12. Skyler

She’s getting agitated again.

That makes two of us.

I had just gotten my semi hard on to calm down, got back into the headspace of viewing her as my friend’s younger sister. I even reached out and tugged that braid to cement the point.

And then she reverted back to the sex topic.

I’m pissing her off, but she’s not exactly making friends with me, either. Sowing my oats like it’s my job? Just who has she been talking to?

“Look, I’m not saying you should stay celibate. But why are you so bent on having random hookups?”

“If it’s a random hookup, there’s less at stake. It won’t matter if I screw up and make a mistake.”

“You keep talking about mistakes. Why are you so worried that you’re going to do the wrong thing?”

“Well, for one thing, Skyler,”

she says my name with scathing heat. “I was recently dumped by the man I thought I would marry over a single mistake. So don’t try to bullshit me that it’s okay to mess up, because things like that have consequences. And that’s why it needs to be a stranger. So, it can stay buried. But also, if I’m going to embarrass myself, I’d rather it be with some rando instead of someone who actually matters.”

I’m afraid to ask, but my mouth forms the words, anyway. “Embarrass yourself?”

She tips her head back, groaning loudly. “Kind of like I’m doing right now. But it’s not so bad, because you don’t actually matter.”

“Thanks?”

“I mean, I’m not trying to woo you.”

I laugh at that, making her frown.

Her nostrils flare and her hands start flying, punctuating each word. “I don’t know what I’m doing. Jonah wouldn’t go past first base and don’t get me started on Alec Wiese. He was sweet, but God damn, were we awkward. I have the sexual expertise of a cactus, but worse, because even cacti can reproduce. All I know is that I need to get laid, Skyler. If I don’t, I’ll probably combust.”

I sit there, shellshocked. Josh has complained about having sisters, but I haven’t ever experienced the full force of a woman’s mind quite like this. There’s nothing demure about it. She’s unburdening everything, trusting in me, which should be a relief. There’s something very platonic about her honesty with me.

But there’s one problem, there is nothing platonic about the boner I’m trying to disguise. And now she’s telling me she’s going to combust if she doesn’t get fucked.

I need to put a bookend on this conversation before I am well and truly screwed by it. “I’m not saying you need to wait until marriage or anything like that, because I don’t believe in that, either. But, Reese, if you’re trying to explore, you should do that with someone you trust. One partner. A good guy who won’t mind the mistakes you’re so worried about.”

Her eyes flash and she gives me a sly look. “Are you volunteering for the job?”

Fire and ice swirl up my spine. Lust and guilt in one tight braid. “Fuck, no.”

Her smile falters. “Fine. I’ll just call up Tyson.”

She pulls her phone out.

“No, you won’t.”

She glares at her phone, ignoring me as she navigates to the play store. “Then I’m downloading the dating apps.”

“You’re not doing that, either.”

She clicks on the first app she sees. Heatr. That particular app is sex central. She won’t have any trouble finding a hookup, but she’ll probably find some assholes along the way. “Put the phone down, Reese.”

She gestures at me with her phone. “What you and all the other overprotective men in my life are about to learn is that you are not, in fact, in charge of me. I’m going to do what I damn well please.”

“I’ll tell Josh.”

She laughs, opening up the app. “Go for it, wimp. See if I fucking care.”

Where did that sweet girl go? This little tornado, full of dirty words and dirty thoughts, is whirling close to disaster. She’s snapped and since I’m the unfortunate soul who happens to be present, it’s my duty to protect Reese from herself.

I reach for her phone, and she jerks it out of reach. She’s a small thing, though. Her full wingspan can’t compete with just one of my arms. She tries to hold the phone out, laughing mischievously when my grab comes up empty. Growling at her, I pin her arm down with one hand and snag the phone with the other.

But in the process, I’m fully leaning over her, caging her in. And this is when I realize that she smells good. Really, really good. Like a day at the beach, despite the fall weather. I’m thinking about bright skies and coconut-scented sunblock. And Reese in a bikini.

But she’s not actually in a bikini. She’s wearing an oversized hoodie, over a Kelly-green bra. And underneath that bra is a twining serpent. She says it symbolizes rebirth, but for me, it whispers sweet temptation. I recall that story. There was an apple. A man and a woman.

The apple made Eve see, and I’m wondering if that was such a bad thing. Maybe Reese has a point.

And if that snake offered Eve an apple, I think this one is offering me a peach.

Her lips make me think of a peach, and I need to know if they’re as juicy as they look.

My resolve crumbles beneath me like sand under waves. If women are a weakness of mine, Reese has just become my Achille’s heel.

She looks up at me with wide eyes, sweet lips parted slightly, and I lean in.

Twenty years.

That’s how long I’ve been friends with Josh. And I could risk it all with a single kiss.

But my lips brush hers and she sucks in a little breath and my selfish heart tells me to take and take and take.