13
Luca
Many hands and the fact that London doesn’t have a lot of stuff to be moved means it doesn’t take us more than a few hours to load the hire truck up at her parents’ house and drive the thirty minutes across town to her new three-flat building.
I checked it out after Cohen and I carried her bed upstairs and am definitely impressed with her choice.It is in a good, safe neighborhood, full of double-income-no-kids-type couples and single white-collar workers who likely travel downtown every day.Of course that doesn’t mean I haven’t worked out a few security upgrades I’ll be making just to give me peace of mind.Can’t have my girl’s safety in question, after all.
“Have you seen the shower, dude?”Scotty calls from the bathroom.
Both Cohen and I look at each other before quickly making our way toward Scotty’s voice, knowing that where our colleague goes, trouble and mischief usually follow.
What I don’t expect to see is Scotty standing outside the shower with the water on, the room filling with steam and his hand under the water, groans and moans escaping him.
“What on earth are you doing, man?”Cohen says, sounding slightly traumatized at the amateur porn soundtrack crossing Scotty’s lips.I don’t blame him.
Scotty looks over his shoulder at us, his eyes hooded.“This shower is the shit.It’ssogood.And it has all these different pressure levels andthreeshower heads.Who the hell hasthreeshowerheads?”
Cohen shrugs.“I do.Then again, Skye and I renovated it so that it was exactly what we wanted and needed.”
“Hello?”Lonnie calls out, her voice getting closer.“Do I want to know why you guys are gathered in the bathroom?”
“Get out of the damn shower, Scotty.Jeez,” I order.
“What?It’s not like I’mnakedin her shower.”
“Please tell me he’s not naked in my orgasmic shower,” Lonnie says, squeezing into the room and standing close beside me, one hand covering her eyes.
“Orgasmic?”Scotty asks, and at the same time, Cohen laughs.
“Yes, I remember this renovation.We went for the full upgrade and the girls got drunk one night and decided that it was an ‘orgasmic’ showerhead.None of us dared to ask how they knew.”
“I’d definitely want to know,” Scotty says, clearly not knowing when to shut up.
I reach down and grab London’s hand—the one that’s not covering her eyes—and give her fingers a squeeze, loving the warm feel of her skin against mine as I dip my head until my mouth is by her ear.“It’s safe.You think I’d let any man go into your shower, babe, let alone Scotty?”
I don’t miss the way her breath catches and her whole body shudders or the way that Ilikethe fact it does.
London turns her head and splays her fingers apart, peeking out to look at me, bringing her face so close to mine her sweet-smelling breath fans over my lips.I don’t move away.It’s like I’m frozen in place as something significant shifts inside of me.Something monumental ...something ...
“Whowouldyou allow in my shower?”she asks, her tone low anddefinitelyteasing, her eyes dancing with amusement.
I open my mouth to say “No one but me” but I’m saved from being Captain Fucking Obvious—and potentially a dumbass—by the sound of a slap echoing off the walls, followed by a “hey” from Scotty.
What on earth wasthatabout?Not Scotty—he’s being an idiot and Cohen was the closest person to him and must have knocked some sense into him.But me ...and London ...me ...wanting to ...
Holy fucking shit.
My chest constricts, my lungs suddenly feeling like I’m wearing a tank with no air left, and all I can think of is that I need to get out of here.Like, right the hell now ...
I straighten and put some much-needed distance between Lonnie and I as we both look at a smirking Cohen and a frowning Scotty, who’s rubbing the back of his head and scowling at my brother-in-law.I plaster on a smile, all the while losing my goddamn mind as I try to work out what the hell just happened and why I was—moments earlier—filled with the overwhelming urge to wrap my arm around my best friend’s waist, tug her into me, and slam my lips down on hers.It was like there was a body and brain disconnect—a glitch where I wasn’t her best friend.I was her man, and all I could think about was shutting up her sass with my mouth.In that moment, all I wanted to do was kiss her and claim her as mine.
Mine?Where the hell didthatcome from?God, I’ve got to get out of here ...
“I’m just going to ...um ...head back down and get another load,” I rush out before leaving the room and getting the hell out of dodge—well, the apartment at least.When I get outside, I suck in some much-needed fresh air, wracking my brain for any inkling, any sign that I’ve caught feels for Lonnie.My best friend.My girl.
Then I think back over the past few weeks, all the shit the crew has been giving me.The interrupted date with Lonnie and that trainee doctor, the one who thought he was a relationship guru and imparted his supposedly ‘wise’ advice on me.London being upset with me.Me apologizing to her.That awkward conversation in the car where she totally misunderstood me and thought I meant ...Oh, God ...
I’m equally relieved and horrified, and not at all for the reasons I’d have thought.More than once I’ve wondered why I couldn’t return London’s feelings for me.When she kissed me more than six months ago, she surprised and confused me, and I wanted her friendship and her presence in my life more than anything else.The mere thought of not having her absolutely terrified me.