“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, and 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.
“Andrew?”
I shook my head, pulling myself from my trance.
“What was that?” I asked.
“I said, ‘thank you for breakfast.’ It was very kind of you to come in here and cook for us.”
“Well, I don’t cook like Dylan can, but your friends ate it so it must’ve not been bad.”
“I’ll get to eating it once my headache goes away.”
“Take another Tylenol. You only took two,” I said. “You can take a third one. Won’t kill ya.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“Not a problem. I’d love to stay and chat, but I figured I’d leave y’all to recuperate. I’m off today, but if you need anythin’, Dylan’s got the front desk again downstairs.”
“Got any plans for your day?”
“I’m plannin’ the family reunion.”
“The O’Conner Family Bash is coming up soon?” she asked.
“Next week, actually. Gonna be a good one.”
“They always are,” she said.
“You know you can come if you want.”