Page 40 of Press Play

I watch her with a soft smile, happy to see her comfortable and relaxed. She doesn’t have to worry about glutening herself and getting sick. Those days are far behind her.

One of her curls frees itself from the hair clip, and my fingers itch to twirl it around. I sat so far away from her. What is my problem? I should have planted myself beside her so our knees could touch by “accident.”

She’s your best friend.

And yet. . . the way she looks at me with those sparkling eyes and gentle gleam, I dare to wonder,What if?

Without thinking too deeply on it, I stand and sit next to her. Her proximity makes me want to sigh in relief, and the blush on her cheeks sends my heart into a rampage.

We sit like that for a while longer, the lasagna forgotten. The moment stretches out between us, and for once, I don’t feel the need to fill the silence.

Because sometimes, silence says everything.

Chapter Sixteen

Wren

As I stareup at the ceiling, a disgruntled sigh vibrates from my chest. Not only is sleep elusive, but when I do drift off, nightmares are my welcoming party. If they’re not about my mother, they’re about my past.

On top of that, I can’t stop replaying when I asked Theo about female orgasms. What is wrong with me? No, I haven’t been with a lot of men, and none of them have been able to give me an orgasm. I’ve done my research, and logically, I know it’s a common thing. Yet, that doesn’t stifle the goblin in my brain telling me I’m the problem.

What does it feel like to finish while a man is fucking you senseless? Is it different from clitoral stimulation? The women in porn are always so loud, and I genuinely wanted to know if it was theatrics or not. I shouldn’t have asked Theo because now my mind is racing. Have I had sex dreams about him? Yes. Did I finish in those dreams? Unfortunately, yes. Something between us is shifting, and I wish my mortifying question was innocent and naive in nature.

Flipping onto my side, I fumble for my phone and open the chat with Brandy and Mia. It doesn’t matter that it’s one in the morning. Brandy will be nose deep in a mathematics book,studying for her doctorate, and Mia will be up reading her new romance novel.

Me:SOS.

Brandy:What’s wrong?

Mia:Who do I need to murder?

Me:I love how you automatically resort to violence lol.

Brandy:It’s who she is.

Mia:I can’t help it ;)

Brandy:Anyway, what’s wrong? You’re usually asleep at this time.

Me:The nightmares are back, and this bed isn’t my bed.

Mia:Do you have your show on?

Me:Yes :(

Mia:I mean. . . you could always bother that hunk of man meat in the other room.

I almost drop my phone on my face at the message.

Brandy:Hunk of man meat!?

Mia:What? I’m only stating the obvious. I still have a hard time believing you never hooked up with him.

Matters with Theo aren’t helping my stress levels, either. When he held me close and trailed his hands over my waist the other day, my heart stopped. And earlier, when he stared into my eyes, I swear something flickered in his. My crush on him is usually like background noise, easy to ignore, but I would be lying if I said something isn’t different. My feelings are pushing to the forefront, demanding I acknowledge them.

Brandy:Wren would never. She has class.

Classic Brandy. . .

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