes as she towels her body off.
I have to force my focus to stay on her face, because the way she’s standing there completely naked and making no effort to cover herself is doing things to me. It’s making me want to take her again, but I know we can’t just stay in this guest house all day fucking. At least, we can’t if we don’t want all the guys to figure out what we’re doing.
We both get dressed. In retrospect, I probably should’ve seen this coming. Maybe I did and just lied to myself about what I expected to happen. Whatever it was I wanted to happen, I can’t exactly complain about how things turned out.
“Well,” Andi says while she brushes her wet hair in front of the bathroom mirror. “Thank you.”
“How’s the ankle?” I ask.
She gives me a shy smile. “Um. Just a tiny bit sore. Sorry for kind of tricking you. It’s just so nice to be pampered like that. I’ve never been with a guy like you. It’s like I’m a princess.” She laughs, and then the look on her face goes suddenly serious. “I mean. I’m sorry, I know I’m not ‘with you’ like that. I just don’t know if they make phrases to describe whatever it is we’re doing.”
“Yeah,” I say. I’m overcome by two emotions. Both are so strong and so overwhelming that I feel the sudden need to escape the room, which now feels suffocating. On one side, I want to lose myself in this thing between us. I want to forget about what Sarah did and what I promised myself. I want to forget that Andi recently ran away from a wedding and a life that still hasn’t caught up with her here. I just want to go up to her, kiss her, and tell her she’s not leaving this guest house, because I could write a list a mile long of all the things I want to do to her.
But I also want to run as far as I can as fast as I can. The echo of pain is still loud and palpable inside my chest. It’s still there, and it’s still fucking terrifying. I know that path of temptation leads me straight through that same place where the pain can come. Where the pain will come.
“I’m going to sneak to my room and grab some clothes. Then maybe we can meet at the truck?”
“How are you going to sneak to your room? Won’t Nolan and the guys be in there having breakfast?”
“I leave my window unlocked.”
She tilts her head. “What about robbers?”
“Do you remember how long you have to drive before you see another house out here, Andi? I’m not exactly worried about home invaders.”
She folds her arms. “No more unlocked windows. I don’t want you getting murdered in your sleep. I happen to be a little attached to you, Jesse Prince. I’d be very upset with you if you got killed.”
Despite the warning bells, I grin. “Alright. I’ll start locking the window. Princess’ orders,” I add, chuckling.
28
ANDI
Caroline looks like she’s about ready to rush out the door when I arrive with Jesse at the bed and breakfast. She eyes us, disappointment forming a crease between her eyes.
“Well?” she asks. “Where are your skates?”
“What?” I ask. And then I slap my hand to my forehead. “Oh, crap. I’m sorry, Caroline. I totally forgot about the skating thing.”
She clicks her tongue, grabs her bag, and gestures impatiently for us to follow her. “It’s fine. I heard you rolled your ankle out there yesterday. Mia said it was very pathetic. Jesse had to carry you like a baby to his truck. She said he looked about ready to cry with worry over you.”
“That’s…” Jesse says. “Entirely exaggerated.”
“I don’t know,” I say, punching him softly. “I thought I saw a little water in your eyes. I think if I’d given one more groan of pain, I might’ve earned a tear.”
