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Owen snuffs a noise and walks towards the others on the sofa, purposefully squeezing his huge body between Zoey and Aaron. “Make room.”
Zoey grunts as she gets shoved off the sofa, shouting curses at her brother.
“Mate, if you wanted a cuddle, all you had to do was ask.” Aaron laughs, wiggling his eyebrows, and they start bickering.
I loosen the grip on my glass. Now that Owen is there, I feel a little less murdery towards Aaron. But I’m still left with burning questions from the conversation with him. I mean, what the fuck just happened? Was that a warning mixed in with permission? I can’t even begin to dissect it. I didn’t think I’d been as obvious as Aaron when I’ve been around Zoey today. It’s been less than a day, and I’m already failing at hiding the crush I fear is building for her.
A knock at the door has Aaron leaping to his feet, ignoring Owen’s glare from their argument. “Food’s here.”
I walk over to the other sofa where Zoey has been relegated, and she smiles as I sit. Her scent wraps around me, sweet, still coconutty from earlier, and completely mouth-watering.
“Hey, roomie,” she coos.
Before I can respond, the food is brought in. We sit and eat like we haven’t eaten in years, none of us attempting to make conversation, just enjoying the food taking us to a coma state.
“That was incredible,” Zoey sighs, slumping her petite frame into the sofa and patting her cute stomach that she’s poking out dramatically.
I’m completely taken off guard though, when she slumps sideways, resting her head on my shoulder, as her blonde hair tickles against my skin. I stiffen, and my eyes scan the room to see if anyone has noticed how we’re sitting, but no one is paying us the slightest bit of attention. They’re all talking about tomorrow’s plans, which I should be listening to, but I can’t hear anything except the little puffs of air leaving Zoey’s mouth and trailing down my arm.
Dude, you’re so crushing on her.
Being this close to a woman feels a little unnatural because, since Vanessa, I’ve kept things entirely physical and non-committal with women, and even that’s been scarce. I felt fragile, hurt, and betrayed by her. And even though I’m over her—I pretty much was from the moment I caught her cheating—it still stung. I think I spent a good amount of time blaming myself and work because Vanessa made me feel like I was the problem in our relationship when it had nothing to do with me, it was her inability to not fuck someone else. Maybe I have been hiding and a little reluctant to put myself out there, but sitting here with Zoey and having her curves against me makes my chest ache in a way I thought I’d never feel again.
“Dude, she’s out,” someone shouts from across the room, and when I look up, I realise that Owen is shouting at me with a gleam in his eye that I remember well from our earlier conversation. I shift sideways, causing Zoey to startle and groan.
“Nooo, man, warm. Man, cosy,” she purrs, nuzzling into me again.
My eyes frantically find her brothers and the other two guys who are staring at me, amused. I put my hands up in surrender, and all it does is cause Zoey to move closer to me. “I didn’t do this,” I squeal, reaching a pitch completely unnatural given my usual deep voice. All the guys share a look and laugh, throwing their heads back.
“It’s cool, man. We know Zoey’s a cuddler. She’s not picky about who she cuddles. Any warm body will do,” Max replies, surprising me, considering how protective he always is. Something in my chest cools. I don’t like the idea that she would just search for the nearest warm body. That makes this feel weird. I shake it off though, when Max stands, the chair scraping against the floor as he does, and walks his 6-foot-plus self over to us.
“Tink, it’s time for bed,” he whispers. She moans, and I decide that it’s a sound I definitely want to hear again under different circumstances, as in not in a room with her brothers.
“Don’t wanna move,” she mumbles sleepily.
“Fine, H will take you back to your bed,” Max says calmly, then looks at me. “That cool?” he asks, placing so much trust in me I can’t stop the rise in my eyebrows.
“Yeah,” I croak, then clear my throat. “Yes, I can take her back.”
Shifting us both, I manage to move my arms underneath her and stand with a very full stomach and a very sleepy Zoey, who doesn’t protest me carrying her. She just wraps her arm around the back of my neck and nuzzles right there at the base of my collarbone. Goosebumps erupt down my spine and across my arms as she breathes softly against my neck fuuuuuuck. I cannot get turned on right now. I give Max one final look of ‘I’ve got her’ and carry towards the door.
“Shit, can you reach my keycard and put it in my hand? It’s in my back pocket,” I say to anyone who will help me. Nate, who has been stoically quiet this whole trip so far, comes to my rescue. I heard from Max that he’s dealing with his dad’s passing, so I’ve given him space.
He digs into my back pocket and passes me the key before he moves in front of me and opens the door to the hallway, which makes Zoey shiver and groan in protest. I find myself shushing her, wanting to keep her warm and safe in my arms.
When we get to our room, I awkwardly slide the keycard against the lock and enter our room. I walk Zoey over to her room and place her on the bed, where she grumbles about being cold, so I pull the soft white comforter over her.
I pause in her room for a second, watching her fall back into a slumber deep enough to have her softly snoring. I know I shouldn’t make things complicated by crushing on my best friend’s sister, but on the one hand, IthinkOwen said it’s okay if anything happens between me and Zoey. But on the other, Max’s scowl is enough to scare me off completely.Do I risk my friendship to hook up with their sister?
Her bright blonde hair is splayed across her pillow like a fan, and her make-up-free face looks beautiful. She’s the polar opposite of Vanessa in every way, and even though I’ve spent most of my life assuming I had a type—brunette and tall—, I’m beginning to wonder if this little platinum bombshell is going to derail me completely.
Chapter 8
Harrison
“Dowehaveplanstoday?” Nate asks, looking around at the other tables as the sounds of the distant slot machines echo around us. We’ve all come to the hotel bar for a quick bite to eat since most of us slept in this morning and missed breakfast and lunch. Well, all of us except Zoey, who went for a swim and woke at some ungodly hour.
“This is the one time I’ve not planned a single thing for a trip. Business trips keep us both so strict on timings and where to go, so we wanted this to just be chilled and go with the flow,” Owen responds. I get that. Both of them work 24/7, like me, and getting downtime is important.
