Page 50 of Make Me Laugh

I cut him off, shaking my head. “It’s okay. We were buzzed. Not like it’ll happen again…” The words taste awful leaving my mouth.

He almost looks like he’s going to argue, but instead, he takes a deep breath, sits up, and nods. “Yeah, definitely.”

I’m hours away from leaving and part of me, if not most of me, doesn’t want it to end.

That scares me more than anything.

While most of my time was spent actually working, there were moments in between where I found myself genuinely enjoying what I was doing, moments where I was having fun without caring whether I deserved it or not.

“Want to see some of the stuff I got this weekend?” I ask, staring down at his crisp blue eyes.

West nods enthusiastically, patting the spot beside him. I plop down, crisscrossing my legs to get comfy.

My sleep pants are at least one size too big, and so is my old college T-shirt. Frankie’s the one with the matching pajama sets without extra holes, not me.

Comfort over cuteness for bed every single time.

I open the folder I created on my phone for this weekend’s content and start at the beginning.

West leans in, his arm brushing against mine. The gentle touch is enough to heat my skin. I pull up the first finished video and let it play, hoping it will be the distraction I need to ignore the urge to curl up against West’s side… for warmth.

It takes me almost the entire folder to stop thinking of him pressed behind me, how badly I wanted to finish my sentence and beg him to bend me over the table and fuck me until I came.

West’s real laugh makes me smile, peeking over at him as he watches a video on my phone. “Man, you made the venue look huge.”

“All about the angles, baby,” I say with sarcastic overconfidence.

He meets my eyes, but then I watch as they drop to my lips for probably the hundredth time this weekend—good to know he thinks about kissing me as much as I do him.

A silence falls between us, and it begs me to fill it. The job I was paid for might be rolling to an end, but sleeping with West again? It would do nothing but cause trouble.

West is dangerous to me, a threat to my normal, always planned… boring life.

“I had a really great time, by the way.” I finally answer his question from earlier, drawing his attention back to my eyes. “Getting to know West Isakson.”

His smile is sweet, softening all his edges. It isn’t the enthusiastic one he gives the world. It’s small and genuine, his cute little dimples making him look every bit of the twenty-five-year-old he is.

God, twenty-fucking-five. The seven years between us feels giant right now.

“You know,” West starts, looking back at my phone. “All these pictures and videos, but not a single one of us.” He swipes to the camera, shooting me a serious stare. “Will you please smile? I want my mom to believe you actually like me.” He flips the phone around to use the back camera, cheeses really big, and snaps the picture before I can wipe the sneer from my face.

“Kidding. This one’s just for me.” He winks.

I push his shoulder with a short laugh. “You wasted your one photo to get that.” I point at the picture but pause when he zooms in closer on our faces.

Oh, it’s actually kind of cute. Fuck, it’s really cute.

We’re cute… together.

His goofy smile looks natural, and I don’t look as mean as I intended. My eyes sparkle and there’s a playful scrunch to my nose.

West fucking Isakson is stealing my edge.

He swipes up, opens my messages, and sends himself the picture. I don’t object, watching him do it. “For my spank bank.”

“Don’t make me kill you.” I hopefully give him a real scowl this time and snatch my phone out of his hands.

West chuckles, shaking his head as I lean back on my elbows and stare up at the sky.