Ready for You (Ready #3)(28)

We worked for several more hours, well past midnight, and we managed to get the floor put down in the living room. When the last board was locked into place, she jumped up and clapped.

“Oh my God! It’s freaking gorgeous! It actually looks like a living room!”

“It does,” I said. “We just need to put the trim down, and it will be done. But I’ll wait to do that at the end.”

“Thank you so much, Garrett. I don’t know how I would have done all this without you.”

“You would have ended up hiring someone,” I said with a grin.

“Probably,” she agreed.

We picked up the tools and cleaned up a bit. Both of us needed to get to bed. I was looking at getting only a few hours of sleep. I needed to get home, but that didn’t stop me from dragging my feet as I headed in the direction of the door.

“How many days do you think we have left to finish it all?” she asked.

I picked up my duffel bag and rocked back on my heels, not wanting to leave. “Probably another week to finish the downstairs completely. That reminds me…I have a business trip in two days. I have to fly up to New York for a couple of days to meet with a few clients. I’ll be back after that. I just didn’t want you to wonder why I wasn’t showing up,” I added quickly, not wanting her to think I was expecting her to worry about me.

Would she?

Loser. I am a loser.

“Oh, okay. Have fun, I guess,” she said awkwardly. “Are you going to be in the city for the weekend, too?”

“I hadn’t planned on it. It’s not really fun when you’re alone. I’ve been there tons of times anyway with my family.”

“Right.”

“You’ve been to New York City, haven’t you?” I asked.

“Yes.” She nodded, looking down at her shoes. “When I was younger. My parents always had functions there, so we would stay at these beautiful, fancy hotels. My mom would hire a babysitter to stay with me while they went out to parties and formal events.”

I gave her a hard stare. “You haven’t really been to New York then. You’ve just been on the inside of fancy hotels. It doesn’t count. You missed out on all the fun things.”

She shrugged and gave me a small smile. “Maybe next time.”

“Come with me,” I said without thinking.

“What?” she asked, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Come with me. I won’t be much good during the day when I’m working, but at night, we can hang out. We’ll spend the weekend there, and I’ll take you to all the places you missed out on as a kid.”

She looked uneasy as her gaze appraised me.

“Just as friends, I promise. We’ll even get separate rooms.”

“Can we go to the Statue of Liberty?” she asked shyly, her eyes taking on a rounder appearance.

It reminded me of the girl I’d met in homeroom so long ago.

“Whatever you want, Mia.”

Her smile spread into a megawatt grin, and my knees almost buckled. I’d spent years dreaming of that smile and the way it made my heart falter and kick-start into a gallop. Now, she was looking up at me with the same wide-eyed smile.

“Deal,” she said.

I was done for.

Chapter Nine

~Mia~

“Don’t pack those! Ugh, why do you even own underwear like that?” Liv asked in outright disgust as she threw my cute hot-pink-and-lime-green boy shorts on the floor. Then, she started rummaging through my top drawer.

Sam raised his head from his place on the bed and lifted an ear, but he quickly lost interest and relaxed back into the comforter.

“What is wrong with boy shorts?”

“Nothing—if they are covered in lace or crotchless. But these are neon and have words on the butt. Seriously, Mia? Did you shop in the juniors section for these?”

Yes, yes, I did. I chose to ignore that question to save myself the humiliation that would follow.

She continued to ransack my drawer in search of God-only-knows-what until I heard an excited, high-pitched noise escape her throat.

“Yes! These! Pack these!” she said, throwing several lacy thongs in my suitcase.

“Liv! This is not a sexy weekend away with my boyfriend. I will not need thongs.”

“No, it’s a weekend with your ex-boyfriend, who you secretly still have a thing for. Pack the thongs.”

My mouth gaped open as I stared at her blankly. She grinned back and did that annoying thing with her hip that made her look like a teenager from the Valley.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I fumbled.

“Uh-huh. You’re a terrible liar.”

“Why is everyone so hung up on my love life? Why can’t you concentrate on your own?” I huffed.

“Oh, I do—a lot,” she said with a grin.

After coming home, I’d quickly figured out that my best friend had adopted a very casual definition of relationship. She’d said she hadn’t found the right one yet, and she really had no interest in ever doing so, but she loved taste-testing and sampling the variety. She would do this often. The few weeks I’d lived with her, I’d done so with headphones and a pillow over my head. Her samplings would get pretty loud.

“We’re just friends,” I said adamantly.