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Oh, damn.
Exaggeratedly patting my belly, I lean back in my chair, putting space between me and my roomie. “I’m stuffed. Thanks, Mason, for finishing that up, or else it would have just been thrown away.”
“Yup,” Mason says with food in his mouth.
But I’m not sure Felix is buying what I’m selling. In fact, he still looks suspicious as fuck. Things grow quiet once again. My brother looks deep in thought as he goes back to scarfing down his lasagna.
When he’s done eating, his eyes bounce between my roommate and me. He rises from the table and drops the container into the dishwasher. “I’ve got a patient appointment to get to.”
“Right,” I squeak out, forcing a smile.
Just before Felix walks out, he pauses by the door, absently rapping his knuckles against the wood.“Hey Mason, how’s the house hunt going?” he questions.
Mason’s head snaps up. “Oh, I…I haven’t really been looking,” he answers, sounding somewhat confused.
“Maybe you should get on that.” Felix throws a final glance at me and then his best friend. Then he’s gone, down the hall for his next appointment of the day.
And now, Mason looks pale as shit.
I don’t know what the hell is going on with my roomie and me, but whatever it is, we need to be more careful.
My big, bossy brother is onto us.
Freaking fantastic.
26
MASON
Ihuff, dropping down on the ground next to a pile of firewood. “I’m way too pretty for this lumberjack shit.”
There. I said it.
I catch sight of Archer up ahead through the copse of trees, swinging his heavy ax around like it’s a freaking butter knife. “Lightweight…” His lips say across the distance. Maybe I’m a freaking lip-reader. Or maybe that’s just my feelings of inadequacy talking.
Felix saunters up to me, gleefully pushing a wheelbarrow overflowing with more firewood.
“They don’t build y’all all that tough in Honey Hill, do they?”
“Fuck off,” I mutter dropping onto my back in the dirt. I’m dead.
After work today, Felix told me he was on his way to Archer’s to help out with some lumberjack shit. Apparently, the guys lost some bet to Archer a while back. Now they’re taking turns paying off their debt in manual labor. I offered to come along with my friend. Mostly out of curiosity to see what it was all about.
For the record—that’s a decision I’m regretting right about now. After helping Archer finish up the fence he was putting up along the periphery of his property, now we’re helping him stock up on firewood. In the middle of summer. What the hell?
Yeah, coming here after work was definitely not a great decision for me.
But my other option would have been to go straight home after work. And well, spending the entire evening locked up in that house with Karli didn’t seem like the best option either.
Lately, I’ve been enjoying hanging out with her after work. Too much. It’s crazy. We wake up under the same roof every morning. We work together at the clinic for eight to ten hours. And then, at the end of the day, I still want more time with her. That is not good. If it keeps up, it’ll be only a matter of time before we end up in bed together one day soon. I think it’s best for everybody if I make a deliberate effort to stay out of her way.
My fantasies about her are officially out of control. The way I cornered her in the kitchen like I was ready to fuck her right there on the counter is proof of that. But the really scary thing is, my fascination with Karli is notjustsexual.
I’m obsessed with her wicked little grin. I like the way she tries to fight it away when I flirt with her. I like the way she loses the battle every single time.
I like that she tries to play tough. And I especially like that I seem to have figured out the secret formula to make her walls come crashing down.
I like the way my skin tingles when our fingers brush. I like the way she smells. The way she smiles.
