Though I suppose I should be flattered that she trusted me enough to want to scratch an itch.
Scratch an itch.
Bloody hell.
“What?” Thane scowled at the house and then back at me, and I realized I’d cursed out loud.
“Nothing.” I shook my head and turned back to the water.
“Something’s been bothering you lately. Is that something the reason you got drunk last weekend?”
“No. That was … I was just getting drunk with Lachlan.” Only the partial truth. Thankfully, Lachlan had finally had a conversation with Robyn after he’d gotten wasted at the ceilidh. She understood his fears, and he understood his fears couldn’t suffocate her. He was trying. And Robyn was doing what she could to alleviate his worries without compromising her own happiness.
That was real love. What they had. Anyone could see it.
I never thought I’d envy my brothers for their romantic relationships.
Maybe I was getting sentimental in my old age. I snorted to myself.
“What now?” Thane frowned.
I heaved another heavy sigh and studied my big brother. He’d been married, widowed, and now was engaged after a somewhat scandalous affair with his much younger nanny and sister-in-law. Maybe his opinion wouldn’t be a bad thing. “I have this friend.”
Thane smirked because everyone knew what I have this friend was code for. “Okay …”
“And my friend has this very good friend who he has feelings for. But she just asked him for no-strings sex, one night only, because she doesn’t want to be in a serious relationship with anyone, and my friend doesn’t know what to do about it. Does he have sex with her and hope it’ll just naturally develop into something more, or does he tell her no, or does he just take what he can get and sleep with her once?”
My brother gaped at me.
“Well?” I scowled.
Thane cleared his expression. “Okay … when you say feelings, do you mean your friend has serious feelings for this woman, or is it just an attraction?”
I looked away, uncomfortable with the depth of feelings I had for Ery, honestly not entirely sure what they meant. “He wants to date her to find out if it could be serious.”
After a few seconds of silence that felt like forever, Thane said, “I’d need more background about your friend and his friend to give a truly insightful opinion … but what I will say is that I’d worry about your friend getting hurt. He has to trust that his friend means it when she says she doesn’t want a relationship, so he’d be risking a lot if he went into it, hoping he could convince her otherwise.”
“So you would say no, then?”
“It depends. I knew deep down when I got into it with Regan that I was at risk of getting hurt, but I did it, anyway. It worked out for me, but it might not work out for your friend. Your friend should follow his gut, but be prepared for it ending badly if he goes for it.”
That sounded fucking delightful.
And yet, as I got back into my car, I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering, to imagining what it would be like to have Ery. To devour every inch of her. There had been so many moments between us I’d caught myself from reaching out to touch her, where I’d been seconds from saying “fuck it” and just kissing the hell out of her.
I could make it so good, she’d need a second night, and a third and a fourth …
My hands tightened around the steering wheel as heat thrummed through me.
Aye, I think my mind had already been made up from the moment Eredine Willows asked me for one night only.
15
EREDINE
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” I muttered to myself for the millionth time as I lowered my e-reader and glared out my living room window. It was after six, and between the lunch I’d forced down with Arran and the butterflies fluttering in my stomach, the thought of preparing dinner nauseated me. I’d tried to read the latest Fern Michaels novel, but the conversation with Arran kept going around and around in my head. Obsessively.
I couldn’t believe I’d walked into the restaurant and blurted that to him.
What had I been thinking?
You were thinking you were sick of people seeing you a certain way. Tired of your monotonous life, you embraced impulsivity.
“And look where that got you,” I said, feeling the telltale sting in my nose warning of tears.
What if I’d chased Arran away? There had been something off about his reaction. Like … he was disappointed in me for asking.
“What have I done?” I groaned and threw my head back on the couch. I had to think of a way to fix it. Maybe call him and ask if I could take it back? But could you take something like that back?
My phone vibrating on the coffee table drew my head back up, and I reached over, my heart leaping toward my throat when I saw it was Arran.