Trying to ignore the thoughts racing through my mind, I staved off the wave of lust rising inside my body with a deep, forceful swallow.
“Let’s try that again.” I cleared my throat, eyes still locked on Addie’s. “Adam, what do you have to say to your sister?”
His twin sister. My friend. My roommate.
But none of the platonic titles stopped the fantasy playing out inside my head.
Addie on her knees. Addie crawling toward me. Addie climbing onto my lap and sinking down onto?—
What the fuck?
“I’m sorry,” Adam muttered.
Addie clucked, clearly unmoved by his show of remorse, so I pinned Adam with a pointed stare.
“I didn’t mean for that shirt to get mixed up in the wash. I’ll be more careful next time.” Adam paused there, realizing more words only made it worse, and he gave Addie a chance to respond. When she didn’t, he sighed and forged on. “And I’ll go pick up the ice cream you like to make my thoughtless comment about your period up to you?”
Indignation colored her features, but I was quick to interject. “He didn’t mean anything by that. He’s just trying to do something nice. Right, Adam?”
Adam huffed. “Yeah, of course. What, Addie? Getting you ice cream means I have some ulterior motive or something?”
Turning the same pointed stare on Addie, I begged her with my eyes to forgive her naive-in-the-ways-of-women twin brother.
She finally relented, mumbling under her breath, “Ice cream would be nice. Thank you.”
“That’s our girl,” I said brightly, tugging her into my side as I yanked on Adam’s shirt. “Group hug it out!”
They conceded, mostly because I didn’t give them a way out of it. I trapped each of them in one of my arms, hyper-aware of the contact with Addie after what happened before. She was beautiful. Of course, I’d noticed how it felt to touch her.
But avoiding her body completely would lead to questions, and addressing my reaction to touching her would make things weird. So, after tugging them in for a group hug, I held onto them both until they finally relented.
They shared a laugh and easy smiles before I let them go.
Once I did, I jerked my chin toward Addie’s bedroom, needing a minute to settle. “Now, go pick out your prettiest pink outfit, and we’ll all go to the store to get ice cream.”
Addie elbowed me in the ribs, but the smile on her face contradicted her lingering, half-hearted outrage. She slid out from under my arm and headed for her room, coming to a stop outside her door. “Oh, shoot! I can’t.” She glanced back at us. “I almost forgot I’m meeting Tessa tonight for a party. Raincheck?”
Adam’s brow hitched in question, but he said, “Sure.”
Addie nodded and waved us off before disappearing into her room, leaving the door open. I took that as some sort of cue and immediately followed her.
“What kind of party?” I asked, halting her progress into her private bathroom. “A frat party? Will people be drinking? Should Adam and I come, too?”
Addie huffed a laugh and headed over to her sink, grabbing a bag on the counter. “No,Dad. I don’t need you two coming along as my chaperones. It’s a Glow party. That’s why I was trying to find mywhiteshirt. Tessa’s friend invited us. It’s on campus, so no alcohol allowed.”
That did little to convince me, since my few short months on the football team had only reinforced how accessible underage drinking was on campus. But I wouldn’t voice that to Addie since it would only increase her resistance to Adam and me coming along.
“Hey, that sounds fun.” I kept my tone cool and casual as I leaned against her doorframe. “Maybe we’ll check it out. And don’t worry, we won’t cramp your style or whatever.”
Her eyes narrowed on the bathroom mirror, but I couldn’t tell if that was suspicion or some girl trick for applying mascara. She swiped the little brush thingy over her eyelashes before setting it down on the counter and coming back out to her room.
“You want to come to a sober Glow party on campus?” Her hands planted on her hips when I nodded. “Seriously?”
“Well, not if you make it weird, Addie.” I rolled my eyes, smirking as I left her room and missed whatever she said under her breath.
I had no idea what I was doing.
Addie didn’t need us to tag along. She was smart. Responsible.
