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“There’s a man in our kitchen,” Lizzie said. “The fuck’s that?”
“It’s Andrew,” Katie said.
I turned my head at the sound of her voice as she came shuffling out of her room. She looked like hell. Hair matted to her face and her eyes all red and puffy. Leaning against the doorway like she was still half-drunk. Whitney groaned as she peeled herself out of bed as Lizzie flopped down at the kitchen table, and Katie closed her eyes while she held her head.
“Got some Tylenol on the table. Come sit on down. Breakfast is ready,” I said.
“God bless you for all this,” Lizzie said.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Whitney said.
But all Katie did was stumble to the table and plop down heavily into a chair.
The girls passed around Tylenol and juice as I put food on their plates. I wasn’t a cook like Dylan, but I learned my way around a kitchen. Living as a single man will force that on anyone, especially if he doesn’t want to eat garbage the rest of his life. Whitney and Lizzie dug in, stuffing their mouths and moaning at the delicious food on their plates.
But Katie sat there, her eyes closed and her head still in her hands.
I washed up the dishes as Lizzie and Whitney talked. They were trying to get Katie to engage, but she kept shutting them up. Man. She must’ve felt worse than she looked, and my heart went out to her.
I wish I could’ve taken her pain away from her.
“I think I’m gonna go take a shower,” Lizzie said. “Whitney. Wanna help?”
“With you taking a shower?” Whitney asked.
“Just come on,” Lizzie said. “Get better at reading signals, city girl.”
Lizzie tossed me a wink as she dragged Whitney back into a bedroom, then the door shut with a slam as Katie groaned.
“Anythin’ I can get you?” I asked. “Coffee? More Tylenol? A morphine drip?”
“Death? Death sounds good,” Katie said.
“Not on your life, pretty lady.”
“Haven’t been called that in a long time.”
“Which tells me you made the right choice. Any man at your side should remind you how beautiful you are on a daily basis,” I said.
“I’m sorry,” she said with a sigh.
“For what?”
“For whatever embarrassing thing I did last night.”
“Nothin’ embarrassin’ for you to be apologizin’ about,” I said.
“I’m sure there was something. When I wake up like this, it’s always something.”
“I promise, you did nothin’ wrong. I haven’t seen you have fun like that in a long time. I’m glad you got to have some finally.”
“Any reason your voice dropped a whole octave there?” she asked.
There was, but I wasn’t sure if I should’ve been talking about it with a woman recuperating from one heartache already. Even if I tip-toed around it, I’d be walking a fine line. Risking ruining my friendship with her over some fantasy I had one time at a fucking bonfire. But ever since I’d held her close in my arms that night, I couldn’t get her out of my mind. My attraction to her had always been strong, but she was “little Katie,” and that was that. I wasn’t no pervert, and I wasn’t fixing to start then.
But last night, in the hot tub, things got intense. The flirting got real, an
d her body started pressing into everyone, and she stayed in my arms longer than most. She curled into me with her soft curves and her string bikini, and I could feel her pressing deeper into my chest. My arms fell around her, cloaking her and trying to soak up as much of her as I could before she pushed away.
