The bed dipped next to him, and he knew she was sitting there, but he waited. Soft lips brushed his collarbone, and he sighed, letting the tension out of his shoulders.
“This is totally weird, right?” Brynn asked, but she didn’t wait for him to answer. She just kept kissing his skin, and he thanked himself for not throwing on his shirt. “I mean, I never would have thought I’d be in Amarillo, Texas, doing what we just did…” She was kissing across his chest now, her lips and tongue pausing to pay special attention to a nipple that never saw it coming. Jamie groaned and buried a hand in her wet hair. “And wanting to do it again.”
Jamie’s eyes flew open.
“Again?”
Brynn lifted her head, her eyes meeting his. She bit her lip, smiled, and raised her brows.
“We have to be downstairs in, like, twenty minutes.”
She pressed a firm palm against his zipper. “Are you saying you don’t want to?”
Jamie glanced at her hand. “I think it’s pretty obvious I want to. But B, I haven’t even showered yet.” He couldn’t believe he was arguing the point, but these people were giving them a free room for a lie they weren’t correcting.
She stood then and untied her robe, letting it fall to the floor. Well, then. If this was how she wanted to play, he could get used to these rules.
He got up from the bed, cupped her cheeks in his hands, and teased her with a sweet kiss. Then he skimmed down the length of her body, lowering to his knees as he did.
Her breath hitched. “I was going to say we could kill two birds with one stone if you let me shower with you.”
Jamie wrapped his hands around her thighs and looked up at her startled expression.
“Oh, I’m going to let you do all sorts of things to me in the shower, but first…”
He spun her so her back was to the bed, hoping she wouldn’t be able to stand much longer. When he leaned forward and swirled his tongue around her clit, he felt her knees buckle as she fell to the mattress. Mission accomplished.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to taste you?” he asked before his tongue plunged deep in her folds, and she writhed against him.
“Oh my God. Jamie.”
Oh my God was right. In some way he knew no other woman would measure up to what he tried not to want with her. But now that it was a reality, forget it. He was a ruined man, and he would go down in one hell of a blaze of glory as long as it was Brynn setting the fire.
And yeah, they were going to be late for dinner.
…
Thankfully, Texas time worked much differently than Chicago time. Brynn and Jamie made it to the dining room at twenty after seven, and no one was even sitting yet. As soon as he saw him, Frank handed Jamie a bottle of Shiner White Wing, and Jamie beamed at the man.
“You just made a friend for life,” Brynn said, laying a hand on Jamie’s chest. “My guy here is a brewer.”
Frank immediately stole Jamie away to talk beer, admitting to dabbling in home brewing himself, and Brynn had to collect herself after the whirlwind that took her from kissing her best friend, to the last couple hours in the Garden Cottage, to the words my guy falling from her lips like it was the most natural thing to say.
“You got the look, honey.”
Dora was next to her now, and Brynn realized she hadn’t taken her eyes off Jamie as he walked away with Frank. She turned to the woman next to her.
“What look?” Brynn asked. Maybe Dora could explain to her what she was feeling and how to take in this surge of emotion that was ten years in the making.
“Like you believe he’d lasso the moon for you if you asked him to.”
That was the thing. Even before today, she kinda believed he would.
“I probably wouldn’t even have to ask,” she said, a lump rising in her throat. If a stupid, lucky bouquet hadn’t brought them to this house, to strangers insisting that they kiss, would Jamie have done it otherwise? Would she?
As the realization of her feelings settled in, so had something else—something that had wrestled at the back of her thoughts, masked by tequila, adrenaline, lust, and—well—love.
It was guilt. Jamie was in a relationship. Oh my God, she thought. I’m the other woman.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she excused herself to the hallway to check who it was. Holly. But when she unlocked her screen she saw she had more than one text waiting. Holly was just checking in, but the one before had come from Spencer. She looked at the time of the text and knew that he’d sent it while she was in the shower. Had Jamie heard the notification?
Spencer: If you make it by Friday, our room is booked at the Sunset Tower, close to the bookstore where we’re doing the launch. If you don’t get in until Saturday, I’d love you to stay at my place. Looking forward to reconnecting, Brynn.
“Trying to ditch me already?”
She jumped at the sound of his voice as her phone dropped to the floor. Jamie bent to grab it, but, being lower to the ground already, she beat him. Thank God.