The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(31)

I walked over to the window and opened the curtain, letting some of the morning sun into our hotel room. As I looked down at our parking lot view, I thought about the way she’d backed into me last night.

Lala had drifted off to sleep before I had. I’d stayed awake for hours, struggling with my thoughts and the fact that my body was on fire despite my best efforts to remain neutral while lying next to her. And then at one point, her ass had shifted back toward me, positioned directly on my dick. I’d wanted to freaking explode. I didn’t think she knew what she’d done because I’d heard little snores at almost the same moment. But my dick, which had already been struggling, had risen to full staff.

Aching for more, I’d done the opposite of what felt natural—I’d moved the comforter to act as a barrier for my cock before pushing my hips back. Then I’d reached out and wrapped my arms around her instead, because I couldn’t help it. That was a lot more innocent than grinding my cock against her ass, which was what I’d really wanted to do.

It had been physically painful to move back. I’d ended up falling asleep with my arms around her. Not sure what my dick or my body had decided to do while I was sleeping, but I figured I couldn’t be responsible for anything if I was unconscious.

Lala’s face was red when she emerged from the bathroom. She also had what looked like a rash all over her neck.

My eyes widened. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “He was just checking in since he hadn’t heard from me.”

“What did you tell him?”

She sighed. “I told him you came to help me, but I lied and told him that we were in separate rooms. And I feel terrible for doing that. I know we didn’t do anything wrong, but—”

“Fuck no, we didn’t, and you shouldn’t feel guilty.” I stepped toward her. “But I can understand why you couldn’t tell him we shared a bed.” I looked down at her neck. “You’re breaking out from stress. Stop beating yourself up about it.”

“I didn’t have the heart to tell him we slept in the same bed, even if it was innocent. It wouldn’t have made sense to him.” She muttered, “It doesn’t even really make sense to me.”

It wasn’t exactly innocent. We both knew it, even if we weren’t saying it. That was the problem.

“I get it. You’re trying to protect him. I can respect that. But we didn’t…” I chose my words carefully. “Cross any lines. So you have nothing to feel guilty about.”

“Yeah, I know. I know.” Her eyes momentarily fell to my chest before she shook her head. “Anyway…let me go change so I can give you back your shirt.”

She returned to the bathroom for a few minutes, then emerged and handed me my shirt. As I slipped it over my head, I breathed in deeply. This shirt was going to mess me up for the rest of the day; I wouldn’t be able to think straight.

We checked out of the hotel and headed to the auto parts store to get what I needed to fix her car.

Once the job was done, Lala hit the road, since she was already missing the first part of her workday. There was no time to talk about any residual awkwardness left over from last night or this morning.

It took me a little while to get the tire on the van replaced, but then I headed back as well. The drive to New York was crappy, to say the least. Not only could I still smell her all over my damn shirt, but now I was smelling her with the memory of what it felt like to hold her, to have her ass pressed against me. I’d actually fallen asleep with a woman in my arms. You know how many times I’d done that in my life? Never. Not intentionally, at least. Sounds crazy, but I’d never had the urge to do that. As many women as I’d slept with, I couldn’t remember a single time I’d specifically wrapped my arms around someone. There might have been some tangled bodies here and there, but nothing as intimate as holding someone.

I’d told Lala we didn’t do anything wrong. And maybe she didn’t do anything wrong, but I’d crossed the line the moment I made the decision to get up off that floor and join her in the bed. I knew it was dangerous—especially after she admitted she was nervous because she was attracted to me. I’d made her believe she could trust me.

But she shouldn’t.

An evil part of me wanted to tempt her. I hated myself for that because I knew a girl like Lala would never forgive herself if she cheated on her fiancé. Why would I put someone I cared about in that position? But my feelings for her were very complicated—and selfish.

The ride went by in a blur because I was so stuck in my head, and it seemed like just a few minutes before I arrived home and parked the van in a lot down the block.

If I thought my day was going to get any better once I got back, I was sorely mistaken. Owen stormed down the hall toward me as I entered the building.

“There you are! Where the fuck have you been all morning, and why aren’t you answering your phone?”

“Sorry, dude. Phone is dead.” I hadn’t brought my charger with me on my unexpected trip.

His ears were red, and a vein looked like it was ready to pop out of his forehead. “I had to miss a fucking important meeting because of a leak you were supposed to be here to fix. The least you can do is charge your damn phone.”

My head was killing me. “What happened?” I asked as I opened the door to my apartment.