Love Triangle Six Books of Torn Desire - Willow Winters Page 0,210

focus in on the words.

After an entire month has passed, I unfollow him and the band on Twitter. I unlike the Vail Facebook page. I delete him from my Instagram. I ask Jill not to show me articles of him, not to share any news related to him with me. It’s easier this way. Deleting Mark from my social media has helped tremendously. It’s made it so there isn’t a constant reminder of him feeding the obsessive beast in my mind, and it’s allowed me to start relegating him to the past while I focus on my blossoming feelings for Brian. I’m halfway between lust and love, and I’m pretty sure love is starting to win.

On one particular Wednesday morning after we’ve been seeing each other for almost a month, Brian groans as the alarm wakes him too early. He stays with me most nights and gets up at the crack of dawn so he has enough time to go home and take a shower before work. It seems silly. He could probably sleep another hour if we went to his place, and I could just get up and go home whenever I was ready since my summer schedule is so flexible.

I finally ask through the morning haze of sleep, “Wouldn’t it be easier to stay at your place?”

It’s a question I’ve been itching to ask. After a month, he still hasn’t invited me to his place. At first, I worried that it was because he was hiding another woman, but with the amount of time we’ve been spending together when he isn’t working, it seems highly unlikely.

He brushes me off with a non-answer as he sits on the edge of my bed and pulls on his shoes. “I’ve got too many roommates at the moment.”

I sit up and pull the sheet up to cover my naked chest. “Why?”

He tugs the sheet from my fingers and allows himself an unobstructed view of my naked chest. “I don’t have my own place. I’m still house hunting. Between nights here and work all day, I haven’t had much time to look at places.”

He reaches for my breast, and my line of thinking is completely shattered under his touch.

It isn’t until much later that I realize I asked the wrong question.

I asked him why he has so many roommates. I didn’t ask him who his roommates are.

Chapter Thirteen

“To the Fearsome Foursome,” Jill says, and I roll my eyes.

Jill, Becker, Brian, and I are standing at the bar after a Cirque du Soleil show the boys took us to when Jill says the cheesy toast. The four of us have started hanging out whenever the boys have free time. Brian and Becker even carpool on their way over to our place on occasion. When Brian and Becker aren’t working late, the four of us often have dinner together. Sometimes on the weekends, we’ll sprawl on the furniture in our family room and watch a movie together with a glass of wine and a bowl of popcorn.

Jason is tending to business in Chicago, and I wonder if he and Tess are still casually screwing. She went to Colorado to visit her family and I haven’t talked to her in weeks. Brian’s business is booming, and he’s headed out of town to Houston for work tomorrow morning. I considered going with him, but he’ll be working the entire time he’s gone. I promised my mom I’d drive home to Phoenix sometime this summer, but I never said when. This could be a good time.

After a few drinks at the bar, we head home. Tonight, the furthest thing from my mind is another man. I’m focused solely on Brian and the way he makes me feel.

When we get back to my house, I lead him to my bedroom. He doesn’t attack me the minute we close the door behind us like he usually does. Instead, he gives me a sensual kiss that makes my toes curl.

He backs away and clears his throat as he unbuckles his belt. “I don’t really want to go to Houston.”

“I don’t really want you to go.” I step out of my heels and set them in my closet.

“I didn’t bring a condom tonight.” His voice is low when he speaks, and I freeze for a beat inside my closet as I wonder if this means no sex tonight or if he’s getting at something else.

I step out of the closet. “We used all of mine. I can ask Jill.”

He slides his pants