“Oh, right.” Her gaze turns to the study door. “I’m not sure I can stop myself from designing for eight weeks.”
“We’ll work out a schedule for that as well,” I promise, though I have no idea how we’re going to manage that. Still, I get her need to create. “I really should leave, though, or I’ll be late.”
“Okay. What do you want for dinner?” She stretches her hands high over her heads. I can’t help but imagine the pointy peaks of her nipples grazing against the fabric. A surge of heat shoots straight down, forcing me to turn around and has me cursing that I’m not in hard denim rather than these slacks that can’t hide the hailing pole starting to tent them.
You can barely stand eight hours without getting hard for her. How the fuck will you get through eight weeks?
“Whatever you want. Just not pasta.”
“What’s wrong with pasta?”
Finally managing to get the semi under control, I turn to Lauren with a shrug. “Nothing, except I’m still traumatized from when Em was pregnant, and that’s the only thing she would eat. Creamy pasta anything.”
Lauren’s brows draw together. “Wasn’t that three years ago?”
“Yes, and I am talking four months of morning, afternoon, evening, and night, nothing but pasta.” I shudder at the memory; the first couple of days were actually kind of fun, but that was the height of the experience.
“But why did you have to eat it as well?”
Fair question. “Uh, I may or may not have lost a bet against Maddie.” I scratch the back of my head. “And that is all I’m going to say on the subject.”
“Is that so?” A wicked grin spreads over Lauren’s face, and I admit, I’m kind of scared. “I bet I can get it out of you.” She jumps off the stool and stalks toward me, hands reaching out and fingers waggling. “I can be pretty convincing.
I walk back, hitting the fridge within three short strides, lifting my arms for protection. “I’ll never talk! You can’t make me!”
“You sure of that, Mikey?” And with those words, she lunges forward, fingers digging into my ribs as I writhe and laugh myself to tears. “Spill!”
“Never!”
I try to swat her away, duck and dive, turn and squirm. But fuck, this girl is fast, and I can’t seem to escape. I’m coughing through laughter at this point, begging her to stop.
“Come on, Mikey, you know you want to. Just give in, and it’ll all be over.” Her gleeful laughter fills me with warmth. I don’t want to stop, but I can barely breathe, and I’m pushing the time limit on being late for my meeting. So I grab her wrists and twirl her into the fridge with her hands restrained over her head, andof course,I’m pressing into her soft body that smells of jasmine.
“You lose,” I try to tease in a voice croaky from laughter, but the way she’s gazing up at me with a twinkle in her eyes? Yeah, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t feel like she got the short end of the stick. In fact, if I don’t move, she’s about five seconds away from feeling the long, hard end of a stick.
“Hmmm.” Jesus fuck, that hum paired with the way her eyes flick to my lips and back up to lock on mine. How am I supposed to keep thinking after that? “Are you sure about that?”
“Lore…” I’m trying to warn her off but keep forgetting what I’m supposed to be alerting against every time our gazes connect, and instead of cautioning, my voice is a low and husky invite.
“I know.” Her eyes drop, the spell is broken, and I release her wrists, taking a hurried step back. Lauren’s arms wrap around her middle, and she starts retracting into her shell, taking all the light out of the room with her, so I do the only thing I can think of to make her feel better.
“She got a girl’s phone number before I did. Maddie.” Lauren’s face lifts, eyebrows arched in surprise. “We had a stupid bet who could get this girl’s number faster, and she won. It was dumb, really. I thought we were both going for the seduction but failed to establish rules. Maddie went for the friendship angle. They’re still close friends.”
“That’s…” Lauren blinks at me twice, then bursts into laughter, shaking her head before rubbing her hands over her face, letting them drop to her sides with a sigh. “It’s never boring with you, is it?”
I grin, mainly happy my plan worked, and the air around us is lighter again. “Never.”
“See, that right there, all that inflated ego is why you lost the bet before you even made it.” She shakes her head with a cryptic smile. “Have a good day, Mikey. And good luck with Joanna.”
“You too, Lore. Enjoy your shopping spree.”
My smile falters the second the door closes behind me. Because whatever that was with Lauren just now, it wasn’t just physical. There was a connection, something intimate that passed between us.
A place I can’t afford to go to, and not just for Lauren’s sake, which means I have to get a grip on myself now or move out.
* * *
Lauren