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Reese squeals—an actual squeal that makes the waiter pause mid-step. She waves him off. “Sorry! She just told me she’s finally getting laid again.”
The waiter gives me a look of sympathy. I want to sink into the chair and disappear.
Unfazed, Reese pops a piece of focaccia in her mouth and talks around it. “Details. Positions. Number of rounds. Don’t leave me hanging.”
I toss a napkin at her face. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Maybe. But you look like you finally slept more than four hours, which means something in that penthouse is working wonders.”
Reese knows about Kingston, of course. We’ve been friends long enough that I told her everything. That was years ago—long before I packed up my life and moved to Horseshoe Bay.
My smile softens. “It doesn’t feel casual anymore. It feels like something I could fall into and never want to climb out of.”
Her expression shifts, warmth radiating across her features. “Good. You deserve that kind of safe.”
I nod, throat tight. She’s the only one who knows what it means for me to say that out loud.
She reaches across the table, grabbing my hand. “I’m proud of you.”
“Enough to not roast me for the rest of lunch?”
She snorts. “Absolutely not.”
The word lands between us with a spark of mischief. Her eyes glint like she’s seconds away from launching a full-scale interrogation with me as the star witness.
I narrow my eyes, pointing my fork at her. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Too late.”
She braces her elbows on the table like she’s about to deliver a TED Talk. “You’re blissed out. And you look like a woman who got thoroughly, properly, unforgettably railed.”
My cheeks go nuclear. “Reese.”
She waves off my mortification like it’s smoke. “Nope. You don’t get to backpedal. I flew across the damn country to look at athleisure pants. The least you can do is let me live vicariously.”
I drop my face into my hands with a groan. “We are not doing this in a public restaurant.”
“Oh, but we are,” she singsongs, chin in her palm. “So. How was it?”
I peek at her through my fingers, voice dry. “Reese.”
She grins like a devil in designer lip gloss. “Did he rock your world? Or tilt it on its axis and ruin other men forever?”
My lips twitch. And despite myself, a soft, content sigh slips out.
That’s all she needs.
“Oh my God.” She drops her fork, vibrating with glee. “You had sex with him. You did the deed. The Big Bang. The full-body fireworks.”
“Can you please lower your voice?”
“No. Because my best friend is finally getting laid again and her entire aura says satisfied woman. Now, tell me—was it a one-time thing or a ‘welcome to the rest of your life’ situation?”
I laugh, helpless, reaching for my water. “Okay, okay, enough.”
She clutches her chest dramatically. “He totally had you seeing galaxies.”
“Reese.”
