Page 51 of Lake
“Go sit,” I said sweetly with a head jerk in the direction of the tables.
She eyed me, clearly not liking that I wanted to take care of her.
“Don’t get your feathers all ruffled, I’m only thinking of your poor lady parts that you didn’t ice last night,” I said low and right next to her ear. I knew that would do it.
And as her head fell back and she let out a roaring laugh, I could tell that it had worked.
“Fine,” she said, capturing my eyes with a hard stare. “But just for the record, I can do it myself. And also, thank you.”
She turned away from me with a little sass in her shoulders, then walked right over and sat down at the table where Abigail and Laurel were sitting with a few others.
I was surprised there were still that many people hanging around at this hour. It was that awkward time between breakfast and lunch. Honestly, I figured there wouldn’t be any food left, but there happened to be enough French toast sitting next to the stove for Bridge and me. Hell, yeah! Maybe it was just one of those lazy days that everyone was feeling.
“Dude,” Mouse said as he walked up to me. “Nice.” There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone as he pointed to my neck. I cringed having a good idea of what was there. “You know, for all those that didn’t hear you guys last night.”
“Shut up,” I said as I playfully punched him in the shoulder.
His response was to laugh and shake his head at me as he walked away.
I looked over at where Bridget was sitting, chatting with the girls and the brothers like she’d known them a long time. I could tell that introductions were made and now she knew most of the women. Too bad Gwen wasn’t here.
But, hold up.
Why?
Why should it matter?
Even as I asked those questions silently, I had a good idea why. Only, I couldn’t let those answers in because soon she would be gone.
I made up our plates, not even hesitating to fill them both up. We exerted a lot of energy last night and we sure as hell needed to refuel. You know, in case it happened again or something.
After I set the plates on the table, I went back and grabbed a couple glasses of orange juice, then poured two cups of coffee, adding a splash of cream to hers. Her smile was warm when she looked at me as I took the seat next to her.
All I could think about was kissing her right now.
The kind of soft, sweet kiss that said something more.
B-ry leaned over and whispered something into Laurel’s ear and as her eyes shifted to my neck she choked on the sip of water she’d just taken.
“What am I missing?” Abigail asked wide-eyed.
I shot them both a death glare as I tried to move the neck of my shirt to cover the hickey that was there.
“Oh,” Abigail said and her cheeks went a little pink.
“You’re lucky you didn’t hear them,” B-ry said with a roll of his eyes.
“Bryan,” Laurel said as she pinned him with a look that told him he needed to shut his mouth.
And things just got really awkward.
I had a feeling Abigail might have had a tiny crush on me. She was nice and easy to talk to but that was as far as it went for me. Even if there was something there, I wasn’t dumb enough to mess with one of my brother’s sisters. That was pretty much an unsaid rule. I was pretty sure I’d never done anything to lead her on, at least not intentionally. But that didn’t mean that I was a complete asshole and sure, I felt a little bad right now. It wasn’t my intention to rub it in anyone’s face.
I felt Bridget stiffen beside me no doubt catching onto all the unsaid things floating around.
“Shit,” she said under her breath looking up at me with a hint of regret in her eyes. Yes, regret. I could read it clear as day. “You know what, I need to get moving. There’s a couple of things I need to get done… like now.”
“Bridge,” I said but she was already up and bolting out of the room.
