“I want to be your friend,” Gabe says, his fingers gripping my upper arm, his thumb smoothing over my skin in a gentle caress. I want to scream at him to stop touching me.
I want to beg him to never let me go.
“I-I want to be your friend too.” I lift my head, meet his gaze. He’s not looking at me like he’s my friend. He’s staring at me like a guy whose hot for me would, his gaze still on my lips, his fingers gentling on my arm as he oh, so slowly draws me closer to him. Like maybe I won’t realize what he’s doing.
I do. I so do. But I’m not stopping him.
I’m not protesting.
The exercise pretense is already wearing thin. Sydney isn’t stupid. She saw right through my motives and used them to her advantage. I like that she wants to hang out with me and appreciated even more that she said so. Yeah, she’s my pain in the ass little sister but I like the kid. I like talking to her, spending time with her. It’s me and her against those two people who call themselves our parents. I need Syd. She’s my partner in crime.
But bonding with my sister is a bonus. What I’m really trying to do is spend more time with Lucy. Watching her run and jump and do sit-ups and push-ups and all sorts of exercises that puts her body into weird positions that I can appreciate like a fucking pervert. Checking out her perfect tits and ass, hoping like hell she doesn’t have me figured out. That she thinks I’m helping her and Sydney out of the generosity of my heart.
More like the generosity of my dick. Despite telling myself it’s wrong, I can’t keep my distance from Lucy. I’m dying to have her. Anywhere, anyhow.
I’m acting too friendly when I shouldn’t. Touching her. Pulling her closer. Staring at her perfect, luscious mouth. God, that mouth. It’s a little fiery when it wants to be. A little sassy. Funny. Sweet. Sexy.
She parts her lips, her tongue darting out for a quick lick and Christ, that makes me crazy. My knuckles brush against her chest, coming into full contact with that glorious rack and I want to rip her T-shirt off and see exactly what she’s hiding.
I mean, I do have a clue. I’ve seen her in the bikini often enough. But I want more. I want to see bare skin. As in, I want to see a naked Lucy.
If she knew I was thinking like this she’d probably slap my face.
“We’re getting too caught up in all this.” She withdraws from me and I feel the loss like a stab in the heart. My hand falls away from her arm as she steps back, putting distance between us. Too much distance but I don’t say a word, don’t protest because it’s not my place.
And I really need to remember my place.
“Caught up in what?” I frown, my fingers still tingling from where they made contact with her flesh.
Lucy takes another step back away from me, as if she really needs the distance. “Look, you made it very clear how you felt about me a few days ago, when you walked right out of—my house and never looked back.”
The last thing I want to remember was how I reacted that night. Talk about a complete idiot. “I panicked,” I say, hoping she’ll believe me.
The skeptical look she shoots my way tells me otherwise.
“You panicked.” Her voice is flat, almost deadpan. “Gabe, you never said another word. Just kept walking like I told you I had a raging case of genital warts. I didn’t know what to do, how to react. You—you freaked me out.”
The words fall out of me before I can stop myself. “I freaked you out? You’re the one who told me you were a virgin. Then you offer yourself up like some sort of sexual plaything. But with only one rule—no actual intercourse.” As if I could stop myself from taking it all the way with Lucy. I don’t think it would be possible. And I don’t want to test myself.
I know for a fact I’d so break that rule.
“I didn’t mean to…blurt it out like that. I surprised you, but you surprised me too.” When I snort she sends me a look. “It’s true, whether you believe me or not. I swear ever since I’ve come here everything’s been so weird. My entire life has turned upside down in a matter of weeks and I can’t seem to get it back on track.”
“Doesn’t help that your dad isn’t here, I bet.” She sends me a weird look but I press on. “I assume you two are close? You’re a total daddy’s girl?”
“Um…”
“And not having him here is extra hard since you’d love some advice,” I continue. I’m totally speculating, something I’m rather good at.
“We’re not that close,” she says, surprising me. “I don’t see him that often. He lives here, I live with my mom, and though we’re not too far apart when it comes to miles, he never seems to make time to see me. He’s usually too busy uh, working and stuff. Going on vacations with his new flavor of the month.”
“Ah.” I nod. I know plenty of dads like that. I sometimes wonder if my dad wishes he were like that. “That sucks.”
“It’s no biggie.” She waves a hand, dismissing any mention of her father with a flick of her fingers.
Wish I could dismiss my family as easy as that.
Taking a deep breath, I decide to go for it. “Listen, Luce. I need to apologize for how I reacted that night. I shouldn’t have walked out on you. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”
She seems startled by my apology. “It’s okay. Really.”
“It wasn’t okay, but I hope you can forgive me.”