“Really? Then why didn’t you text me?”
“I was waiting for you.”
“And I was waiting for you.” She shakes her head. “What are we doing, Theo?”
“I’d say we’re letting things happen…naturally.” I give in to my urges and brush my lips against hers. A gasp escapes her and I nip at her lower lip with my teeth, making her gasp again. “Want to meet up after dinner?”
She runs her hand up and down my chest. “Are you almost finished?”
“Yeah.” I kiss her again, and she parts her lips for me so easily. Too easily. I take advantage, sliding my tongue into her mouth, teasing hers. She kisses me back, her hand sliding up my chest to curl around my nape and we kiss for long, unbroken minutes. Until my phone starts buzzing in my pocket.
I break the kiss first to check my phone. A text from Ali.
Quit messing around with your girlfriend and come back to the table!
Grinning, I shove the phone back into my pocket. “My sister is demanding I come finish my dinner.”
“I should go back too,” Kelsey says with a sigh. Her expression has turned dreamy, and all that tension I could sense radiating throughout her body earlier has dissipated.
“Want to go back to my place once we’re done?” I ask, steeling myself yet again for her rejection. She’ll probably suggest we meet back out here and she’ll offer up a blowjob, then bail on me. I don’t mind the idea of a blowjob, but not out here. And I don’t want her bailing. I want to take her home. Have sex with her in an actual bed, where I can really take my time with her.
The expression on her face switches from dreamy to worried, just like that. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
“I think it’s the best idea I’ve had in a long time,” I say with all the sincerity I can muster, sneaking my arm around her waist. “What’s your gut telling you to do?”
“It’s telling me I should go home with you,” she admits.
My smile is triumphant. “Then do it.”
Sixteen
Kelsey
I can’t believe I agreed to go home with Theo, but I did, and now I’m headed back to the table where all my friends are waiting for me, feeling a little rumpled and thoroughly kissed and already eager to leave this dinner. Knowing I get to go home with Theo and all the many, many things we can do together is exciting.
And arousing.
“Where have you been?” Caroline asks when she spots me.
I can feel my cheeks get warm, and I wonder what’s wrong with me. I never get embarrassed over stuff like this, and lately it’s all I seem to do. “I saw Theo,” I answer, falling into my chair and reaching for my almost empty wineglass. I polish it off, disappointed there’s no more left.
“Ooh, Theo,” Stella croons, making my cheeks get even hotter.
“What is going on with you two anyway?” Caroline asks, tilting her head. The curiosity on her face is obvious.
I blink at my friend, then glance around the table, blinking at all of my friends. When I’m casually seeing a man—code for casually hooking up with him—I have no problem telling them all about it. Offering up all the dirty details because it’s fun, you know? I wasn’t taking the hookups seriously. And when I thought of Theo as just my friend, I talked about him like I’d talk about any of them.
But now that things have changed and I’m scared I actually might have feelings for him, it’s like I can’t get the words out. I don’t know what to say, or what to do. I don’t share anything personal with people, and I don’t let them get too close. I never really have. When you have a screwed up family who eventually abandons you and you feel like you can’t count on anyone, you clam up.
It’s what I’ve always done.
As I glance around the table at the warm, open faces of my friends, I realize that maybe I should change that habit. I care about these women, and they care about me. They’ve always supported me, even when I do stupid things. They don’t judge. They don’t talk about me behind my back. They’re actual, real friends.
“Theo and I—we had sex this weekend,” I blurt, then immediately cover up my face with my hands in embarrassment.
Stella slips her arm around my shoulders and gives me a light squeeze. “I am so proud of you for saying that.”
“Finally