Into the Tide (Cottonwood Cove #1)(54)

She rolled her pretty eyes. “Don’t take the moral high road and then claim it’s for me. You’re not doing it for me or for yourself. You’re doing it for my brother, who isn’t involved at all.” She pushed to her feet and moved to the doorway. “You know what… I take that back. You’re doing it a little bit for yourself because I think you’re terrified of the way you feel, Bear. I just never would have pegged you for a coward. I’ve got to get to work.”

Shots fired.

What the fuck was that about?

A coward? I’d been called a lot of things in my life.

A player. An asshole. Noncommittal. Cocky.

A coward? Never.

I was not afraid of Lila James.

I wasn’t afraid of anything.





sixteen





Lila





Hugh and I spent the rest of the week completely avoiding one another. I was fine with it. If he wasn’t grown up enough to own up to his feelings, then that was on him. It wasn’t like I was pressuring him to have a serious relationship. I was here for two more months, and weren’t flings his specialty? I tried not to be offended by the fact that he wouldn’t go there with me, but it definitely stung.

And we’d be going to the wedding tomorrow together.

Obviously, I wanted to be prepared just in case something was to happen. So, I’d asked my best friends for some tips, and somehow, I’d been wrangled into going to the place where Sloane gets waxed. She’d picked me up from Reynolds’, and I glanced over as I said goodbye to Brandy and found Hugh’s eyes on me.

His eyes were always on me.

He was just too much of a baby to do anything about it.

“Rina and Del are meeting us there,” she said after I jumped into her vintage Volkswagen bug and buckled up.

I laughed. “Is it normally a group event?”

“No. But Del and Rina are in the mood for some mac ‘n cheese with a side of awkward sexual questioning at Cottonwood Café, so I told them to meet us at the wax place first.” She pulled out onto the road and glanced over at me. “So, you think Kline’s the guy? He’s perfect fling material.”

I felt guilty not telling them the truth, but it was just easier this way. The humorous part was that nothing was happening anyway, but if there was a chance that I ended up in a room with Hugh Reynolds this weekend, and he stopped worrying about my brother and made a move, I wanted to be prepared. The girls had all shared horror stories about being embarrassed that they hadn’t groomed anything down there, and I’d always liked being prepared for things. I’d been preparing to lose my virginity for far longer than necessary. It was almost ridiculous at this point.

“I don’t know. Time will tell,” I said, as she pulled into the parking lot, and I looked up to see a large sign that read The Pretty Kitty.

“We’re here.” She turned off the car and giggled.

“Really? I couldn’t tell by the gigantic sign.”

“Meow,” she said over a fit of laughter. “Let’s go, girl. Del’s car is here, so they must be inside.”

Del and Rina both hugged us when we stepped inside.

“I saw Kline yesterday at the grocery store, and he actually blushed when I brought you up. He said things are going great,” Rina said with a wide grin spread clear across her face.

I didn’t know why Kline was playing along, or why I was, either. Nothing was even happening with Hugh, and nothing was happening with Kline. And I certainly didn’t want to do anything to hurt him and Danielle. But he claimed Danielle wanted to keep things casual, so he had no problem with it.

“It’s nothing serious.”

“Yet, here we are?” Rina giggled. “The first time I did this, it was not pleasant. It gets easier every time.”

“Great. I feel a little awkward about her seeing everything,” I whispered.

“Please. This woman has seen more pussies than most of the men here in Cottonwood Cove.” Sloane waggled her brows. “And I’m guessing yours is gorgeous, just like you.”

We all laughed at how ridiculous she was, when a woman with bright pink hair came out of the room. “Hey, ladies, good to see you.”

She hugged each of my friends before turning to me. “Hey, I’m Veronica. You must be Lila. You’re the virgin, right?”

I gasped and turned to glare at Sloane. “You told her?”

“Um… no,” Sloane said over hysterical laughter. “That would be on you. She just meant a virgin waxer.”

“Ahhh… okay. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. None of my business. Let’s go, my little virgin waxer.” She led me into a room, and they each took a seat in the tiny waiting area outside of the room.

The next forty minutes were not very pleasant. And remember, I had a pretty high suffering rate with all the training I’d done over the years. But, hot waxing your vajazzle—it was up there in the misery department.

“Damn. Something is off with this wax today,” Veronica said for maybe the fourteenth time after ripping off the bandages.

“But it’s okay, right? It’s working?”

“Um, yes. It’s definitely working. It just seems hotter than usual.”