She gives me a coy smile. “I was thinking we should take that wine out to the hot tub. Interested?”
Hell yes, I’m interested.
Especially after seeing those text messages earlier. I know reading over her shoulder was a dick move, but when I saw the unmistakable look of arousal on her face, I couldn’t resist. I had to know if she was sexting some dude. When I saw what she and her cousin were talking about, it took everything in me not to pin her against the car and let my instincts take over. I had to remind myself that Rosie Morales is not some random girl, therefore, I had to think this through. I’m not a moron. I know she’s attracted to me. But I didnotknow she was considering acting on it before this afternoon.
I couldn’t hold back my cheesy grin if I tried. “Absolutely. I’ll grab my trunks and change in the bathroom. You can use the bedroom.”
“’Kay,” Rosie agrees, hopping off the stool she was perched on.
I change into my swim trunks as fast as humanly possible, grabbing a couple of bath towels from the linen closet before heading into the main living space. A minute later, Rosie is strolling into the room, wrapped in a fluffy white robe.
Damn, I can’t wait to see what she has on underneath.
“Can you hold these for a sec?” I gesture to the towels.
“Sure.” She extends her terrycloth-covered arms, grabbing the towels.
A bolt of static electricity shoots up my arm the second our fingertips brush against each other, and I swear to fuck, there’s a visible spark between us.
Symbolism at its finest, ladies and gentlemen.
I reach into the wine fridge and retrieve the bottle of prosecco we opened earlier. “Does this work for you? I think there’s enough left for two glasses.”
“Is that a real question?” she sasses.
“Smartass.” I make a gimme motion, waiting for thebetter than being a dumbassretort I know is coming. “C’mon, you know you’re dying to say it.”
She laughs. “Dying to saywhat?Did you suddenly develop mind-reading skills?”
I wish.
I remove the stopper from the bottle. “We’ve already established I know you better than most people. That’s what happens when you spend nearly every day of your adolescence together.”
“That’s true,” she concedes. “But we barely hang out anymore. Not like we used to.”
That’s because I couldn’t stand seeing you with that douchebag, so I purposely kept my distance whenever he was around. Which was way too often, if you ask me.
My jaw clenches as I recall what that fucknut did to her. “What’s your point?”
“My pointis that I think you know Teenage Rosalie a lot better than Grownup Rosalie. Sometimes it feels like you still think I’m that starry-eyed girl who’s always following her brother and his friend around.”
My eyes slowly wander from her pink-tipped toes up to her beautiful brown eyes. The shapeless robe she’s wearing does nothing to deter my cock from springing to life at the thought of watching her take it off.
“Trust me, Pip. I amwellaware of how grown up you are.”
She points to me. “The fact that you still call me Pip says otherwise.”
I frown in confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Rosie props a hand on her hip. “Logan, you gave me that stupid nickname on the day we met, when I waseleven.”
“Yeah, because you weretiny, as inpipsqueak.” I wave my hand toward her. “You still are. You’re what? Five-two? That’s fun-sized.”
“Is not,” she huffs. “Did you ever think maybe you’re just a giant?”
I’m six-three and just over two hundred pounds. I’m certainly not a small guy, but I’m definitely not a giant either.
“You’re ridiculous,” I tell her. “Look,Rosalie. If anything, I call you Pip out of habit or affection, nothing more. I sure as shit donotthink you’re still some starry-eyed kid. I had no idea it bothered you so much. Now that I do, I’ll try to eliminate it from my vocabulary.”