The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(69)

“Yup.” She giggled.

“Not bad for a day’s work, eh?” I winked.

“You’re a workhorse, Holden.” She sighed. Then her tone changed. “So… there’s something I need to say.”

I shut the fridge and turned to her, giving her all of my attention. “What’s up?”

Lala fiddled with her hands. “Even though I told you I’d be up for anything, there is actually one thing that I wouldn’t be willing to do with you.”

“Okay…” I blinked. “I’m listening.”

“I know I might appear eager and curious and all that, but I want to make it clear that I would never be okay with sharing. So threesomes are out of the question.”

I couldn’t help smiling as I walked over and wrapped my hands around her ass. “That’s so funny.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t even think about anyone else right now, let alone invite them into our bed, Lala. I would never want to share you with anyone—man or woman. The thought of anyone else touching you makes me sick to my stomach. You’re the only girl I’ve ever felt that way about.” I kissed her nose. “Anyway, I have a rule as far as threesomes go.”

“What is it?”

“I would never expect a woman to share me if I couldn’t also share her. It needs to be a two-way street. And under no circumstances would I ever be willing to share you.”

“How long have you had that rule?”

“I just made it up.” I smirked.

She smacked my chest. Our eyes locked, and then her expression turned serious again.

I pulled her in closer. “What’s on your mind, sweetheart?”

She looked up at me. “I don’t ever want this carefree feeling to end. Let’s just take this day by day, not worrying about where it’s going. I’m not ready to think about how to define what we’re doing.”

“We don’t need to define anything right now,” I said, though I already worried about what was going to happen when her research project was over. “We’ll obviously have to figure things out when your contract ends, but that’s not today.”

“Yeah.” She frowned. “I can’t think about that right now.”

“Let’s not, then.”

I ended up running out to the market since my fridge had been pretty depleted. We had rotisserie chicken, instant mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli for dinner. It wasn’t fancy, but it was edible, and Lala demolished what was on her plate.

We were hanging out in my kitchen, having a glass of wine after dinner when she said, “I should probably go back to my apartment so I don’t wake you in the morning when I have to get up for work.”

I put my glass down. “Stay with me. I promise to let you get some sleep.”

“I don’t know if I believe that.” She poked my chest.

My dick stiffened. Jesus, all she had to do was poke me with her index finger, and I was already ready to poke her. She was right. She wouldn’t get any sleep if she stayed over. Damn, I was weak.

Still, I persisted. “What do I have to do to convince you to stay?”

Just then there was a knock at the door. Without thinking it through, I opened it without checking who it was first. Bad idea. Standing there was a blonde I vaguely recognized. Shit.

“Hey, Holden.” She smiled. “Please tell me you remember me.”

I think her name was Piper? We’d had a one-night stand earlier this year. This is not good. Why the fuck is she here?

“Do you? Remember me?” she asked.

I ignored her question. “What are you doing here?”

“I know it’s been a while since that time we hung out after your show. I was just in the area, and it reminded me of you. I figured I’d take a chance, come by, and say hello.” She looked past me to Lala, who had her hand on her stomach, like she was about to throw up.

The woman’s cheeks reddened. “Oh…gosh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Yeah, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m…”

“Well…” She shook her head. “Yeah.” She stepped back. “Forget I came by.”

Piper (I think?) turned and headed back down the hall.

But the damage had been done. If I didn’t feel so badly for Lala, I might’ve felt bad for how cold I’d just been to someone who really didn’t deserve it. But I didn’t give a crap about anyone but Lala right now. I looked over at her, feeling like a piece of shit.

I cleared my throat. “That was…someone I hadn’t seen in at least six months, Lala—well before you ever moved here. I—”

Her face grew redder by the second. “It’s fine. You don’t have to explain.”

“Really? Because I can see on your face that you’re not okay, which tells me I do have to explain.”

Now her neck was breaking out in a rash. Great.

She shrugged. “I mean, no explanation needed, right? I obviously know what she came here looking for.”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But it doesn’t fucking matter what she came here for. She’s just a ghost from the past.”

As much as I tried to pacify the situation, it still sucked and certainly didn’t help my cause. My manwhore past was hard enough to overcome without it literally knocking on my door.