Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(115)

‘Oh, and Meg, I’ll do your toes. Emma sucks at it,’ Sara announced.

She was right. I couldn’t paint my toes without getting it on the surrounding skin, no matter how much I concentrated. I could paint the smallest details of a tree on a canvas, but I couldn’t master my toes – as pathetic as that was.

‘What about strip poker?’ Serena chirped.

‘What is it with you and these games?’ Meg demanded. ‘You have a boyfriend. Why would you want to get naked in front of other guys, or see them naked?’

‘It’s more about the truth part,’ Serena said carefully.

Sara suddenly stopped what she was doing. ‘Come with me, Serena,’ she ordered. ‘Em, you stay here and finish your toes. We’ll right back.’

‘I’ll be right there. I’m going to get James,’ Serena replied.

‘What the hell just happened?’ I asked, completely lost and slightly annoyed.

‘We forgot we were going to make dessert, and since you suck at cooking too, just hang out here.’ Meg lied terribly.

They were up to something. That much was obvious. I was just afraid to find out what it was.

Jogging up the steps in search of water, I found Emma with her knee bent and her short dress tucked between her legs, concentrating on painting her toes. She grimaced in frustration and wiped the toe clean with a damp tissue.

‘Stupid toes. Who cares if they’re painted anyway?’ she huffed under her breath. The corner of my mouth rose.

‘Where are the girls?’

‘I don’t know,’ she griped. ‘Conspiring or something.’

‘Need some help?’ I asked, nodding towards her toes.

‘You really want to paint my toes?’

‘I could probably do a better job than you are,’ I teased, making her narrow her eyes at me.

‘Go for it,’ she said, thrusting the purple bottle at me.

I sat at the bottom of the lounge chair. ‘Purple, huh?’ I noted. ‘Not pink?’

A rush of colour filled her face. ‘I haven’t …’ She looked away. ‘Pink’s my chocolate,’ she whispered.

I raised my eyes to meet hers. The sorrow that reflected in them was difficult to witness. I nodded in understanding and looked back down at her feet, not knowing what to say.

I gently set her foot against my leg and dabbed the brush on the lip of the bottle. ‘Here,’ I said, handing her the bottle so I could hold her toe. I bent over and concentrated on her feet, doing my best not to glance at the legs attached to them.

When I looked up to get more polish, Emma was watching me, intent and perfectly still. I grinned and her cheeks pinked. The colour still looked stunning on her, regardless.

‘You can breathe, Emma,’ I teased. ‘Stop thinking about me naked and breathe.’

‘Evan!’ she hollered, yanking her foot away. I started laughing. I knew if she’d had something to throw at me, she would’ve. Then I eyed the nail-polish bottle in her hand and jumped up.

‘Don’t throw that at me,’ I begged. ‘I was just messing with you. You’ve been so tense since our talk this morning. I figured I’d make you relax a little.’

‘That’s not how you do it,’ she lectured, crossing her arms defiantly. I chuckled.

‘Stop thinking about it,’ I told her, trying to keep my tone light. ‘It’ll only make it worse. Think about every reason why I won’t kiss you.’

Her eyes dipped. ‘Right,’ she whispered, her shoulders sinking.

I grimaced. Wrong thing to say. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant –’

‘It’s okay,’ she said, raising her eyes to me. I smiled apologetically. ‘Will you please finish my toes?’

‘Sure. I only have a couple left.’ I sat back down and eased Emma’s foot onto my thigh.

‘What the hell are you doing, Evan?’

I looked up to find Sara glaring at me like I was violating some girl code or something. ‘Finishing what you started,’ I told her, painting the last toe. I eased Emma’s foot onto the chair, before twisting the brush in the bottle. ‘There you go. All … purple.’

Emma smiled softly, meeting my gaze. ‘Thank you,’ she said sincerely. I nodded and took off into the house.

‘Hey, Evan,’ Meg called to me as I passed her and Serena on the couch. ‘Do you think the guys would be up for playing cards tonight?’

‘I can ask.’

They looked at each other in a mischievous exchange. Emma was right. They were up to something.





35


Brutal Honesty


‘TJ, WE ARE NOT LISTENING TO THAT SHIT ALL night,’ Jared threatened, setting a speaker from the entertainment room on the patio.

‘We’ll let the girls decide,’ TJ stated. ‘And where are they? Thought you’d show up together.’

‘They’re on their way. And you’re going to be outnumbered, TJ,’ I told him. ‘Meg’s the only one who’s going to be on your side.’

‘Sara –’

‘Has a wall of electric guitars,’ Jared finished.

‘Whatever. We’ll put your music on when they get here,’ TJ conceded reluctantly.