Page 34 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Staring up at me with those big, blue eyes of hers, Kait gives me a slow blink, mouth open slightly while she tries to force out a lie. Finally finding her voice, all she manages to say is my name. “Went?—”

“Do you want to leave?” The answer is no. I know it is. I know what she wants. She wants the same thing I do. She wants me to get her naked. Bend her over my tattoo table, face turned towardthe wall of mirrors in front of her so she can watch us while I fuck her from behind.

Like she can read my mind, Kait shakes her head while shifting uncomfortably on her feet. “It’s not about what either of uswant,” she reminds me quietly, chin tipped, eyes pinned to the tattoo on the side of my neck. “It’s about what’s smart. We agreed that it would be best for everyone if we?—”

Why?

Why did we agree to that? For the life of me, I can’t remember. I’m sure I could if I were thinking rationally but rational is not something I’ve ever been with Kait. Impulsive. Rash. Horny as fuck. Obsessed. Borderline insane—I’ve been all of those things with her, usually all at the same time, but never rational. Never smart. As a matter of fact, the closer she is, the dumber and crazier I get.

Some things never change.

“In case you missed it—that was Tess playing matchmaker.” Angling myself over her, I give her a shitty smirk. “And if you think the rest of them won’t know that she left you here,alone, with me, before they’ve finished their morning coffee tomorrow, you’re crazier than I am, Sunshine,” I tell her, the old nickname I used to have for her slipping out before I can stop it. I haven’t call her that since…

Promise me you’ll stay, Sunshine. Promise me you’ll be here, waiting, when I get back.

“How could I miss it?” Kait asks with a brief, wobbly smile, her only indication that she caught my slip up and that it affected her as much as it did me. “She blatantly told me that’s what she was doing.”

Of course she did.

Because Tess is about as subtle as a jackhammer.

“And I know how this family works,” she tells me, blanching slightly. “I’ll be surprised if Ryan isn’t posted up at his peephole, right now, waiting for me to get home.”

“So, if we can’t go back to pretending to be strangers,” I tell her, trying to at least sound rational when all I feel is desperate. “Maybe we should try being friends.” I don’t mean it. I don’t want to be her friend. I’ve never wanted to be her friend. I don’t know how. When I’m around her, all I want is to figure out a way to get her naked and when I’m not, all I want to do is hate her for the way she ended things. Neither one of those behaviors are what I’d considerfriendly.

“Friends?” She says the word like she’s never heard it before. Like she doesn’t know what it means because she doesn’t. Neither of us do. Not when it comes to us.

“Friends,” I confirm, my tone steady and sure.

“We tried that once, remember?” she reminds me with that wobbly smile of hers. “It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. You and I don’t know how to be friends. It’s why we decided on strangers.”

Is that why?

I’ll have to take her word for it because I can’t fucking remember.

“Well, I’m willing to give it another try if you are.” It’s not a lie. Not exactly. Right now, I’m willing to do anything, say anything, to stop her from leaving—but I know myself. It won’t last. Sooner or later, the hurt over what she did will take over and I’ll lash out. Find a way to punish her for leaving.

And she knows it.

Before she can remind me of that too, I slip her phone into my own back pocket. When her mouth opens in protest, I fit my hands around her waist and lift her up to drop her ass back onto my tattoo table.

You’re doing it wrong. She’s supposed to be naked, remember? And face-down.

“Then we’ll meet in the middle.” My brain tells my hands to let go. To stop touching her but they don’t move an inch. As usual when it comes to Kait Barrett, my hands do whatever the fuck they want. “We’llpretendto be friends.”

Scowling up at me, Kait shakes her head. “I don’t see how pretending to be friends ismeeting in the middle.”

“We’ve got an entire wedding weekend to get through, Sunshine.” It slips out again and this time I don’t even try to stop it. “I say we play nice for the next couple of days—for Conner and Henley’s sake—and then after the wedding, we tell them that we messed around a little but decided we don’t like each other.” The plan forms fast, but it makes sense. “That way we can stop pretending that we don’t know each other but they won’t push it when we go back to avoiding each other.”

“Friends don’t fuck,” she says bluntly. “Or kiss, or?—”

“I can keep it in my pants if you can.” Another lie. We’re going to fuck. It’s only a matter of time. The more we’re around each other, the harder it’ll be for us to keep our clothes on and we both know it. Like she said—it’s why we decided on avoiding each other instead of letting go of the past and trying to move forward.

“You really think that’ll work?” She looks skeptical and I can’t say I blame her. “You believe that we can convinceConner Gilroythat we just messed around a little but ultimately decided we don’t like each other?”

No.

No, I don’t.

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