All Stars Fall (Seaside Pictures #3.5)(33)

I didn’t blame him.

I could barely tolerate mine.

“Am I an asshole?” I asked, probably the wrong person, but whatever.

“Not always,” he said with a shrug. “I would say you’re the least assholey of all of us. How’s that make you feel?”

“Honestly, not well.” I groaned into my hands. “Because you’re a dick.”

“Thanks, man.” Drew released a sinister laugh. “Look, she’s with the kids. In fact, they’ve been gone three hours, they went to Mc Donald’s then the aquarium. If you ask me, she deserves more money than whatever you’re paying her, plus her place is completely ruined. I stopped by today, and she isn’t moving back in, not for a long ass time.” He was quiet and then, “You’re loaded. What could you possibly do that would make this situation better for her? Easier?”

“Uhhhhhh…” My mind drew a blank, but then I suggested, “Buy her a house?”

“Sometimes I wonder why they call you the mature one,” Drew muttered. “No, dumbass, but you could treat her. Flowers aren’t something girls buy for themselves. Hell, you could even give her a raise and demand she go shopping, make her feel special, that’s all I’m saying.”

“I do not know how to do that as her friend,” I admitted. “Not after tasting her—”

“Then—” he interrupted pointedly “—you better figure it out, and soon, because she’s going to be back in about five minutes.”

“Shit.”

“Good luck!” He jumped to his feet and walked to the door. “For what it’s worth, I never stood a chance.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I frowned in his direction.

“She likes you, man.” He sobered. “Hell if I know why she prefers a single dad with three messy kids over this.” He gestured along the length of his body with a laugh. “But she does, so the least you can do is figure your shit out and fast.”

The door slammed behind him.

I stared into the silence.

Hating it even more.

I wanted loud.

I wanted my kids.

I wanted Penny in my kitchen.

I wanted what I was terrified to have.

And I was petrified that if I touched her more, I’d ruin what shaky ground we were already on.

I had kids to think about.

Drew didn’t.

I quickly ran upstairs and tried to freshen up a bit. I looked like hell, but I only had enough energy to put on a fresh shirt, brush my teeth, and make it back downstairs.

And just as Drew had promised, minutes later the kids came bounding into the house in a mixture of coats flying, shoes getting pulled off, shoving, and then yelling about dibs on the video games.

Penny rounded the corner with a tired smile on her face.

“Massage,” I blurted.

She stilled. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” She threw her hands in the air. The kids ran past her up the stairs. Each of them had a bag. She must have taken them to a store too. “My feet ache, you kiss me then tell me nothing can happen, basically push me toward your bandmate, then let me stay with you, almost kiss me again, tell me no, insult my work, and now you want me to massage you?”

“You done yet?” I grinned.

She glared.

“I meant massage for you. You need a massage, and since I’m feeling a little bit better, I figured I could at least, you know…” I gulped.

She gaped and then nodded slowly, her cheeks pinking. “Yeah, um, let me just get the kids down for a nap and…” She begrudgingly muttered sorry under her breath and walked past me, then tripped on the first stair.

“You all right?”

“Yup!” She ran up the rest of them and minutes later returned with a bottle of lotion and handed it to me.

“Ah, getting fancy on me?” I teased.

“Are you really feeling better?” she countered.

I sat up and shrugged. Honestly, no. My head was pounding and I still felt delirious, but I couldn’t decipher if it was because I was going to touch her again or if I was still sick.

“Sit down.” I decided not to answer her.

“Where?” She put her hands on her hips.

“Right here.” I pointed to the space on the floor right in front of my legs and then opened them a bit. Maybe this was a bad idea, the touching.

She quickly moved to the floor and sat between my legs. My knees were next to her head and all I kept thinking was that it would be so easy to tug her up against me, to kiss the back of her neck and grip her ass with both hands.

Focus.

Her hair was already in a ponytail, which for some reason made me sad. I wanted to touch it, to move it out of the way, to feel its weight in my hand.

I cleared my throat and started massaging her shoulders.

She hung her head forward. “That feels amazing.”

Yeah, it did.

I was supposed to be doing something for her and already it was doing something for me, to me.

I stopped and grabbed some lotion then spread it across her neck, careful not to get it on her shirt. I massaged deep and ran my hands down her bare shoulders. A flimsy strap stood in the way of full skin-on-skin contact.

I hated that strap more than I hated Drew, and that was saying a lot.