going fishing together, going on hikes together, hanging out on the back porch while I fumed about something from the day and Jack did his best to help me calm down.
In fact, the only problem with that scenario was the undeniable pull I felt toward Jack Timms, the same pull that’d forced me onto my feet a few moments ago, the same pull that made my skin tingle when I thought about him kissing my neck, when I thought about him running his fingertips up my chest. And it was that same pull that brought me right to Jack’s door, my fingers curling into a fist as I started to knock against the wood.
Because despite my best attempts at rationalizing the situation away, and despite the fact that I still had no idea what I truly wanted my place to be in Jack’s world, I knew that I didn’t want to be another one of his friends.
And as I inwardly scoffed at the thought, I knocked against his bedroom door again, this time with a little more force.
7
Jack
Austin wasn’t coming.
I’d been watching the clock in my bedroom, in between flipping through late-night news channels and anxiously pacing back and forth across the floor.
Damnit.
Why was I so nervous about this? I’d hooked up with plenty of people before, and I’d been ghosted by plenty of people, too. I knew that inviting someone back to my room was always a risky gamble, one that paid off almost as often as it didn’t.
And yet, I was still hoping that Austin was going to show at any moment, changing my gamble into a sure thing. I’d even fixed my bedsheets up from the state of disarray they’d been in before I’d joined the rest of his family for dinner, somehow hoping that my efforts to clean the room were going to be rewarded with Austin’s presence.
I just wanted him.
I wanted him so fucking bad.
I knew when I was kissing him on the porch that finally being able to see him without his clothes on, finally being able to run my hands along every inch of his skin, was going to be the most satisfying experience I’d had in a very long time.
And, even though I was reluctant to admit it to myself, I knew that there was something special about Austin Williams, something that made me want to get closer to him, something that worried me when I thought about treating him like just another hookup.
Could he have been just another hookup?
I couldn’t explain it, but the closer I got to Austin, the more it felt like I was shuffling toward some kind of danger zone, one that I knew I couldn’t come back from, not after I followed Austin right over the edge.
But none of that mattered anyway.
Because Austin wasn’t coming.
I looked at the clock again and let out a deep sigh. At that point, it was obvious that Austin had changed his mind about hooking up with me, and maybe that was for the best. I sat on the edge of my bed and rested my back against the mattress, my eyes closing as I turned my head up toward the ceiling.
I wasn’t comfortable sleeping like that, but honestly, I probably wasn’t going to be comfortable tonight, at all. I’d been rejected by the first guy—and possibly only guy—I’d ever been attracted to, and what made things worse was that I was definitely going to have to see him again. I couldn’t avoid Austin at the Bed & Breakfast, not unless I invented some kind of blanket that made me invisible to the human eye.
The thought of passing Austin in the lobby, with that smile on his face and that curious look in eye, and having to pretend like I didn’t want to kiss him, that I didn’t want to touch him, was going to be pretty fucking difficult for me to get down. But I’d have to get it down, and soon, if I wanted any kind of relationship with him, if I wanted us to keep being friends, at the least—
Wait.
Was there someone knocking at my door?
I cracked open my eyelids as I peeled myself away from the bed. I made my way across the bedroom, my thoughts running wild with who could’ve been on the other side of the door. It was clear that it wasn’t going to be Austin, but maybe it would’ve been another one of the Williams’ brothers, updating me about my stay or letting me