“I think I should wash myself or we’ll never get out of here.”
She smiles and reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss me.
“Spoilsport.” She rinses the shampoo out of her hair and climbs out of the shower, leaving me to wash up. “Hey, what was it you wanted to talk about?” she asks from the other side of the shower curtain.
“Erm, I just wanted to check you were okay, after earlier.”
“Earlier?” she asks, poking her head around the shower curtain.
“Yeah, after what happened by the river. You just seemed a little quiet.”
She stares at me and I wonder if I’ve read her wrong.
“I’m good, Jack. What happened at the river was good.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes, and that one smile tells me I didn’t read her wrong. I don’t push it though; she clearly doesn’t want to talk. It’s obviously her way of dealing with this, and that’s fine. For me this is way more than friends with benefits, and the selfish side of me wants her to feel the same. I’ve just no idea what this means for my stay at the ranch.
Aria
Iraise my hand in a wave as I walk backwards and away from the ranch house. Quinn has just arrived with Brody, and Josh and Mason arrived a few minutes before. Jack kissed me on the porch like I was the air he needed to breathe, and I swear if everyone hadn’t turned up, we’d be having sex again. My body had never come alive as much as it does when I’m around him. There’s no way I can deny the sexual attraction between us. Maybe that’s all this is, and I’m confusing lust for something else? That must be it. I haven’t known him long enough to feel anything more. Right?
Shaking away my crazy thoughts, I walk through the stables on the way to Savannah’s to check on the horses. Seeing they’re all settled for the night, I take my time walking across the ranch. It’s a beautiful night, and I’m looking forward to some girly fun with Savannah and Quinn.
When I reach Savannah’s house, she pulls me into a hug before leading me into the kitchen and handing me a Sex on the Beach cocktail. I smile to myself, thinking I was right about ending up with a hangover tomorrow. “Mmm, this is good,” I tell her as I take a sip of the yellowy orange drink.
“It’s my favorite. I tried a mojito last week, but I think I added too much rum.” She pulls a face and I laugh. “Still drank it though!”
“Why am I not surprised,” I say with a giggle.
“Let’s take these outside.” She raises her glass in the air and I nod, following her through the bi-folding doors that lead to the decked area in the backyard. Flopping down on the sofa, she puts her feet up on the small glass table. “Quinn is bringing pizza back with her from Papa Murphy’s.”
“Yum! I love that place,” I say, sitting next to her.
“Me too.” She takes a mouthful of her drink, her eyes sliding to me. “So, come on, then, spill. What’s going on with you and Jack?”
“That didn’t take long,” I say with a sigh as I place my drink on the table. “I think I’m getting in way over my head, Sav.”
She frowns and turns to me. “What do you mean?”
“We’re supposed to be doing this friends-with-benefits thing—”
“Jack suggested that?” she interrupts, surprise evident in her tone.
“No, I suggested it.”
She pulls a face and shakes her head. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“Self-preservation,” I say quietly. “If I let him in, what do I do when he goes home?”
“Seems to me you’ve already let him in.”
Sighing, I drop my head back on the sofa. “Why did I have to fall for someone I can’t have?” It’s a question, but not one I expect an answer to.
“But youcanhave him, Aria. You’ve just got to have a little faith that things will work out how they should.”
“I know exactly how this ends. I fall in love, he leaves, and I end up alone and heartbroken.”
“You don’t know that’s going to happen. What if he decides to stay?”
I groan. “You sound like Lib.”