Linc

 

I woke in the morning wrapped around Indie, legs tangled together, my head on her chest, and one hand on her breast. I knew I should move, that I shouldn’t have been holding her like that, but I didn’t want to. I was going to enjoy every moment of it until she moved or woke up.

I’d lost my mind last night when I saw her standing in the bathroom in her underwear. It wasn’t any different than when we went swimming at the waterfall, but last night something in me snapped. I didn’t care that what I was doing broke all sorts of codes and friendship rules. I didn’t care about anything but getting closer to Indie. I thought I realised, or had at least finally made up my mind, that she was worth risking everything for. I just had to be sure she felt the same way.

But it was hard to figure out because she had a boyfriend. Who never slept in her room, here or at home. She’d spent every night with me so far instead of him. Something didn’t add up. Why was she sleeping with me if she had a boyfriend? Why didn’t he care that she was spending more time with me than with him? All these questions and I didn’t know how to answer them.

Indie woke up a little while later. I could always tell when she woke but pretended to be asleep. She used to do it all the time, hugging me closer—I let myself believe it was because she didn’t want me to leave, that she didn’t want to let me go. I was motionless, hand still comfortably on her breast, and waited for her to move, to shift in some way that caused me to drop my hand, but she didn’t. She didn’t move at all. I didn’t know what that meant. There were so many possibilities. Maybe she didn’t want to risk waking me if she thought I was asleep, or maybe she liked that I was holding her like this.

Her fingers danced along my back up and up into my hair, twisting and twirling a dreadlock, yet she still didn’t move or push my hand away. I was going to enjoy every second until it came to an end—

My phone rang from the other side of the room and ruined the moment. Faking a yawn and a stretch, Indie pretended to wake up, shifting under me so I had to roll away.

“Morning, Princess. How’d you sleep?”

“Mmmm, great. You?”

“Better than ever.” I stretched out beside her.

“You gonna get that?”

“No.”

“It could be important. Could be Nate wanting to bring my key up.”

“You don’t need your key. You’re here.”

“I can’t stay in my underwear and your top all day, Lincoln.” She was cute when she tried to scold me.

“You won’t hear any complaints from me.” I laughed, rolling off the bed when my phone rang again. “Yeah,” I answered gruffly, disappointed that I had to get up.

“Hey.” Dammit. It was Nate. “I just saw your call and realised I had Indie’s room key all night, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” I ran a hand over my face and tried to wake myself up a little better.

“Where is she?”

“Here.”

“With you?” he asked, a challenging tone to his voice.

“No, I let her sleep in the hallway. Of course, she’s here with me.”

“Okay, I’m on my way up,” he said and hung up.

“Nate’s coming.” I threw the phone down on the bed and grabbed a pair of shorts and t-shirt for Indie to wear instead. “As much as I like the view, you should put on something a little more modest so Nate doesn’t freak out.”

“Thanks.” She smiled and climbed out of the bed to do the one thing I didn’t expect her to do. She pulled the tank off, right in front of me. My mouth went dry instantly.

“Dammit, Indie.” I stepped around the bed until I was face to face with her.

“What?” She raised her eyebrows innocently.

“You’re walking a very fine line right now,” I ground out through a clenched jaw. We were chest to chest.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen it a thousand times already this week. What’s the point of hiding in the bathroom?” Her breath was rapid.

Valid.

“Because I’m barely controlling myself right now,” I whispered against her cheek. Pulling back, I reached one hand up and touched the base of her throat, spreading my fingers out over her collarbone. I felt the beat of her heart beneath my palm, getting faster and faster with every second.

I dragged my hand tenderly down her chest, over the swell of her breasts, and across her flat stomach until I gripped her hips, and I pulled her even closer to me. “Better be careful, Princess, or I might do something that’ll get us both in all sorts of trouble,” I said, thinking that would be the end of this torturous game she was playing. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

“Well…” She licked her lips. When did she get to be so seductive? She was always seductive to me, but when did she get so good at it? “Maybe I want you too.”

And with that, she stepped back and went into the bathroom to get changed.

I groaned and fell onto the bed. What the hell was she doing? What did that mean?

Reaching for the phone, I called the front desk for our complimentary room service and internally kicked myself when Indie came back into the room wearing my shorts and t-shirt. Was it too much to ask that she never wore anything other than one of my tanks ever again?

Room service arrived before Nate did, so we managed to enjoy half our breakfast on the balcony in peace. I expected things to be weird between us, a little awkward after all the flirting in the last twelve hours, but it wasn’t. We both simply relaxed.

I had just grabbed a bagel when there was a knock at the door. “That’ll be Nate.”

I answered the door and was disappointed to find not only Nate, but Jack-ass as well. “Ooh, bagel.” He clapped excitedly and took the bagel from my hand and headed straight to the balcony where Indie was wearing my clothes. Mine. Not his. I was a little smug about that.

“Baby cakes.” He really announced his presence no matter where he went. He was so loud and obnoxious. I didn’t see what Indie found appealing about him at all.

“Sorry, man. Thanks for giving her a place to crash,” Nate said as we walked outside just in time to see Jack about suck Indie’s face off. Where was that knife?

I didn’t know how much more I could handle watching him all over her every time they were together.

I needed to come clean about my feelings, but I’d wait until after the wedding tomorrow because I didn’t want to ruin it before it happened. At least I was considerate.

“So what’s the plan for today?” Jack asked, stealing an apple from the cart.

“I really just want to lounge by the pool or on the beach. I want a relaxing day,” Indie said as she poured a cup of coffee and added half a sugar. She handed it to me. Me. Not Jack-ass, her boyfriend. My chest might have puffed up a little bit at that.

“Sounds good,” Nate agreed, while Jack mumbled something that sounded like “yes.” But I was too focused on Indie, imagining her in her swimsuit.

“I’m definitely keen.” I gazed at her, making her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“Great. We’ll meet you down there in half an hour, then,” Jack said, pulling Indie out of the chair and throwing her over his shoulder. “Better make it an hour.” He winked and carried her inside, completely ignoring her protests and cries to put her down.

“I really hate that guy,” I mumbled to Nate.

He barked out a laugh and clapped me on the back. “Of course, you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I frowned.

“That you’ve hated any guy who has ever paid her any attention. You’ve always put a stop to it, but this time it’s worse because you weren’t there to stop this train wreck of a relationship from happening.”

“Just looking out for her. Don’t want her to end up with an asshole.” I left out the part about wanting her to be with me.

“Or anyone else,” Nate muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing, I’ll go tell the others we’ll meet them at the pool in an hour,” he said and left.