Page 111 of Crash & Burn

This is one of those boundaries that we have to set.

He can’t be telling me things my brother may not want me to know, and it isn’t fair for me to put him in the middle.

“Anyways,” Eddie says, taking the toy from me and putting it back in the bag. “I came prepared for our secondTwilightmarathon.” He pulls out the two candy bars, and I smile at the memory of how we split the both of them, which I definitely plan on making him do tonight. “Oh, which reminds me. You told Annie about us?” There is no hint of accusation, just questioning. “Luke knows too. I thought you wanted to keep things a secret.”

“About that,” I start. “I wanted to talk to you about that, but I need to shower first.”

“I could help you shower,” Eddie teases, my favorite smirk on his face.

I roll my eyes and turn to walk into the living room and pull out the blankets from the basket next to my couch. “No. You’re in charge of setting up our space and getting the fourth movie set up.”

He comes up behind me, snaking his arms around my waist, leaning into my neck, shocking my system. “Are yousureyou don’t need help? I think I could be much more productive in the shower. With you.”

It is concerning how quickly he fills me with need.

I almost give in until I remember that I haven’t showered today.

“Not that kind of shower, raindrop.” I turn in his arms and loop my arms around his neck, popping up on my tiptoes to kiss him on the nose. I head to my bathroom, turning to him and saying, “Maybe next time,” before I close the door.

I leave Eddie in my living room to take a quick shower, changing into my purple silk pajama set, knowing how much he liked my green one last night.

I shave my legs and lather my body in my coconut lotion, halfway convinced that Eddie doing this would have been a big help.

No.

No fooling around until we talk about us. I thought I needed time to realize what Eddie could mean to me, but I was stupid to think he already didn’t mean the world.

A knock on the bathroom door brings me back to the moment, and Eddie peaks his head in.

“So it’s the lotion,” he says, and he walks into my bathroom. He stands behind me, but I meet his gaze through the mirror I am standing in front of.

“What’s the lotion?” I ask.

“You always smell like coconut and lavender. I wondered which scent came from where.” He slides my shower curtain, looking for something, and then closes it. “The lavender is the body wash. The coconut is your lotion.” He explains it as if I didn’t already know, being the one who bought them and uses them every day.

Before I can give him a sassy comment, joking about how he is so obsessed with me, his eyes spot the basket on my bathroom counter with all of my face masks.

“What are these?” He asks, picking up the wire basket and grabbing the tube on top.

“Face masks,” I say.

“What are they for?”

“Um, your face.”

He looks at me and raises an eyebrow. “No shit, sunshine. I remember you telling me that when I saw this in your bag at the hotel room last year. I mean what do they do?”

I laugh and take the basket from him. “They help your skin. I have some for acne, anti-aging, purifying, balancing, you name it.” I grab the purple container in his hand, and I see it is a lavender mud mask for relaxation. “Please don’t tell me you are one of those men who uses a five-in-one shampoo and body wash on everything, including your face.”

“Excuse me,” Eddie says, plucking the tube from my hand. “I take good care of my skin, thank you very much. I just never use these.”

“Get ready to live, raindrop.”

We are fifteen minutes intoBreaking Dawn: Part One, and I look over to my man in his purple face mask and a hair tie holding back his hair, and my heart is so full.

He brings his half of my—our—Kit Kat, already finishing his half of his—our—Twix, to his lips, and turns to look at me. “What?”

“You’re so fucking cute, I can’t.” I say from my spot on the couch. Eddie wanted to make the couch cozy tonight rather than the floor, and he even lit the candles and everything.

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