AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m not going to be the douche lying here getting hard thinking about her mouth and all the ways I want to play with it. What those lush lips might taste like. How soft and sweet they’d be parting beneath mine. What it would be like wrapping my hand in the thick silk of her hair and backing her up to the bathroom wall—no, theshower wall—while foamy soap slips between us, trailing over her tits and down to her—
Fuck!Don’t think about her like that when she’s one freaking Saltine-cracker-thin wall away.
I take a deep breath, concentrating on the three springs grating against my spine, hip, and shoulder instead of shower scenarios that might have been until I think I might be facing a career-ending injury if I don’t move.
I roll to my side, cringing at the screech of the springs beneath me.
And there’s the laugh.
“Sorry ’bout that.”
“I was already awake. Just giving you some extra sleep if you needed it.”
“Nah, I’m set.” Total lie. I could probably use about six more hours. But that’s not happening now. And not just because of the bed.
There’s some rustling from the other side of the wall and then Harlow’s standing in the open arch between our rooms.
Jesus, she’s beautiful. That inky hair falling around her shoulders in sleep-mussed sexiness. Her golden skin and bottomless eyes devoid of any makeup. And those conservative button-down PJs clinging to her curves in a way that has me pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to rub the faint outline of her nipples against the fabric from my mind.
Be the good guy.
“How’d you sleep?” Better than me, I hope. But as I search for any hint of a shadow or bag under her eyes, a shitty part of me might be just a smidge bummed to see that she looks perfectly rested. Like she didn’t lose a wink of sleep thinking about that moment in the bathroom last night.
“Great. In fact, I’m ready to run if you are,” she says with a bounce and a smile. “We don’t have anything scheduled for this morning, do we?”
Another ding to the ego. Sorry, buddy.
“Lunch with Walt and Janie at noon.”
“Plenty of time then. I’ll change first and meet you out front when you’re ready.”
* * *
Harlow
I hadto get out of that room.
After tossing and turning half the night, staring at the ceiling, staring at the bathroom door, then staring at my phone when I realized staring was all I was going to be able to do—I couldn’t take it another minute.
I’d just been creeping out of bed, hoping to change into my running gear and slink out before he woke up when the bed from Hell broadcast that Wade was awake. So my slinking plan was out the window and there wasn’t any choice but to brave a visit to his side of the suite and see for myself whether there was anything weird lingering between us.
Newsflash: there wasn’t. Not from his side anyway.
It was just Wade being Wade. No weighted pauses. No big, muscley hockey player prowling out of bed to back me into my room. Just a nice smile and a guy making plans for the day with his fake girlfriend.
Perfect.
Ten minutes later, he meets me on the grassy strip in front of the truck. And ten minutes after that, we’re stretched and chatting as easily as we have all along.
It’s another beautiful morning, and when we get out to the old Enderson water tower, instead of just running around it, Wade stops and gives me that too-tempting grin. “You afraid of heights?”
He cocks his head toward the tower, a dare gleaming in his eyes.
I love climbing. It’s something I picked up imagining, like golf, skiing, and tennis, it would be as good a skill to have in business as my MBA. So far the only use I’ve had for it is my own enjoyment, but that’s plenty.
“We’re going up? Isn’t that illegal?”
“Yep. And I wouldn’t recommend it anywhere other than Enderson. But here… Well, it’s the best view in town, and let’s just say I’ve got one last free pass.” Wade bites his bottom lip and then pulls a face. “But you can’t tell anyone. For real. This is theonlything I do that breaks the rules. And my dad’s buddy has been looking the other way since I was in high school. We have permission. So if you want to… we can.”
