“After you,” I said, opening the door and locking up behind her.
Holding her door open in the truck as well, helping her get in, started to feel more like the ritual of a date. I wasn’t going to complain. Any time I got to steal away with Lauren was good, and I could let loose and say what I wanted to say and touch her. The desire to touch her skin was overwhelming.
As I climbed in, she leaned over and kissed my cheek. I grinned and turned into the kiss. As much as I wanted to sit there and make out with her, I broke the embrace and turned the engine of the truck on.
“You have no idea how much I wanted to do that when you came down with my phone,” I said. “I almost did.”
“You have no idea how much I wanted you to do that,” she said. “I almost wish you had.”
I laughed, and she joined me. I reached out for her hand, and she took it, letting it fall on her lap. As I pulled onto the main road, I let go so I could turn and then returned my hand to her thigh. She placed her hand on top of mine, and I reveled in the feeling of her soft skin under my fingertips. I rubbed slowly up and down, getting dangerously close to her core before sliding back down again. Her breath hitched as I brushed her panties while I turned into the restaurant and parked beside Deacon’s truck.
“We should get inside,” I said, letting the side of my finger linger there, lightly touching the silky panties.
“Bad boy,” she said, grinning as she chided me.
“Come on,” I said, letting her go and sliding out of my door. When I opened hers, I reached for her hand instinctively but then pulled it away. The doors of the restaurant were all windows. The last thing I needed anyone seeing was us holding hands. Or me grabbing her ass as she came out of the truck.
Lunch seemed to go by excruciatingly slowly as Deacon and Everett took their time eating and drinking. My theory about them turned out correct as they got a few plates of the endless wings down and started to look so full they could barely move. When they finally did, it was to the exit, heading back to the cabin they split to sleep off the big meal. It did leave the two of us alone, though, and as soon as they were out of the parking lot, their truck disappearing over the horizon of the lonely road heading out to the mountain, I turned to Lauren.
“I thought they’d never leave,” she said.
We both leaned in at the same time, our lips crushing into one another and our tongues exploring the other. We only broke our kiss when the waiter returned to the table, picking up the check.
“This is getting harder than I thought it would,” I said.
“I agree,” she said.
If it was this hard for both of us, what was the point of keeping it hidden? Was it because I didn’t want Deacon and Everett giving me shit over it?
Wiping away the worries, I smiled at Lauren again, and she returned the gesture, sipping out of her glass of soda through the straw.
It was one of the cutest things I had ever seen. And somehow, also, one of the sexiest.
18
LAUREN
Another week passed, and Carter and I had gotten into the habit of getting to the office a little bit earlier so we could spend some extra time together first thing in the morning, then getting together at his house in the evenings. I didn’t spend the night or ride with him to or from work. We agreed that was pushing our luck a bit. It was already almost impossible not to be affectionate with each other throughout the day. Everyone would notice if we started riding around together and clearly spending time together outside of work.
Every day I thought more about wanting to tell everyone about Carter and me. As he and I got closer and our relationship seemed to get more serious, it felt weirder not to include the other people in our lives. I understood why we made the decision when we first started seeing each other.
It was still an experiment in a lot of ways at that point. Our attraction to each other was obvious, but that didn’t necessarily mean things were going to work out. Just because there was chemistry between us didn’t automatically mean we would be compatible in a relationship. It was entirely possible we were just better as flirty friends, and if that was the case, it would just be awkward to try to go back to that with everyone around us watching.
I’d seen enough sitcoms and bad chick flicks to know how it worked. When two people within a group of friends even considered they might be something more, all the other friends got involved. Suddenly, there was investment from all sides. People gave advice that wasn’t wanted, asked questions that really weren’t wanted, and put far too much of their own stake into what happened in the relationship. If it fizzled out, everyone took it personally, and it could turn uncomfortable and nasty fast.