Summer stops at my side half a breath later. “Is everything okay?” she asks, her usually husky voice hitched with unease.
“Yeah, everything’s fine. He was ribbing me about my forkball. You know how I get when my technique is scrutinized.” I lock my narrowed eyes with Mark. “Especially when they have no clue what they’re talking about.” I wipe the anger from my face with a quick exhale before twisting my torso to face Summer. “Did you get Cubie sorted?”
“Kinda. We compromised on leaving her out front. He didn’t feel comfortable driving her, and I didn’t want to get lost on my hike back from the garage. Is that okay?” she asks her question while bouncing her confused eyes between Adam, Mark, and me. “I can move it if it’s an issue.”
“It’ll be fine,” I assure her just as Mark uses the opening to commence kissing her ass. “It adds ambiance to the space. It’s a nice car. Very retro.”
“She’s a little odd, but she gets me from A to B.” Summer isn’t a fool. She knows Mark is buttering her up. She’s just lost as to why. “And with at least half the emissions of your gas guzzler.”
Before she can lecture him on the impact his sports car has on the environment, I curl my arm around her waist and guide her into the home my father swears he built for my mother and me. Considering it’s filled with sports memorabilia from his glory days, you can be assured he didn’t. This home is his trophy cabinet, and everything inside of it he valued more than my mother.
“No,” Summer says sternly when my steps halt partway through the elaborate foyer. “We’re here, so can we at least pretend we’re going to the ball, Cinderella?”
With her strength more impressive than her puny arms display, she drags me to the stairwell before forcing me into the first vacant room she finds.
Several hours later, she exits the attached bathroom of the same room, except she isn’t wearing a stitch of clothing like earlier. She’s butt-fucking-naked, and my eyes drink in her naked form even more than my hands soaked up her heated skin last night.
Before I tell you how fucking hard her rocking body is making me, let me set the record straight. Summer has an ass you could bounce a quarter off. It’s tight, compact, and when added to the alluring swell of her hips, it is enticing enough any man would give their left nut to sink his teeth into it. Her tits are pocket-sized, but there’s still plenty to grab, and her stomach could only be flatter if she were stretching to reach the headboard like she did two nights ago while humping my leg.
She’s downright fucking sexy, and I don’t deserve the title of her best friend for not announcing my arrival until I’ve had my fill. Although this isn’t the first time we’ve faced a nude scandal, it’s the first time Summer has helmed the campaign. Usually, I’m the one busted in the buff.
After a few more seconds of delay, I mutter, “Summer…”
I only kick her heel with my boot once before her eyes shoot my way. The reason she missed my numerous swallows while storing her banging body into my spank bank is exposed when I spot the earbuds in her ears. She’s cranking out some tunes like she always does during the ten minutes she takes to prep for a night out.
“What the hell, Lennox!” While seeking something to cover herself with, her head shoots to the left before it rockets back to the right. Her movements are so fast she dislodges her EarPods. When she fails to find anything suitable, she yanks out the bedding from underneath my ass, uncaring that the expensive threads pop in response to her rueful tug. “Oh my god, will you please look away! I’m naked, Lennox.Naked!”
Believe me, I know,is what I want to reply, but since that would upset her more, I drop my eyes to her feet like the redness on her cheeks isn’t extending to her toes.
“How long have you been here?” The high pitch of her voice increases along with its volume. “Did you see me shake my ass in front of the mirror?”
“You shook your ass in front of the mirror?” I have no clue why my voice is as hitched as hers, but there’s no denying it, and in case you’re wondering, my pants are also facing a similar type of pitching. I’m as hard now as I was when her father interrupted us last night, but since Summer stole the bedding this time around, I’ve got nothing to hide my erection with.
Not that it hid it from her father, anyway. He stared straight at my crotch when Summer slipped into the bathroom for her third shower of the day. His stare was so white-hot, I was worried I’d never get a stiff again.
Summer’s naked stalk of the room has ensured I have nothing to worry about.
“Sometimes.” When the ruffling of sheets stops sounding through my ears, I slowly rake my eyes up Summer’s body. Even with it now being covered by an ugly high-count Egyptian bed cover, the view is still enticing. When our eyes lock, Summer finalizes her reply, “There are no limitations when I’m in the privacy ofmyroom. Not even nerds stay clothed twenty-four-seven, you asshat!”
“They don’t?” Her glare is ten times better than I was anticipating. “I thought even while alone, prudes got changed under their towel.” I shrug. “I guess you learn something new every day.”
With a groan that exposes how close she is to castrating me, she slaps me up the back of my head with a practically empty makeup bag before storming to her suitcase. I stop inwardly chuckling when I realize not all the redness on her cheeks is from embarrassment. She’s on the verge of crying.
“Sum—”
She cuts me off with a plead-filled sob. “Don’t, Lennox, please. I can’t handle your teasing right now. I’m already dying of embarrassment.”
“You havenothingto be embarrassed about.” When she scoffs as if I’m lying, I join her next to her suitcase. “You don’t. There are women who’d kill to have your body.” She rolls her eyes, leaving me no choice but to prove I’m not lying with more than words. “And men who’d do anything to taste it.” Her breathing stills as effectively as mine when I step close enough to her, there’s no denying the response my body had to her nakedness. “You need to stop being so hard on yourself, Sum. You could tempt a man into giving up the world just to spend a night with you.” The scent of her recently washed skin makes my words come out breathy when I add, “But you deserve better than a schmuck who thinks you’re hot, Summer. You deserve someone who won’t watch porn with you, let alone when he’s by himself.” That takes care of the wetness in her eyes. “No matter what happens, or how hideous youwronglybelieve you are, don’t ever forget you deserve more thananyman could ever give you.”
Before I say something that will alter our friendship forever, I press my lips to her temple in a silent plea for forgiveness before telling her I’ll meet her downstairs.
I’m halfway to the door when she calls my name. As I spin around to face her, the seriousness ridding the air of oxygen has me anticipating her to say something more profound than she does. “Do you really believe prudes get dressed under their towels even when they’re alone?”
“Of course,” I reply, my voice brimming with plenty of humor to hide my lie. “Just like jocks get changed in front of an open window. We all have our roles to play to keep us in thebig-fivepersonality traits, Cocoa. Even you.”
I dart into the hallway with only a second to spare. If I were any slower, I would have been knocked out by the makeup bag she sends sailing across the room.
Twenty minutes later than expected, Summer joins me downstairs, looking almost unrecognizable. Either our chat did wonders for her self-esteem, or someone tricked her into believing tonight’s gala is a remake of Cinderella.
