“Not much. Doing the whole married life. Traveling while I can for my job, dragging the husband with me when he’s around.”
“Gwen’s a freelance visual merchandiser. She travels to various places to help stores look amazing.”
“You always did love clothes. I’m not surprised by that.”
“What can I say? I’m a hot commodity.” Gwen shrugged.
“How did you and Ana stay in touch for so long?”
“Facebook,” Gwen answered.
“What?” Kevin looked at me accusingly. “When the hell did you get Facebook?”
“Oh, my god,” Gwen threw her hands up. “It took me years to convince her to make my life easier and just get Facebook so I could stalk her life. Before we did a lot of emails and messages. She was such a pain in the ass.”
“Well, I’ll have to look her up now.” Kevin smirked at me. “That way I can stalk her too.”
I rolled my eyes. “These are the reasons I didn’t have Facebook.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t use it much, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“As long as she’ll send me nudies every once in a while through Messenger, I’m good.”
“Gross, Kev.” I reached over and slapped his chest, but he caught my hand and held it.
“Come on, Ana. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours. Look, we can start now.” He moved his free hand below the table, while Gwen and I covered our eyes, squealing. “Well, that’ll dent a guy’s ego.”
We both fell apart laughing. Once Gwen got herself together she gave Kevin and I a more serious look. “Are you sure you guys aren’t together?”
“Yeah. We actually just met up again at the funeral. It’s been a few years since we’d talked,” I said.
“Hmmm. I kind of always thought you would be together.” She pointed her finger at me. “I was going to be mad if you hadn’t told me the dirty deets.”
“Yeah,” Kevin started, stretching and rubbing his chest. “She keeps trying, but I have to keep turning her down.”
Gwen had just taken a drink when he spoke and proceeded to spit it out on a choked laugh. I couldn’t help but join in too.
“What?” Kevin asked.
“I have a feeling it’s the other way around. My girl Ana is too good for you.”
Kevin looked at me and licked his lips in a way that heated me from the inside out. Thankfully Gwen had turned to look at a text and couldn’t see the blush spreading on my cheeks.
“That she is,” Kevin agreed. “Way too good for me.”
Later that night we got home and settled into a routine we’d formed over past the week. Kevin let me get ready in the bathroom first and then he followed, changing into his pajamas, coming out presentable. Except this time, he came strolling out of the bathroom in nothing but his boxer briefs, and I almost swallowed my tongue as I skidded to a halt on his hardwood floors.
“What?” he asked, eyebrow cocked.
“Um, uh . . . nothing,” I stuttered like an idiot. Was my mouth closed? Was I drooling? God, his abs were so hard. And if I looked hard enough, I could’ve seen the outline of the head of his dick through the black cotton clinging to it.
“Like what you see, Ana?” I lifted my eyes and scowled at his smirk. The asshole knew what he was doing and enjoying it.
“I’ve seen better.” I shrugged.
“Careful with those words. The last time you said that, I had you pinned to my bed, and my tongue down your throat.”
A zing shot through my core and sparked my heart into a fast tempo as I recalled all those years ago when we’d shared our first kiss. I took a deep breath and forced out a laugh.
“You wish.” I tossed the words over my shoulder as I walked to the bedroom. Kevin let me sleep in the bed and he took the couch, staying true to his word that I was staying at his apartment as just a friend.
But later that night when I snuck out to get a drink of water from the kitchen, I regretted letting him talk me into the arrangement. The flash of the television illuminated his long body on the couch with his feet and half of his calves hanging off the arm. He shifted no less than five times in just a few seconds. I couldn’t let him continue sleeping on the couch, but knowing Kevin, he wouldn’t allow me to sleep there.
Fuck it. We were adults and had laid out the boundaries between us. Grabbing my water glass, I made my way over to him and stared at his features in the glow of the television.
“Come to the bedroom, Kev.”
His head jerked up. “Ummm . . .,” he dragged out, trying to process my words.
“Not like that,” I laughed. “You look miserable out here, and I feel like a bitch taking your bed. I know you won’t let me sleep on the couch, and it’s a king size bed. We’ll be fine sharing it.”