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“No P?”
“No, P is Patty, your most recent girl.”
He grimaced. “You sure it wasn’t a p? And you know what, ignore that. That’s not the point. She gave me all the signals back, so I asked her out, and she said yes. When I told you I had date, do you remember what you said?”
I frowned; the words didn’t immediately leap to mind. “No?”
“You said,” he pitched his voice low as he dropped his hands to my hips and lifted me forward until we were breast to chest. “’Archie, that’s awesome. Where are you going? What are you going to do?’”
I squinted one eye shut and stared at him. “And that was bad?”
“That told me you weren’t jealous. You seemed genuinely happy for me. Which meant, as much as I might like you, you didn’t like me back. Not the same way. I kinda figured maybe it was one of the other guys, but nope. We flirted, and you would laugh, play it off like it was a joke, and that was that. We didn’t just block other guys from asking you out because we thought you weren’t interested—I just didn’t like the idea of seeing you with someone else.”
The admission seemed to cost him.
“I was jealous that you would look at someone else the way I wanted you to look at me. That makes me selfish, I know…then you started seeing Frenchy…”
“Once, Archie,” I told him.
“Twice. You went to lunch and you were thinking about him and it put this giddy smile on your face. Now some dude is sending you roses. I’m… not going to lie. I hate it, but then you said you wanted to date. When we asked you out, you wereshocked,and that was an ego check.”
I wanted to hide my face, but there was nowhere to go. We were too close.
“So you want to date the guys? Fine. I don’t have to like it. At least I know they’re not going to be too stupid with you. But I’m a possessive guy, Frankie. Now that I have your attention…you better fucking believe I plan to keep it.”
Those damn tears pricked at my eyes again. The bracelet he’d given me caught some of the lights from above, a soft, muted gold against his neck. He sighed, his body language shifting as the earlier tension eased and his expression gentled.
“I like you, Frankie. A lot. Sex or no sex. I have liked you for a long time.” Then he licked his lips. “But God I hope you say yes to sex whether it’s tonight or not.”
I laughed, because—Archie. He took my breath away. He kissed me, slow and warm, coaxing noises from me with every catch of our mouths, every touch of his tongue.
A low sigh, a gasp, and when he deepened the kiss, he flattened one hand against my shoulder blades and there was no room between us, no air. The contact of my breasts to his chest had me moaning. I swore my bones were melting and the temperature in the hot tub climbed.
He eased back from the kiss a moment, both of us panting. The rush of his breath against my lips just made me hungrier. Then he kissed me again, a little more luxuriously, wet and deep as he slid his free hand down my back and dipped it below the negligible scrap of cloth that served as the bikini bottoms.
I lost track of how long we kissed, but he shifted the angle. Sometimes slow and deep, then harder and faster as he squeezed my ass and I rubbed against his crotch. The earlier need flamed hotter and higher.
“Tell me no,” Archie whispered, in between kisses. “Tell me no, and we’ll stop.”
I did not want to tell him no. I wanted.
There was no object to that sentence, I just wanted. Archie tasted good. He wanted me. He’d wanted me for so long, and I hadn’t known.
“I didn’t know,” I promised him each time he released my lips. “I didn’t know how you felt.”
“I know,” he soothed then sucked on my lower lip before releasing it to stare at me. “I know you didn’t. I want you so badly right now, Frankie. Tell me no and I’ll stop.”
I wasn’t afraid. I’d been terrified earlier, but he was right. We’d been friends for years, and I’d always cared about them, cared abouthim.The fact he wantedme, that they all did, it was heady and powerful stuff. Being held and cherished, being needed?
I was here and so was he.
“Frankie?”
But I had to bring Mathieu to the party the next day. Digging my fingers into his shoulders, I tried to catch my breath. “Yes.”
He raised his eyebrows, shock etched into his expression. “Yes, you’re going to tell me no, or yes I can take you upstairs and kiss every inch of you?”
Trepidation wiggled through me. We were crossing that line. Once I was over it there was no going back. “Do you have condoms?”
