The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(37)

It was me, Ryan, and Holden on my high school graduation day. I remembered it like yesterday. Ryan had been diagnosed a few weeks before, but no one told me until the week after graduation. They hadn’t wanted to ruin my big day since I was class valedictorian.

Pulling the picture closer to examine it, I studied my brother’s face, looking for any signs he was sick. But there weren’t any visible ones yet. My eyes shifted to Holden. He looked just the way I remembered him back then, which wasn’t all that different from now—shaggy hair, crooked smile that made you think he was up to no good, and eyes that made you feel like you were the only woman in the world.

It was odd that Holden had kept that picture. He had to have a million of him and Ryan alone, or better yet, him and all of the guys. I was going to be late to my presentation if I didn’t hurry up, so I’d have to mull over that more later. Right now, I needed to drop the wallet off next door and get to work.

Holden answered wearing low-hanging sweats and no shirt.

My eyes immediately found the thin trail of hair that ran up his stomach between his sculpted V muscles. Apparently, that one-minute staring session last night hadn’t been nearly enough.

Holden raised a brow with a smirk. “See something you like?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh my gosh. You’re attractive. I looked. Big whoop. I don’t have time for this.” I grabbed his wallet off the top of the boxes I’d set down on the floor and practically flung it at him. “Here’s your wallet. I found it where you were sitting last night. I thought you might need it.” I bent and picked up the three boxes and started toward the elevator. “Have a good day,” I yelled without turning back. “Gotta run, or I’m going to be late.”

“Whoa. Hang on.” Holden stepped out of his apartment. “How are you getting to work with all that crap? You usually take the train.”

“There’s no parking near my office. It’s actually less walking if I take the train.”

“Hang on. I’ll drive you. I have the van parked right around the corner.”

I was about to argue, but Holden disappeared inside and came back out with keys. He was still pulling a T-shirt over his head when the elevator doors slid open. Once we were inside, he took the boxes from my hands.

“I’m perfectly capable of carrying them,” I said.

“I know you are.” He shrugged. “But your brother would kick my ass if he saw you like that and me with empty hands. Besides, you might not believe this because you think I’m a manwhore, but I’m a gentleman at heart.”

I smiled. “Okay. Thank you.”

We made it three quarters of the way to my office with small talk, but then we stopped at a light and Holden looked over. “Thanks for returning my wallet.”

“Of course.”

“Did you snoop and look inside it?”

“No,” I answered curtly. A little too curt and a lot too quick. Unfortunately, I was a shit liar and felt my face starting to heat under Holden’s stare.

Come on, light… Come on, light…change already.

But it didn’t happen fast enough. A slow, cocky grin spread across Holden’s face and he pointed to mine. “Liar!”

“Oh my God!” I covered my face with both hands. “Fine, I did. I snooped, okay? I just couldn’t help myself, even though I knew it was wrong.”

He shook his head as the light turned green. “Sweet little Lala Ellison, AKA the good one, turns out to be a criminal.”

My face was bright red when I took my hands away. “I’m really so sorry, Holden. Can you forgive me?”

He glanced over with a mischievous smile. “Of course I can.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I thought you were going to give me a harder time about it.”

Holden put on his blinker as we approached my office. He held up his pointer. “Not so fast. I wasn’t finished with my sentence. What I was going to say was, of course I can forgive you, once I get to invade your privacy.”

“Invade my privacy? What does that entail?”

Holden pulled into a spot in front of my office and shifted the van into park. He held out his right hand. “Let me see your purse. Tit for tat. I get to see what you keep in there. Then we’ll be even, and I’ll forgive you.”

“What? No!” No way was I letting him look inside my bag, especially since I hadn’t unpacked it from my trip home yet.

But Holden reached over and snatched my purse from my lap. He immediately switched it to his left hand and held it up in the air and out of my reach. I lunged for it, but the damn seatbelt snapped me back into my seat.

“Holden, give it back!”

“Oh? Did you have something private in here? Like the things in my wallet?”

In my panic, it took me longer than normal to release the seatbelt. But when I did, I jumped from my seat and grabbed for the purse. Holden was laughing and smiling. I yanked it from his hands, but the strap was still caught around his arm, which caused an unexpected pull back, and my purse flipped upside down, spilling its contents all over…

Including my vibrator.

My.

Vibrator!

I froze.

Holden’s eyes flared wide.

And of course, Holden being Holden, he proceeded to reach down and grab it.