Knock, knock, knock. “Lib?”
Through the haze of her lust-induced subconscious, Libitz started, breaking off their kiss and turning her head to look at the bedroom door with panic.
“Lib? It’s Kate. Are you okay?”
“Fuck!” she hissed, unhanding Jean-Christian’s cock and dragging her hands to his chest, pushing against the wall of muscle futilely.
“Uh…KK?” she squeaked.
“I was worried about you. Can I come in?”
“Uhhh…” Jerking her glance up, her eyes slammed into Jean-Christian’s. “Gimme a sec, Kate?”
“Can I bring you anything, Lib? Aloe maybe? For the sunburn?”
“Yeah, uhhh…”
“Cold water,” suggested Jean-Christian in a strained whisper.
“Maybe some cold water?” Libitz called. “And an aspirin?”
“Of course!” said Kate. “I’ll be right back!”
Libitz looked back at Jean-Christian. “Get in the closet!”
He furrowed his brows at her. “What?”
“You have to hide!” she whisper-yelled, pushing at his chest.
“That’s ridiculous. We’re all adults. Why don’t we just tell her?”
“Tell her what?” demanded Libitz. “We don’t even know what this is!”
“Well, we could just say…”
“No! Get in the closet!”
She punched at his chest until he rolled off of her with a long-suffering groan. “This sucks.”
“Get. In. The. Closet,” she hissed, sitting up and grabbing her bra and shirt off the floor. “And don’t come out until we’re long gone!”
“We can be together if we want, Lib.”
“We’re not ‘together,’ Jean-Christian. Not yet anyway. When and if we ever are together, we’ll figure out the right way to tell her,” insisted Libitz. “But not like this.”
She threw her shirt over her head and turned to find him sitting on the edge of the bed, hair mussed, muscular chest sculpted and beautiful, cock straining against his khaki shorts. Taking pity on him, she stepped between his legs and smiled down at him, bending to kiss his lips. “Please hide.”
He sighed with annoyance, but his eyes were soft as he gazed up at her, placing his hands on her hips to draw her a little closer. “Let me drive you home tomorrow.”
“Yes,” she said, reaching to cup his cheek.
“Let me buy you dinner.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Come to the Met with me on Tuesday.”
“Yes,” she said again, bending to kiss his forehead and sweep an errant lock of hair back into the fold.
“I’m crazy about you, Libitz,” he murmured, then flinched as though the words were a mistake, his eyes wide and worried.
She inhaled sharply, biting her bottom lip as she stared at him. Caressing his cheek before dropping her hand, she smiled and said sweetly, “Then get in the closet for me.”
He smiled at her as though relieved and stood up. She reached down for his shirt and handed it to him, gesturing to the closet with one hand and straightening the bed once he was securely inside.
“Lib? I couldn’t find aspirin. Just Motrin. Can I come in?”
Libitz grabbed a cardigan sweater from on top of the dresser and opened the door to find Kate in the hallway.
“Thanks, KK.”
Kate handed her the vial of tablets and glass of water, then reached out to touch her friend’s very flushed cheeks. “You are warm, Lib. No more sun for you today, okay?”
“You got it.”
With a last longing glance at the closet, Libitz closed the bedroom door behind them and walked back to the party with her friend.
Chapter 10
Jean-Christian pulled into the driveway at Toujours at one o’clock on Monday afternoon, bounding up the front steps in the rain to ring the doorbell of his brother’s house.
After exiting the fucking closet yesterday afternoon, he’d rubbed one out in the guest bathroom before returning to the BBQ, and he avoided Libitz for the rest of the night, uncertain he’d be able to keep from reaching for her if they found themselves together. It made for a frustrating and fairly miserable BBQ, half-listening to conversations as he zoned out, his eyes on a constant search for her, happy yet simultaneously jealous when he found her talking to someone else. The only voice he was interested in hearing was hers, and it sucked that she was so close and yet so off limits.