Page 25 of How You See Me
She pauses at that. A flicker of something real in her eyes, and I hate how much I’m drawn to it. Want to kiss it. Undo it. Whatever it is, it guts me.
“Give me something to do,” I clarify because I can’t sit still in this moment with her so close. Sobare. “Make me useful.”
“Got it.” She points to something behind me. “Will you wash my paint brushes? That will be one less thing for me to do before we leave.”
“Sure.”
She winks—fucking winks—at me and saunters away, T-shirt riding dangerously high above her sexy legs, and I’m left speechless in her wake for a second time.
And we haven’t even left her apartment yet.
Chapter 6
Josie
There’s a ridiculously gorgeous man in my apartment.
Not just any man. The kind who makes simple breathing a chore. Whose presence hums low in your bones. The kind who should come with a warning.
I pretend not to notice the heat coiling in my belly when he moves. Or the way his silence fills up space louder than most people’s words. Or how my skin remembers what my mind tries to forget. I pretend a lot of things where he’s concerned because it’s safer. He’s Jordan’s best friend and detouring through my life on his way to something greater.
I’m not part of his plan or his world. I’m the bump in the road he avoids.
Still, if I’m going to endure a cross-country trip with the human embodiment of restraint, I’m going to have fun pushing his buttons along the way. Just a little. Nothingcruel—just enough to remind him I’m here. Not some background noise he can tune out.
I give my attention to the mess I left on my bed—hot pink suitcase open like a wound, clothes bleeding out in every direction. I could’ve gone with the boring navy roller. No. I chose the one that screams fun and adventure and all things female just to make him twitch.
If he’s constantly irritated by me, he can’t do the sweet things that knock down my defenses. Constructing and maintaining them to help me forget took too much effort to let them crumble now.
My phone lights up on the bedside table with an incoming text, adding another distraction. I fight back irritation, already knowing who it is and what he wants.
Jordan:Are you ready?
Me:Are you checking up on me?
Jordan:Yep.
Me:Not yet. Got distracted.
Me:In my defense, he was early.
Jordan:No excuse.
Jordan:He’s doing us a favor. The least you could do is not agitate him.
I smirk. Guilty.
Me:I would never. [Smiley face with halo emoji]
Jordan:Yeah, right. Best behavior, remember?
Me:Always.
Jordan:Text me regularly along the way, so I don’t worry.
Me:Yes, Daddy.
Jordan:Too far.
