Page 20 of Best of Me

I tip my chin. “About like always.” Leaning down, I grab a frosty beer from the cooler, using the ledge of the food table to pop the top. I bring the bottle to my lips and tilt it back, relishing the feel of the cool liquid. I’m not much of a drinker, but sometimes—especially after dealing with Nancy—it’s nice to take the edge off.

Nate allows me a good three sips before he starts in on me. “Listen. What’s up with you and Mally?”

“Mally, huh?” I pop a brow at him, trying to mask my annoyance. “It’s like that?”

“Yeah, man, it is. The girls really like her. The only holdout is you. It’s obviously more than you being surprised to see her. So, what gives? What is it about this girl that gets you so riled up?”

I polish off the rest of the bottle and scrub a hand over my face, trying to buy myself some time.

“She…makes me…feel.” The words pass my lips in a low mumble. Somehow, my admission makes me feel both lighter and more weighted than ever, all at once.

I’m expecting him to laugh or to dog me out, but I should’ve known better. Serious-relationship-Nate is far more mature than the man-child-player he was a few years ago when we met. “You ever think that maybe the two of y’all should sit down and talk?”

I glance over his shoulder, toward Mallory, just in time to see her step out of the long dress she was wearing, giving way to what has to be the smallest bikini of all time. Two teal-colored triangles conceal her breasts—just barely—and the measly bottom is supported by nothing more than two thin strings tied at her hips.

The sight of all of her smooth, bronzed skin on display has my mouth feeling like it’s full of cotton, and as shameful as it is, the only sitting I want to do with her right now involves her on my face, and the only talking I want to hear is her screaming my name as she comes.

Nate follows my line of sight and smirks. He may be my best friend and partner, but damn if I don’t want to knock that smarmy-ass look right off his face. And when he opens his mouth, the feeling intensifies. “It’s okay to—”

I shoot him a withering glare before stomping off toward Mallory.

I don’t stop until I’m close enough to feel the heat of her body. She has to tilt her head back to see me, and when our eyes meet, my name topples from her lips on a breathy sigh. “We need to talk.” My tone is all business—my cop voice, as Nate calls it—as I wrap my fingers around her forearm, prepared to drag her along behind me if necessary. Luckily, she comes all too willingly—so why am I still holding on to her?

The feeling of her soft, sun-warmed skin beneath my palm sends little zaps of electricity under my skin, into my muscle. Her nearness has me strung taut like a drawn bow.Here’s to hoping like hell I don’t snap.

Deep down, like really fucking deep, I know I’m acting like a colossal asshole, but much like a prepubescent boy picking on his schoolyard crush, it’s the only way I know how to deal with all of the conflicting feelings she stirs in me.

By the time I navigate us through the back door, down the hall, and into Alden’s laundry room, my grip has somehow slipped, and I find my fingers are gently cradling hers.What in the hell?I haven’t held a woman’s hand since…I shake off the thought as well as her hand, taking a step away from her so that she’s positioned with her back to the washer and mine to the door.

Even with a solid three feet separating us, my skin hums at the memory of Mallory’s hand in mine. What is it about this woman that elicits such a physical reaction from me? My fingers itch to explore the rest of her skin; my body begs to know what the rest of her would feel like. Would she be soft and sweet beneath me, our bodies moving in complete harmony together? Or would she be a little hellcat, wild and untamable, determined to be in control?

An uneasy silence settles over us as we stare one another down, Mallory’s eyes narrowed on mine while I fight to keep my gaze from dropping down to rove over her exposed skin. After a few tense moments, Mallory speaks, her words short and punctuated with frustration. “Is there any particular reason you brought me back here?”

My original plan was to confront her about Nancy, regardless of this being neither the time nor the place. However, after seeing her swimsuit, my plans changed. “Yeah, I wanna know why you’re prancing around all of my friends half-naked.”

She scoffs. “You’ve got to freaking be kidding me.”

I make a big show of running my eyes all over her body, my gaze unwillingly lingering on her breasts and the sweet little dip in her waist. The longer I stare, the more I notice the subtle differences between her and her sister. Where Val was all long lines and lean muscles, Mallory’s lush, with curves in all the right places. “Not even remotely.”

“It’s a swimsuit, Duke. Surely you’ve seen one before.”

“I’ve seen fucking strippers wearing more than you are.”

Her eyes spark with humor. “Strippers, huh? Gotta thing for paying for it?”

Her mouth—swear to God.“That’d be a prostitute, not a stripper, Cricket.”

She snorts out a laugh, which only serves to frustrate me all the more. “Guess you’d know, huh?”

I take a step toward her. “You are the single most frustrating woman I’ve ever met.”

She drops her cheek to her shoulder. “Takes one to know one,” she murmurs before sticking her tongue out at me. In this moment, she looks so young, so sweet, so…mine.

Before I can think it through, I’m on her, crowding her small body with my much larger one, forcing her up against the washing machine as I capture the tip of her tongue between my lips, sucking gently before shoving back away from her.

An animalistic roar bursts forth from my lips as I pace, my hands tugging on the ends of my hair. Mallory Parsons is clearly a witch, and she’s cast a spell on me; sure, it sounds crazy—I sound crazy—but I can’t think of a single plausible reason for my inexplicable behavior.

“What on earth is wrong with you?” Mallory whisper-screams, her voice tight with anger. “One second you’re looking at me like I’m a bug you want to squash, and the next you’re kissing me! You’re…you’re freaking mental.”

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