The Best Mistake - Cookie O'Gorman Page 0,59

bball players, of course!)

Then about 10 minutes later…

Charlie: Honor!!!!! Come on, text me back, I’m SO bored!

Then…

Charlie: I can’t believe you’re there w/all those guys. Find the hottest, and text me a pic. So bored here without you :(

Charlie: Hello? Honor, you there? Emmy says you should be there soon. Let me know how it’s going, please (and also send pics of hot bball players :))

And then, there was the last one.

Charlie: Has anything happened with Archer yet? ;) Remember you promised to tell me if it does! You and he would make such pretty babies *sigh* Write back soon!

“Pretty babies, huh?” Archer said, and I gasped, pulling the phone to my chest. I couldn’t believe he’d read that.

Clearing my throat, I turned away, trying to hide my pink cheeks. “Charlie has an overly active imagination.”

It sounded like he bit back a laugh, but I wasn’t sure.

“What are you going to text back?” he asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” I mumbled.

Leaning in, quicker than I could react, Archer swiped the phone from my hand and held it away from us. When I turned to him, he laid a kiss to my forehead, and I heard the click in the background signaling a picture had been taken.

“Send her that,” he said, tossing my phone back, standing and stretching his arms above his head—which made his shirt rise up. He must’ve untucked it sometime during the ride because I saw a little slice of skin. My eyes latched onto that small reveal, the tan of his abs contrasted with the white of his shirt, like it was the eighth wonder of the world. “I think she’ll like it.”

“But—” I said.

“In fact, give me your phone back for a sec, and I’ll send it to myself, too.”

Shaking out of it with difficulty—the trance his naked stomach put me under was no joke—I frowned. “No way. You already stole my phone once. There’s no telling what you’d do this time or if you’d even give it back.”

With a shrug, Archer started walking away. “Okay…I guess this means I’ll have to keep the picture I took of you while you were sleeping. It’s going to be your contact pic.”

My eyes were wide as they met his.

“Don’t worry,” he said, turning back just as he was about to step off the bus. His eyes were smiling again. “You look cute in your sleep—even when you drool.”

I swear I died right there.

Maybe I shouldn’t have teased her.

Maybe it would’ve been better if Chase and I had never changed seats.

As I had that thought, an image of Honor with her head resting against my brother’s shoulder went through my mind, and I scowled. Hard. No, I’d made the right choice.

And she really did look cute in the drool pic.

I was in the locker room with my boys, getting ready for the game against Covington when the sound of a text came through. Turning my phone over, I saw it was from an unknown number, but the selfie I’d taken of me and Honor was right there.

Score, I thought.

I quickly saved the pic and added Honor to my saved contacts. I’d been bluffing before, hoping she either wouldn’t remember that she’d never given me her number or assume that I’d gotten it from Emmy. Either way, I had it now, a direct line to Honor—and she could contact me if she wanted or needed anything. That was a win in my book.

I shot her a quick thank you, and she answered right away.

Honor: No thanks needed. Now, please delete and destroy the drool pic!

I typed in my response.

Me: But you look so darn cute…

Honor: You’re incorrigible.

Me: I’ve been called worse.

Honor: Gah, so annoying. Just so you know, I don’t usually drool in my sleep. Also…sorry about your shirt :(.

Was she kidding? I was never getting rid of that shirt. In fact, it was my new favorite—possibly/probably because she’d had her lips pressed against it not thirty minutes ago. And though I’d made her contact picture the one with the two of us—it was too good not to. She must’ve blinked at the exact moment I took it because her eyes were closed, my lips pressed against her skin, a definite keeper—but I’d saved the drool pic as well.

Me: Don’t worry about it. Also, incorrigible? Nice vocab for a non-reporter/accountant ;)

Her reply was short and sweet.

Honor: Accounting = Stability. And don’t try to change the subject: DELETE the pic!!! Please.

The ‘please’ cracked me up. Holding back a laugh, I sent her