Does hewantto see me naked?
The inappropriate thought sends a shiver down my spine. Fuck, that’s not good.
“Right,” he croaks. “I don’t know why I said that.”
Me neither, dude.But you made it weird.
I force out a laugh to break the tension, but it comes out choked.Great.Now I’m making it weird, too.
There’s a solid thirty seconds where neither of us know what to do with ourselves. Jett sets me off-kilter in a way I’m unaccustomed to—not in a bad way, but around him, I’mlooser, lighter, freer.
That is, until I called my family after ignoring their messages for two days. My sisters are pissed about my comments on their papers. My mom is frustrated that my sisters are upset, and my dad is annoyed that all the other people in his house are in shitty moods.
Somehow, all the problems boil down to me.
I know my family loves me, but at times, it feels as though they love what I can do for them more.
I lift my arms to form a T with my body. “All right, undress me, then,” I joke, trying to infuse humor into the demand.
It doesn’t land. He doesn’t laugh, only gulps, the column of his throat bobbing before he lifts the hem of my cover-up overmy head. The bathing suit I wore earlier sticks to my skin, damp from my shower.
There was no way I was getting it off my body without fainting in pain, so it’s now a part of me. The towel scratches against the top of my thighs as I lie down, and I grit my teeth.
A pillow enters my line of sight, and I slip it under my chest. Once I’m comfortable—or as much as I’m going to be with the tension in the room and my flaming skin—he turns on the television.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make it to the fancy dinner tonight,” I admit, a bit disappointed.
The dinner cruise around Sydney Harbor at sunset would have been the perfect opportunity to experience the city’s highlights while sitting in the comfort of air-conditioning. Instead, I’m going to spend the night cloistered in my hotel room, questioning my choices and thinking about Jett and his mention of my boobs.
“I know,” he says. “I told Molly and Doug to have a date night. Figured they would enjoy the time alone.”
“You didn’t have to do that. You can go, too. I’m okay here, really. And I don’t want to ruin your fun.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Jett hums. “That you would be okay here by yourself.” He sits beside me, the bed dipping to accommodate him. “That wouldn’t be kind, and I wouldn’t have much fun without you, anyway.”
That wouldn’t be kind.
The words ring in my ears.
I don’t have enough fingers or toes to count the number of times Tommy left me behind because I wasn’t feeling well. Or because I didn’t get ready quickly enough for him. How many arguments we had because I was too uptight and he would have more fun at an event without me.
It took a while to recognize how poorly he treated me, but sometimes, when someone else shows me the kindness he never did, it’s a solid punch to the gut.
Tears threaten, and I turn my head to hide how dead-on that statement hit. Bullseye. “So you decided you would stay here and…hang out with me?”
“That was my plan.”
“I’m not fun.”
“I don’t think that’s true, either.” The cap of the bottle snaps open. “Are you ready?”
A glob of freezing aloe hits my back. I hiss, and he chuckles, another strike landing between my shoulder blades. I clamp down on my lower lip when his fingers brush against my skin, spreading the gel. After a few passes of soft, gentle touches, the pain dissipates and the aloe cools the inferno.
It’s nice to be the one taken care of instead of always being the caretaker.
Growing up, it was my job to wrangle my little sisters and handle myself. Rarely was there someone to fuss over me. My parents worked long, hard hours, and by the time they came home at night, they had the twins and their high energy to deal with. It wasn’t worth adding to their stress.
So I handled it all.
