crop top and shorts that hugged her curvaceous ass like a second skin, her pink lips glistening and her black hair falling over her shoulders.
Lila looked like a Rated-R Snow White. I wanted to slide between her thighs and make us both forget that we were best friends.
No. FUUUCCCK. NO!
That was drunk me thinking of that shit. Sober Maddox would never think of fucking his best friend, I told myself.
“Maddox, are you listening to me?” Her voice broke through my burning thoughts.
I swallowed and forced myself to look away.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice deeper, hoping she didn’t notice the way I strategically adjusted the pillow over my lap.
“Do you dare?” she asked cheekily.
I sighed, running my fingers through my short hair and pulling on the strands. “This isn’t going to be fun, Lila.”
She was asking me to be her dance partner. I wasn’t much of a dancer, but I wouldn’t say I completely sucked. This was important to her; I was well aware of that fact.
It was the fact that I was going to be too close to Lila for a whole week, especially since it had started to become harder for me to control my urges – my dick – around her. That bothered me. After the incident with Landon… there had been an unmistakable tension between Lila and I.
We both refused to acknowledge it, going on with our lives, but it was there, and it was becoming harder to ignore.
I didn’t know why… I was feeling this way.
And I didn’t understand what it was.
Angry at myself, I held back a growl, and my eyes snapped to Lila’s. She was waiting for an answer, oblivious to my inner turmoil.
Lila Garcia was my best friend, and the last thing I wanted to do was lose her because I couldn’t keep my dick in my pants.
I’m drunk, this is why, I convinced myself.
She tapped her foot impatiently. Any other girl doing that would have annoyed me, but Lila tapping her foot was cute as fuck.
“C’mon, Coulter. Are you about to lose to me?” She tsked. “It’s a simple dare.”
Simple?
Little did she know…
She grew cocky when I didn’t reply, her competitive nature shining through. Lila knew I’d never turn down a dare, and she knew exactly how to get her way.
“Fine, I accept the dare,” I said, my teeth grinding together. “You’re going to regret this, Garcia.”
Lila pressed her lips together to keep from smiling, but she lost the fight. A beautiful smile spread across her lips, and she laughed a bit, the little happy sound shooting straight to my heart.
My fingers curled and uncurled at my sides.
What is wrong with me?
32
Lila
My body was on fire.
I fought back a shiver, and my pulse throbbed in my throat.
His hands traveled up my arms, slowly… taking his time, as if he was memorizing every inch of my exposed skin. His touch was so soft, so featherlight, but it felt as though he was writing a word, painting a picture or playing a song on my skin. My breath caught, and my heart raced, tripping over itself because it could longer beat in a normal rhythm.
Our eyes connected through the floor length mirror. The intensity of his gaze made my stomach do a crazy flip, and my thighs trembled.
Maddox was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, the muscles in his arms on display, and they clenched and tightened with every move he made. His whole body was a work of art. I wore a tank top and shorts, comfortable enough for dancing.
His blue eyes smoldered with something I couldn’t read – dark and intense.
Friends, I told myself.
We were best friends.
But friends didn’t look at each other the way we did.
The past five days had been sweet torture.
Sweet because I spent every waking hour with Maddox.
Torture because I spent every waking hour with Maddox.
Dancing… touching… breathing so close to each other’s lips… but reminding myself to pull away.
I refused to acknowledge what I was feeling. It was forbidden.
Or maybe I didn’t really comprehend my own wayward emotions.
Why does my body react the way it does when Maddox is close?
Why does my heart hurt… when he’s hurt?
Why does my stomach flutter when he’s touching me?
We were friends, weren’t we?
Being anything more than friends could risk what we had for the last three years and whatever we had was beautiful the way it was.
“Lila?”
His voice, a deep timbre that traveled down through my body and all the way to my toes, snapped me back into the present.