Dirty (Unexpected Lovers #3) - J.B. Heller Page 0,36
another drink then clears her throat and straightens. “Generally speaking, I’m an active participant in the sex department. So, when the time came to break things off, I’d just starfish it.”
I glance at the other girls. Surely I’m not the only one who has no idea what she’s talking about. Kins and Amy seem to be the only ones in on it, though, if their knowing smirks are anything to go by.
“I’m not following,” Storm says, frowning.
Hannah gets up, places her wine on the coffee table, then lies in the middle of the floor where she proceeds to spread her arms and legs out and says, “Ta-dah!”
“So, you still had sex, but you just lay there like a dead fish the whole time?” I ask, confused.
She nods, grinning. “Yeah, but a starfish—not a dead fish. That sounds gross.”
Okay, I’ll give her that, but I still don’t get it. “Why didn’t you just dump their asses?”
“Ugh, no thanks. I hate confrontation. I’m a lover not a fighter. This way, they broke up with me, and technically, I didn’t even have to do anything.”
Huh, well, I guess that makes sense then. It wouldn’t work for me, but I see its merits.
Baby Seb lets out a loud wail, and Storm stands to retrieve him from his porta-cot in Kins’ spare room. Arlo jumps to his feet. “I got him,” he tells her. “Chill, mama.” He disappears down the hall and returns a minute later with Seb, who is staring up at Arlo like he hung the stars.
Arlo returns to his place on the floor, cradling the baby close to his chest, talking to him quietly.
A collective round of aww sounds off around the room, and Arlo pops his head up, smirking. “Chicks dig guys that are good with babies,” he says.
Ugh. There are too many hormones up in here. They’re rubbing off on me and giving me mushy feelings. No, thank you. I get up, heading for the fridge. “Who needs a refill?”
Amy and Hannah hold out their empty glasses, so I bring the bottle back with me. I top us all off then drop onto the couch. “So, when’s the last fitting?” I ask Kins, referring to our dresses for the wedding in two weeks.
“For you girls, it’ll be next Friday. But mine is two days before the wedding,” she says, patting her little belly. “This one’s growing so fast. I’ve put on, like, three pounds just this week.”
“Your boobs are looking bigger, too,” Em says, popping a chip in her mouth.
Kins nods. “They are!”
“And that’s my cue to leave,” Arlo announces. He hands baby Seb off to Storm, then he waves to the room. “Later, ladies.”
“Later, kiddo,” I call to his retreating back as I turn back to Kins. “Hey, would you mind if the wedding is Archer’s and my official first outing as a couple?”
“Of course not,” she says, smiling wide. “It was my idea that you bring him.”
“Yeah, I know. I just . . . I guess I’m nervous about actually touching him in public,” I admit. “It’s going to be weird.”
“You’re overthinking it again,” Storm says, patting Seb’s back as he fusses.
“I can’t help it,” I whine. “This is all new, and I don’t know what to do with it. The wedding will be fine—I know that. It’s afterwards that I’m worried about. He said he’ll give me as much time as I need before we take it public.”
“So, what’s the problem?” Hannah asks.
I tell them about the other day on the sidewalk before I met up with them at Fiora. How I wanted to touch him, but couldn’t. “It sucked, and the look in his eyes when he nearly kissed me but had to pull back . . . it gutted me.”
“So just freaking kiss him,” Storm says. “Whether you do it tomorrow or after the wedding, it’s not going to matter. He is who he is, and it’s going to get attention. Now that you’ve told your brother, does anyone else’s opinion really matter?”
“What she said,” Hannah agrees as she sweeps her pink hair into a high ponytail.
I sigh. “I’m going to have to have a press release ready to go out when photos of us together start surfacing. I’m his agent. People are going to have something to say about that.”
“Meh, screw them,” Emory says. “I say wait and see if anyone says anything. Yeah, you’re his agent, but you’ve also been friends for the last twenty years. You’ve been photographed together before.”
That’s true enough.