Lo
We settle into the small living room in our Airbnb. The remnants of our takeout dinner litter the coffee table along with several empty bottles of beer. I come back from the kitchen with a bowl of freshly popped corn and two new beers for me and Gabe. I hand him one. A bolt of electricity jolts through me when his fingers brush mine and I almost drop the popcorn in my hands. Gabe takes that from me too and I sit beside him on the small love seat. Our thighs touch, the warmth of his seeping through my jeans.
“How come you guys get the popcorn?” Tommy complains, glancing up from his phone. Logan and Santa glance up from the floor, and I dart my gaze to Mace. He’s sprawled over the La-Z-Boy, his glare penetrating. His eyes dip lower, to all the places where Gabe and I are touching—shoulders, arms, hips, thighs. He catalogs them all and turns away, his lip sneering in disgust. I frown. What the hell is his problem? I mean, I know the guys said he had a hardcore boner for me, but I’ve honestly never seen it. Other than that first kiss when we met at Gabe’s opening, Mace has never even tried to hit on me. He’s my friend. Or, at least, I thought he was. Besides, it’s not like we’re doing anything wrong here. Earlier today when Gabe kissed me outside the tattoo exhibition? Sure. But I know for a fact that none of the boys saw, because if they had, Gabe and I would never live it down.
“We get the popcorn, because I made it. I specifically remember asking at the store if anyone wanted popcorn, and you all said no.”
“Why are we watching this again?” Logan says.
“Because Lo is seriously worried about our low standing pop culture influences,” Tommy deadpans.
I roll my eyes and grab the remote, turning it up to tune them out. “We’re watching because it’s a rite of passage that apparently all of you skipped.”
“Not me,” Santa says. “I saw it at the theater.”
“I didn’t know they had moving pictures in the Mesozoic Era?” Logan chuckles and Tommy snorts and chokes on his beer.
“They did, but they also taught us how to romance a woman back then and spend a little less time in front of the mirror.”
I offer my hand to Bad Santa for a high five. “Well, at least one of my friends has taste.”
Gabe grabs a piece of popcorn and tosses it at me. It lands in my cleavage, and I tilt my head and raise a brow in question. Gabe’s smirk sends a shiver through me, and while everyone is looking, he plunges into my cleavage, pulls out the piece of popcorn in question, and tosses it into his mouth with a lascivious moan. My mouth falls open and he chucks my chin before turning back to the movie. Everyone else just ignores the behavior, as if it’s normal for us to do shit like this. Well, everyone except Mace, who throws back the rest of his beer and exits the living room, via the door to the balcony. Frigid air blasts through the room before he closes the door. I shiver, my lip jutting out in a pout as I rub my arms to ward away the cold.
Why is he being such a dick about this?
Gabe pulls a throw from the back of the couch, and I lift the popcorn so he can spread the blanket over us. Then he slides his arms around my shoulder and draws me close, and all thoughts of Mace melt away. Gabe’s hand slips under the blanket, his palm slowly smoothing up and down my thigh. I know the kind of man he is. Yeah, he kissed me earlier, but I also know he won’t take things further until he’s broken it off with Annie.
I both love and resent him for that, even though it’s the right thing to do. I close my eyes and lay my head against the back of the couch, reveling in the warmth of his hand as he traces lazy patterns up my thigh and then squeezes. I never knew a hand on my leg could be so damn erotic, but here we are—me wet and practically panting, silently begging for him to fill me, to fuck me.
Outside, an engine roars up the drive.One of the boys must have ordered more pizza.Little piggies. Like the crap we’d been eating all weekend wasn’t enough. Mace comes inside, shoots another glare our way and stalks through the living room to the front door, pulling it wide.
“Dude! It’s fucking freezing,” Tommy says, finally looking up from his cell. He’s wearing only a T-shirt and jeans, despite how the rest of us are rugged up as if it might snow.
“Hey, Mace,” a feminine voice calls.
My whole body goes ramrod straight.Fuck.
Gabe’s hand jerks away from my knee.
“Sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so sorry.”
He moves, attempting to put space between us, but there’s no space to be had on the tiny love seat.
“Thanks,” Annie says, stomping her feet on the mat. “It’s freezing out there. Where’s Gabe?”
Before Gabe can even stand to his full height, Annie is in the living room, glaring at us in much the same way as Mace had. I dart my gaze toward him, and the faintest smile creeps across his face before he flops back down in his seat to watch the shitshow.
“Hey,” Gabe says, crossing the room and leaning in to kiss her cheek. She stiffens and stares around his shoulders at me.
“Hey yourself. You two sure looked cozy.”
“Annie.”
“No. I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Lo’s been trying to steal you away from me since the moment you met.”
“Annie ...” Gabe runs his hand through his hair in frustration. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same. She was practically sitting on top of you when I came in just now. Here I thought I’d surprise you because I got off work early. Didn’t know I’d be walking in on you two practically fucking.”