Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,64
the towel after all this time.” She places her hand over mine and squeezes. “Let’s figure out how to get you two together.”
Allie wiggles in her seat with excitement.
For the next hour, we go through all the possible scenarios, but there’s only one I like. Still, my heart clenches with the thought that it might not be enough.
Twenty-Four
Kingston
I drive up to the cabin, alone. It’s just me and Lou all weekend. We’re the only ones off, according to the spreadsheet Tank made up for all of us. Stella’s not coming until Wednesday and Thursday with Allie and Stump. Now that we’re all here at different times, some people are bringing others up with them. I might have decided to steer clear of Stella, but every time I think about Stella bringing some guy up here, it’s like someone throat-punched me.
Pulling into the driveway, I park in the best spot since I’m here first. Lou had a last-minute errand to run and he was heading to his parents’ afterward, so we planned to drive separately. I didn’t mind the quiet on the way up. Austin’s advice has been on repeat in my head and I’m slowly understanding what he said.
I grab my bag and the case of the beer I brought out of the bed of my truck then walk up the stairs to the cabin. After setting the beer on the porch, I insert my key. My whole plan this weekend is to talk to Tim about the speed riding and coordinate a time with him. We could practice a few times before heading all the way up. In four weeks, the schedule has me, Tank, and Samantha up here. My plan is to leave right after speed riding, so they can break shit in the house with their sexcapades without me having to listen—or worse, witness.
The door opens and I bend down to pick up the case of beer. It almost slips out of my hands when I see a line of rose petals and small battery-operated candles leading to the main living area. I place all my shit down in the foyer. Did I screw up the schedule? Am I messing up someone else’s romantic time?
On the hallway door hangs a suit with a note pinned to it.
Change into me.
I tiptoe around the petals and peek around the corner. Stella’s standing in the family room, her teeth biting her bottom lip. She’s staring at the floor, her chest rising and falling. This better be for me—otherwise I’ll be spending the night in a jail cell.
I go back and take the suit off the door handle, relieved to see it’s my own suit from home. Shredding my clothes in record time and putting on my suit, relief washes over me. All the self-talk from last week about getting on with my life fades into background noise. She’s finally seen the light, seen what we can be, how good we can be.
My heart rate increases, and my palms are sweaty. After all these years, our time has finally come. I cross the petal path and emerge from the foyer. Stella glances up and straightens her back. She’s wearing a light pink dress that falls to her ankles and poofs out at her waist a bit. The top dips all the way down to her belly button, revealing a sliver of her tantalizing dark skin.
My mouth waters the closer I get, hoping I’m the lucky bastard who gets to unzip her out of it tonight.
“Hey,” I say like the tool I am.
“Hi.”
We stand toe-to-toe, each of us soaking the other in for a moment.
“Kingston Bailey, will you go to homecoming with me?”
She’s got to be shittin’ me. I’d go to the moon with her.
“Why?”
She takes my hand in both of hers. “I want a redo. I want to start over. I want you to take me to homecoming.”
“Why?” Damn it, I probably sound like I have a stutter. Just say yes, dumbass.
“Because I love you.”
I inhale a deep breath and let it out slowly. It’s not the first time she’s said the words, but it’s the first time she’s said them like that. How long have I waited to hear those words from her mouth?
The urge to take her mouth with mine is strong. Take her in my arms and never let her go. But then my heart weighs in. Is this another moment in time that’s going to leave us in limbo after?