“Are… are you sure?” I stammered. “You seemed like you wanted to kiss me just now…”
“Maybe it’s because I’m drunk,” he said flatly. “I drank all those beers for you, remember?”
His eyes bore into me, and for a moment I thought he was going to change his mind. I wanted Hunter to kiss me. I wanted it desperately, with every fiber of my being. Every moment he stood therewithoutkissing me was an eternity.
Then he tore his gaze away from me and went through the doorway to his room, closing the door behind him.
9
Hunter
I didn’t know what had come over me tonight.
Erica and I were having fun at the party together. Laughing and high-fiving and playing beer pong. Yet when Derek stole her over to his team for the next game, jealousy burned deep in my gut.
I didn’t want anyone to have fun with her. I wanted her all to myself.
And when I came back from the kitchen with fresh beers to find Derek sneering at her, and tears in her eyes? I saw red. My brain shut off. I was a swirling mass of deep, instinctual anger.
Erica was in trouble, and I had to protect her.
I want to do more than just protect her.
I almost kissed her there in the bathroom we shared. God help me, I wanted to take her in my arms and crush my lips against hers. To give her the first kiss she deserved, and to give in to the temptation that had been building in the months since I had moved in.
Somehow I managed to extract myself from that situation. I stood in my room, holding my breath and listening to Erica in the bathroom. The crumple of paper as she threw away the Band-Aid cover, and then the sound of teeth being brushed. Finally the light went off.
I went into the bathroom and immediately turned on the shower. Erica wore a lavender-scented deodorant, and the smell hung in the air like perfume. I breathed deeply of it and imagined all the things I wanted to do to Erica. Ripping her top over her head and letting her breasts fill the palms of my hands, feeling the supple skin beneath my fingers. Pulling her head back so I could suck on her neck, moving my lips lower until I found one of her hard nipples.
When I got into the shower, I turned the water temperature down to cold and let the frigid water sluice over my body. But as soon as I changed the temperature back to hot, the erotic thoughts returned. My cock was instantly hard as I imagined Erica in her room next door, shimmying out of her clothes and changing into pajamas, then sliding under her covers.
Was she thinking about me right now?
I knew Erica had a crush on me. She always had, but it had only escalated when I moved in with the Porters. If I knocked on her bedroom door, she would let me in. If I kissed her, she would kiss me back. If I slid my hand down the front of her panties and touched her wet heat, she would moan into my ear and beg me for more.
I stroked myself in the shower while imagining her nude body beneath mine. I barely lasted thirty seconds while thinking of Erica before my cock pulsed in my grip, shooting my load all over the shower tiles. I bit down on my lip to keep myself from groaning as I imagined Erica’s heart-shaped face while I shook and shivered with release.
It was tough for a man, knowing he could have a woman he desiredright then, and having to hold back. But as I cleaned up the mess in the shower and then toweled myself off, I knew I couldn’t touch Erica. She was off limits. She was my best friend’s sister. If I did anything with her, it would ruin our friendship.
But it went beyond my loyalty to Brad. The Porters had taken me into their home. In my greatest time of need, they invited me into their family with open arms. I couldn’t repay their hospitality by messing around with their daughter.
It didn’t matter that I was moving out soon. If I got my own apartment and then Erica and I started seeing each other, the Porters would assume we had started things while I was living under their roof. It would be a terrible betrayal of their trust.
So, yeah. Erica was off limits in so many different ways that she might as well have been Chernobyl. She was radio-fucking-active.
But of course, that only made me want her more.
What’s wrong with me?
I needed to find a way to get her out of my head. To put up a barrier to help me move past her. It was the only way to make sure I didn’t do something both of us would regret.
I thumbed through the contact list on my phone and found the name I was looking for.
“Hey, I hope I’m not calling you too late,” I said when she picked up. “You want to hang out tomorrow? I’ve been thinking a lot aboutus.”
10
Erica