Page 68 of Take Me
“Destroyed,” he says, grinning.
“Totally torpedoed.”
“Blown to bits.”
“Later for that.”Grinning, I grip his half-hard shaft.
He groans like he’s in pain or maybe intrigued by the thought.“That’ll wreck me for sure.”
“Total oblivion,” I agree.
“Utter and complete devastation.”
I rest the palm of my hand in the middle of his chest, no longer sure if we’re joking.
As anyone could guessby how long we’ve kept up our knock-knock joke schtick, Mason and I aren’t ones to give up on a good thing.
We keep having sex for the next several weeks, in between working and family stuff.I move in for real, since the crew that’s repairing the roof at my place gets delayed by the rain.
The only weird part of living and sleeping together is hownotweird it is.It sorta makes sense that someone I’ve known since before I got my first period—a memory marked by Mason nobly swiping a tampon from his twin—would settle so effortlessly into other forms of intimacy.
That’s all this is: an extension of friendship.A chance to have each other’s backs through all these damn weddings.
I’m reminding myself of this fact when Lucy walks into the bathroom at Sand and Cream.We’re two hours into Cassidy’s bachelorette party, and Mason’s twin startles when she spots me in front of the mirror.
“Oh my God, Erika—I will love you forever if you have a spare tampon.”
“Lemme check.”I dig through my purse as she ducks into a stall, muttering something about Harper taking her stuff.
“I love my daughter to death.”There’s a little more cursing from behind the stall door.“And I love that she came to me first when she got her period.But honest to God, I’ve told her six-million times to stop taking stuff from my purse.There’s a giant supply under her bathroom sink.Does she really have to rob me blind?”
Chuckling, I hand one under the stall.“I’ve got you.”
“Thanks.”There’s a crinkle of plastic and a flush before Lucy emerges.She washes her hands at the sink as she catches my eye in the mirror.“Feels like we haven’t chatted alone in ages.How’s everything going?”
“Great.The roofing project at our place kinda stalled, but Dad just scored a huge new contract for a builder in Salem.”
“Doing ADA consultation?”
“Yep.”I check my teeth in the mirror and pick at a small fleck of pepper.“It’s his biggest job so far.”
“Love that for him.”She tears off a paper towel and dries her hands.“I was asking more about you, though.”
“Me?Um, work’s going well and?—”
“I meant more like, how are things with Mason?”
“Oh, um—fantastic.”Heat spreads up my neck to my cheeks.“Great!How’s Peter?”
“Amazing as ever.”She lowers her voice, though we’re the only two people around.“Mason told me about the fake dating thing.Don’t worry—your secret’s safe with me.”
“He mentioned that he told you.”And now this feels like the high school locker room.“It’s going really well.I didn’t think I’d like living with someone, but it’s been nice.I’ll be bummed when it’s time to move back.”
That’s a little more honest than I meant to be, and the heat in my cheeks gets hotter.
Lucy stares like she’s trying to see through my skull.“Oh my God.”
“What?”
