“Maybe?” Mateo lifts his face to look me in the eye. He squints down at me, completely affronted.
“I dunno… I could probably be inspired—”
A loud knocking comes from my front door. Mateo rolls off me and is at the window before I can ask him to ignore it. Not that he would. I should know better than to even think it, but I really was feeling inspired and now I’m just horny and alone while my boyfriend peeks out the blinds like we’re under siege.
“Fuck,” he mutters. “Have you seen my pants?”
“Who is it?” Sitting up, I look around the room, pointing to the abandoned and forgotten sweatpants that lay balled up in the corner.
“Your brothers.” Mateo winces at me, and I scrunch my nose up in reply. Lukas and their general friendship is the one thing we haven’t talked about over the last few days. In fact, we both kind of avoided it like the plague. Because when it comes to sexy times, nothing is quite as effective at dampening the mood as talking about your brother. Especially in the context of how said brother might feel when he realizes his best friend is sticking it to his little sister and sticking hergood.
“Both of them?”
Mateo nods, pulling the waistband of his pants up and tying the drawstring aggressively. I can’t tell if he’s more anxious about confronting my brother or just pissed off that we got interrupted.
Asher, I’m not as worried about. He’s a grumpy fart, yes. But he was so much older than us that he never got as close to Mateo as Lukas did.
Mateo and Lukas though… the two of them were thick as thieves, though Mateo seemed to avoid getting in trouble the way Lukas did.
The knock turns into pounding and Mateo swears under his breath, wrenching a t-shirt over his head, only to realize it’s one of mine. It only comes halfway down his abs and it’s so tight around his arms I can hear stitches pop as he tries to fight his way back out of it.
I’m dying; laughing so hard at the sight of him struggling his big muscly frame out of my shirt that I nearly fall out of bed. My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I see Parker’s name pop up.
“What’s up, girl?” I ask through wheezing breaths.
“I’m in the car,” she sighs in a long suffering manner. “Asher and Lukas got it into their heads that we all need to go out for drinks. They think Mateo is avoiding them.”
“No avoidance here,” I laugh. “Just a…”
Hm… how do I put the last few days delicately?
“A sex-cation?” Parker provides helpfully. I can hear the wide smile in her voice and I gesture at the still struggling Mateo to come over so I can help him with the shirt, but he doesn’t see me. He’s just about in a blind rage battle with the offending garment.
“Pretty much.”
Mateo snaps, reaching back and ripping the shirt right off his back. “Oh, mama,” I whisper. That was sexy as fuck. “Parker, I gotta go.”
“Don’t even think about it! I heard that ripping and whatever it was, put on a new pair. You two are going out with us, so I don’t have to hear Lukas moping like a teenage girl over the state of his relationship with his bestie. I’m nauseous, and tired, and I need that attention back on me. Do you hear me?”
“Fine,” I laugh. “Call the boys off. I’ll get dressed and we’ll meet you there.”
22
Mateo
I’m standing in the middle of Julia’s bedroom, holding the tatters of her tiny shirt in my hands and feeling a bit like a cartoon ogre as she laughs on the phone at something Parker is saying.
“Call the boys off. I’ll get dressed and we’ll meet you there.”
She hangs up and tosses the phone aside. “Well, lover boy, it looks like we’re going out.”
“Out where?” I ask, deeply confused. Julia walks toward me gloriously naked and I groan. “I had really specific plans for you, Jules, and none of them involved getting dressed.”
She laughs as she tries to pass by. Sticking my arm out, I catch her around the waist and pull her back against my chest. Dipping my mouth to her bare shoulder, I trail teasing nibbles along the stretch of sensitive skin. She gives in for just a second, her body relaxing against me before she tenses up and pushes my arm away.
“No… I’m not falling for it. I promised Parker we’d make an appearance. Lukas is being all mopey because he thinks you’re avoiding him.” She stomps into the closet, pulling a bra and matching panties from a drawer.
“Well, that’s stupid.”