Page 19 of The Right Guy
“Oh, Theo.” I swatted his arm, laying my cheek on his bicep. “I don’t think alcohol agrees with me. Getting here is a foggy blur, let alone throwing up.” Reticence clung to the air and his muscles tensed. “Can you believe Ro kissed me? He really kissed me!” I said faintly.
“Yes, Ada, I can believe it. You repeated it more than fifty fucking times. The guy’s a snake. A cheating, spineless reptile,” he gritted out. A storm rattled through his chest. “When will you wake up and realize it, Ada? Huh? When?” His reaction seemed strung out, and his eyes narrowed.
A haze of tears stung my eyes. “Why are you being like this?” I inched back, studying the man before me. His expression was stern, his complexion haggard and drawn.
“Just stop it with the fucking Ro bullshit. Okay?” Hegrowled and rotated to face the ocean.
“Okay.” I gulped, confusion knitting my brows together.
“Ada.” His large hands reached for me, grasping my biceps and jerking me into his robust physique. Strong arms folded around me, and I happily melted into him. “Sorry, Ada. I’m tired. I didn’t mean to be cruel,” he muttered.
I should have probed further, smiled, joked or offered to make breakfast, but the tight welcomed hug he held me in was the right place to hide in. When his breath sighed into my hair, I believed he needed it too.
“I had the best sleep, Theo. Thanks for giving up your bed—and Skully. You’re the best.”
Ten
Confusion
The memory twisted inside me like a cyclone. I kissed Ro.
My hero, who saved me from drowning, looked right at me, like he finally admitted there waschemistry between us. When our lips met, hunger and passion fueled the kiss, and those searching fingers of his took the thrill to another level. It was exciting as any forbidden fumble in the panty area would be, but it lacked a certain element. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
In my dreams, it was Theo looking down at me with lustful eyes. Not Ro. My subconscious secretly wished it had been his lips all over mine, and for some unknown reason, I kept imagining my wish had come true. Or perhaps it was only a fleeting glimpse of something I longed to be real.After all, my affection for Theo had recently become inappropriate for so-called friends.
Now, all I could think of was a certain divine flavour of coffee and mint, and the fascinating touch of velvety lips—with whiskers. OMIGOD!
I bolted upright in my bed and yanked the duvet close to my frantically beating heart. My fingertips fiddled with the pea-sized stone dangling around my neck.
I kissed him—I kissed Theo.
The seductive kiss flooded back into my mind, cheered on by my bravery or stupidity—all swirling in a mash of lips and moans and sexy sweet sensations. Those impeccable lips had haunted me for days. All of a sudden, the reality hit me like a brick, and I remembered the surprizing kiss unearthed from the hidden drunken haze.
That explains why he’d been distant. It had been three days since I kissed him and then puked straight after. What a dick move. I’m a terrible friend. We’d barely been together since my drunk and disorderly behavior, which wasn’t normal for us, not at all. Now it all made sense.Theo was pissedat me for stepping over the line. And—I shuddered. I kissed him after I’d locked lips with Ro.What was wrong with me?
I scampered off the bed, tripped over my tennis shoe, and groaned loudly. “I’m such an ass!”
“Easy there, Ada. What’s wrong?” Kim muttered in a sleepy daze from under the sheets.
My pulse skidded and stopped, then sped up again as Theo’s ocean blue eyes crowded my mind. “Shit, Kim. I’ve messed up. I kissed Theoafter theparty. I’d been so drunk. I must have blanked it out, orforgottenabout it until now. Now I know why he’s acting weird with me.” I palmed my forehead.
“You forgot about kissing your best friend?” Kim peered out at me with blonde locks covering her face. “How could your brain skipovera kiss with Theo?”
Tears pooled my eyes when the glorious memory flooded back. Tasty warm lips. Intensity burning through me. The urgency. Or was there? He pulled back. He put the brakes on our kiss.
“I was drunk,” I whimpered defensively, knowing perfectly well that was not an excuse to ruin a friendship. “No, no, no!” My mind whirred, and I pounded my temple with the heel of my hand. “Kim, I crossed over the friend-zone line. I stamped all over our understanding.”
“You guys have an understanding?”
“Doesn’t every boy-girl friendship? We’re friends, not fuck buddies.”
“Did you sleep with him?” Her hands found her cheeks, and she gasped.
“No, we didn’t—”Did we?I’d woken in Theo’s bed, half-naked, in just his tee. “Oh, shit, Kim! What have I done?” I stared at the ceiling, willing every single second to replay. “No, we didn’t fool around. I would have remembered that.” I confirmed, recalling heaving and vomiting references. “I puked, and he cleaned me up.”
Kim gawked at me and her jaw dropped a fraction. After a lengthy silence, she eventually said, “You need to speak to him, Ada. You two have a bizarre relationship. The guy practically worships you. You’re like a married couple.”
“No, we aren’t.” I stepped into my jeans.
