Full Package(32)

I laugh. Josie’s hardly online. She’s social, but she’s social in real life. “What would you regret?”

She shifts closer and props her head in her hand, mirroring me. The space between us is endless, and at the same time, it barely exists. Maybe six or seven inches separate us. Few enough for me to loop my fingers in her hair, tug her close, and kiss the hell out of her. But more than enough for me to not cross that line, too.

Lines. Friendship. Having her in my life. Living with her. Those reasons ought to be enough to stay on this side of the kiss/don’t kiss divide.

“I’m not sure I’d regret anything,” she says. “I’m trying to live a life without regrets. I’m glad I took over the bakery. I’m glad I took out the loan. I’m glad I pursued my dreams. I’m even glad I’m doing the whole online-dating thing,” she says, and my heart sinks like a stone.

“Yeah?”

“I’d like to find the one. I’d like to fall in love. I’d like to have a family and all that jazz.”

“You would?”

She nods. “I would. I try to do the things that matter to me so I won’t have regrets. Do you have any regrets?”

I flop to my back, reflecting on her question. “I’ve done the things I want to do so far. The things that are important to me. So, honestly, aside from you using my hand as Lyle Lyle, I can’t really think of a thing I regret not doing,” I say, deadpan all the way.

She’s silent, and I look over at her.

A smile spreads slowly across her pretty face. Her green eyes twinkle with mischief, and her soft, sweet lips lift into a sexy grin.

Then she flips to her side, her back to me, and slides under the sheets. She scoots closer. I take that as my cue to spoon her.

I’ve drunk too much champagne. I’ve eaten too much dessert. I’m in bed with Josie Hammer, her sweet, sexy body pressed to mine, and she reaches for my hand.

I slide it over her shirt and between her breasts, and I groan.

I’ve finally become a stuffed crocodile, and it’s better than all my fantasies.

She sighs, the kind of sleepy nighttime sigh of contentment that comes from a woman who’s living a life without regret. I’d like to think I am, too. But when she falls asleep a minute later in my arms, I do regret something.

I regret that I’m completely and utterly unable to resist my best friend.

I press a soft kiss to the back of her neck, and I’m certain I can’t stay on this side of the divide anymore.





18





I must have fallen asleep, too.

But when I wake up, it feels as if I’m still dreaming. My arms are wrapped around her, and my hand is wedged between the two most beautiful breasts I’ve ever felt.

But it’s not my hand that is doing the most interesting thing.

Not at all.

Her hand is on my hip.

She’s stroking me. She’s touching me. She’s running her fingers from my hip, down the outside of my leg.

This is the best dream I’ve ever had.

Her breath catches, and then the dream ratchets up. It goes to dream level twenty or fifty or ten million when she presses her ass against my dick. She pushes back lightly, and then a soft moan falls from her lips.

Ohhhh.

It’s the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard.

And I surrender to it.

“Josie,” I whisper, my voice raspy.

“Mmm,” she murmurs.

“Turn around, baby.”

The sheets rustle, and then we’re face-to-face. I lift my hand, cup her cheek, and brush my thumb along her jaw. Then I kiss her, and holy fucking hell. I’m on fire in seconds. I’m lit up everywhere. Sparks, and desire, and lust—they all just fucking combust the second our lips touch.

My fingers slide into her hair, and her hand slinks up my bare chest, and I kiss her without holding back. No reservations. No regrets.

My tongue sweeps across hers, and she deepens the kiss, seeking more. She kisses me back with a raw hunger. Her lips are eager, and she explores mine just like I do to hers. It’s a hand-off, a back and forth. I lead, then she leads, then we both kiss greedily, and we can’t seem to get enough. I don’t want to stop because she tastes so fucking good, and she turns me on so fucking much, and I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anyone.

And in mere seconds of kissing her, I can already tell how she’ll be in bed—how she’s give-and-take. Her hands travel up and down my chest, her nails scratch at my pecs, and her fingertips outline my abs. My hand curls around the back of her skull, holding her tight as I kiss her hard, sucking on her bottom lip, then the top, then just devouring her mouth.

I push her shoulders down to the bed, and we’re no longer side to side. She’s on her back, and I know where she wants me. I know where I want to be.

Her hand tugs at my hip and I move on top of her, and then I’m so far fucking gone. Because she spreads her legs. I grab her thigh, hook it around my hip, and then grind against her.

Yeah, I’m dry humping her. And it’s fucking astonishing. I kiss and thrust, and she moans and arches. She kisses me with her whole body, and it makes my head swim with lust. I’m dying, fucking dying to be inside her.

I’m so goddamn hard, and she’s already ridiculously wet. I can feel her damp panties through these flimsy shorts that I want to tear off her. But I don’t want to break contact—I just want to fuck Josie like this.