Chapter 1
Meghan
“Who the hell goes to Vegas with an itinerary?”
Meghan Crosby didn’t need to look up from the paper on the table in front of her to know who was talking. As soon as the double-sided, laminated itineraries for the joint bachelor/bachelorette weekend were handed out, Meghan knew the groomsmen were going to be unhappy. She also knew the only one stupid enough to complain about it would be Braeden.
“This is ridiculous. I don’t see any time set aside for going to a strip club. You can’t go to Vegas for a bachelor party and not go to a strip club. Gabriel, what is this?” Braeden asked.
“Dude, this trip isn’t about you. I’m sure Gabriel and Savannah have no interest watching naked women dance. Just shut up already.”
“Thank you, Oliver,” Finley, the bride’s best friend said. “On the back of the itinerary, you’ll find your room assignments. Sorry guys, but we had to put the three of you in one room, so you’ll have to fight over who takes the couch; unless you want to cozy up and share a bed.”
“No way am I sharing a bed with one of those assholes, I’m sure I can find a great pair of legs to fill my time; I’ll get my own room,” Braeden announced eliciting a laugh from everyone. “There might be a chance to save this trip after all.”
Meghan hadn’t been surprised by the itinerary or how well organized the trip was. It might have been last minute to her, but she was pretty sure Savannah had been planning the trip for a while. Finley was organized, but not double-sided, laminated and planned down to the very second organized. That had Savannah St. James written all over it. Savannah was one of the most thorough, efficient people Meghan had ever met. Those impressive organizational skills had led to her friend single-handedly opening four bakeries in the last six years.
“I’ve wanted to see this show for a while. I’m glad we’re getting a chance this weekend,” Brooklyn said taking the attention away from Braeden and the debauchery he was probably planning.
Savannah’s sister was always good at reading the room and helping to dissolve any tension or awkwardness. Although she’d only met Gabriel’s friends when he started dating her sister, to Meghan it seemed like Brooklyn had known them her entire life. She handled Braeden better than anyone else, never letting his antics get the better of her. Oliver was probably the easiest of Gabriel’s friends to deal with, especially when compared to Declan who seemed to push every single one of Brook’s buttons.
Brooklyn would never admit it and neither would Declan, but it was obvious to everyone else that they had a thing for each other. They argued like an old married couple about the most ridiculous things. The chemistry between them was so off the charts, Meghan was certain if they didn’t break the tension soon, one or both of them would explode. Of course, Brooklyn hated that Declan was able to get to her. Meghan knew Brooklyn tried to fight it, but she suspected they were both too far gone to change the situation now. He was the last thing her friend wanted, but Meghan wasn’t sure Brooklyn had a choice.
Just like Meghan wasn’t sure if she had a choice where Oliver was concerned. When she first started working for Gabriel at Arrow, she became enamored with her boss’s friend. He was tall, extremely nice and sexy as hell. She often joked with the girls that she wanted to climb him like a tree. When Gabriel and Savannah started dating, their friends started hanging out. That was when she finally had her chance to see if Oliver was as much fun in the sack as she thought he’d be.
At first, they would casually hookup here and there, neither of them interested in anything more. Then the hookups became more frequent and things became a little less casual. Suddenly, Oliver was talking about a relationship he knew Meghan wouldn’t give him no matter how much she wanted to.
She’d been trying to avoid him since he told her how he felt, but it was tough to do when he came into her work all the time. It was one of the reasons she’d almost skipped out on the trip. She didn’t want the tension between them to make things awkward for their friends. She wished she could be honest with him and tell him why she couldn’t take their relationship to the next level, but she was a coward. Her past made starting a relationship with anyone too much of a risk. As much as she liked being with Oliver, she just couldn’t take the chance things would end the way it had for her parents.
When she’d arrived at Arrow for their pre-weekend dinner, she’d nearly turned around and left when she realized Oliver had been the first person to arrive. Instead, she waited outside the empty restaurant until Brooklyn arrived so she wouldn’t have to be alone with the man who drove her crazy. It didn’t matter that Gabriel and Savannah had also been inside. She needed more of a buffer than the engaged couple could provide.
“So, we’ll be flying out of Boeing Field Friday at one,” Savannah announced breaking Meghan out of her thoughts. “Braeden please be on time, even though it’s a private plane, we will be on a tight schedule and we will not wait around for you. We’ve got too much on the schedule to deviate. So whatever it is that always makes you late, please refrain from doing it on Friday night.”
“If you really want to know….”
“NO!” a chorus of voices cried out.
“How rude,” Braeden said as he crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair.
Watching a grown man start to pout made Meghan snort as she tried to hold back laughter. The ridiculous noise drawing the attention of the man across the table from her. She could feel Oliver’s eyes boring into her as she kept her gaze on her itinerary. He’d been staring at her most of the evening, but she’d done a pretty good job of avoiding eye contact. Meghan knew he wanted to talk to her; he’d been calling her nearly every day since the day he’d screwed everything up. All she wanted to do was go back to the way things were.
“I’m so excited to get away this weekend. It’s been a while since I took any kind of vacation,” Brooklyn said from the seat next to her.
As she turned to look at her friend, Meghan snuck a peek at Oliver. He was still watching her while carrying on a conversation with Declan. Heat rushed to her cheeks as he winked at her. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to slyly catch a glimpse of him without him catching her.
“I’m glad I’m able to go. It’s nice of Finley and Liam to pay for the trip for everyone. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to make it. Still feels a bit weird though,” Meghan said as she took a sip of her wine.
“I don’t get why you feel weird.”
Meghan sighed. “I know, but we’ve only been friends for a little over a year. Gabriel’s known the guys forever, you’re Savannah’s sister and she and Finley have been best friends for years. Sometimes I feel a bit like an intruder.”
“Shut up,” Brooklyn said harshly.
She smacked Meghan’s hand and then apologized when wine sloshed out of her glass and onto the table. Brooklyn had become the closest thing to a best friend that Meghan had had since she was a little girl. She loved being around the tight-knit group and she knew Brooklyn didn’t see her as an intruder, but Meghan couldn’t help but feel like one anyway.
“You know damn good and well that you’re one of us. If you want to go by your logic, we’ve all only been friends since Gabriel and Sav got together, which means we’ve all been hanging out barely more than a year. Now I don’t want to hear you say that shit again. We love you, we love hanging out with you. If we didn’t want you around, Sav wouldn’t have made you a bridesmaid.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” Meghan said. “I promise not to mention it again.”
Brooklyn smiled, her face lighting up. “Good. Now that we’ve got that crap out of the way, can we please talk about the fact that Oliver has barely been able to take his eyes off you since we walked into the restaurant? Or how about the fact that you’ve been doing everything you can to avoid him? Care to explain to me why?”
Suddenly Meghan wished they could go back to talking about her being an outsider. It was a hell of a lot easier than a conversation about Oliver. She was going to have to figure out another way to distract her friend from the questions that had been plaguing her for a week. She couldn’t help wondering if it was too late to get out of going to Las Vegas.
◆◆◆
“Aren’t you glad you came?” Brooklyn asked yelling loud enough Meghan could hear her over the deafening music blaring from the speakers.
“You were right, this is exactly what I needed,” Meghan yelled back as she threw her arms up. She moved with the beat of the music, a smile on her face as she realized just how much she was enjoying herself.
Even though she’d had the itinerary since Monday, she still had a hard time believing she was in Las Vegas enjoying an all-expenses-paid trip with her friends. When word of a bachelorette party had started to make the rounds, she assumed they’d go out to eat, maybe go dancing at a club in Seattle. She figured they’d all wear penis necklaces while Savannah wore a plastic tiara with the word bride decorated with rhinestones. Instead, they were in Vegas, no penis paraphernalia or tiaras in sight. The actual bachelorette party was definitely better than what Meghan had dreamed up.
Together, they’d had an amazing dinner at the hotel’s acclaimed restaurant before heading to one of the shows on the strip. After that, they ended up in the club where they all went their separate ways. Meghan had spent so much time on the dance floor with Brooklyn she had no idea where anybody else was. The last time she’d seen Finley and Liam they’d been sitting in their reserved booth giving any paparazzi in the club great PDA shots. Savannah and Gabriel had been MIA since they’d arrived, which she figured meant they’d gone back to their hotel room.
The groomsmen had also been missing since they’d gotten to the club. Meghan had been trying not to think about the kind of trouble they were likely getting into. She knew Braeden was out looking for someone to warm his bed, since it’s the reason he’d opted to get a room of his own. What the other two were up to was anyone’s guess.
She didn’t know Declan well enough to care what he was up to, but she knew Brooklyn would care, even if her friend would never admit it. Then there was Oliver. Meghan didn’t understand why the thought of Oliver following Braeden’s lead felt like a punch to the gut. She shouldn’t care what Oliver was doing, he wasn’t hers to care about. No matter how many times she’d spent the night screaming his name, they weren’t exclusive and he could do whatever he wanted. Given his declaration the week before, Meghan should have been hoping he was out finding someone else so maybe he’d finally leave her alone.
Shaking her head, she tried to get rid of thoughts of Oliver and the impossible things he tried to get her to agree to. When she started hooking up with him, she never expected he would want anything more than sex from her. Oliver had always been a player like Braeden until suddenly he wasn’t. She’d made it clear from the start that a relationship wasn’t a part of her plan. At least not with someone she could actually see a future with. It was one thing to be exclusive with someone she barely liked; it was something completely different to be in a relationship with someone she could fall in love with.
Meghan closed her eyes, hoping the music would block out her thoughts. The song had changed from an upbeat dance number to something a bit more sensual. She slowed her movements, her hips swaying in time with the beat. Hands found her waist as a body pressed against her back. They moved together, her ass brushing against the man behind her. She didn’t bother to open her eyes; there was no doubt in her mind who was there. It was like her thoughts had conjured him into being.
There had been numerous guys throughout the night who had tried to dance with her, but this one was different. He didn’t push his crotch into her ass like all the others, he held her against him gently as his hands moved from her hips, past her waist, and up her arms. His thumbs gently brushed against the sides of her breasts, the touch bringing goosebumps to her skin. With his hands on her shoulders, he leaned in until his mouth was against her ear.
“Why are you avoiding me?”
Her body shivered, reacting to his breath against her skin. The minute he touched her, she knew she was in trouble. Now that he had her attention, he wasn’t going to let her push him away. That didn’t mean she had to give him what he wanted though. Ignoring his question, she continued to focus on the feel of the music coursing through her body.
“You know I’m not going to let you continue to ignore me. Answer my question. Tell me why you’ve been avoiding me,” Oliver said a hint of anger in his deep voice.
This time he spun her around so they were more or less chest to chest. Even with her platform sandals, she had to strain her neck to look up at him as he towered over her. His hands gripped her elbows as they stood in the middle of the dance floor, neither of them moving.
“I’m not avoiding you. I’ve been on this dance floor since we got here. You could have joined me at any time,” she yelled up at him, hoping he could hear her over the music. He hunched over a bit so he could respond without having to yell too.
“You made sure to sit as far away from me as you could on the plane, at dinner, and at the show. The minute we got here you hightailed it out of the booth as quickly as you could. I hoped we could spend the weekend together since we were both here, but you’re making that nearly impossible.”
“Look, I told you we want different things. I’m not interested in a relationship with you or anyone else. You should use this trip to find someone to distract you, and then when we get home, find someone else entirely.”
“That’s bullshit and we both know it. You want this as much as I do, but you won’t admit it,” Oliver insisted. “Just spend the night with me.”
Meghan shook her head, her body screaming at her to take Oliver up on his offer, her head screaming at her to run away. They barely knew each other, but he didn’t seem to care. He insisted they could be great together, that getting to know each other would be a part of the fun. Unfortunately, she knew he was right.
Oliver was the kind of guy that was easy to fall in love with. Whenever they were together, he treated her like a queen and in the bedroom, he drove her wild. He was everything she had ever looked for in a man, but Meghan couldn’t be with him. She wasn’t going to be the girl that got the happily ever after. Hell, she wasn’t sure if she was even going to get an ever after at all; which was something she tried not to think about.
“Nothing good could come out of us spending more time together. Please just let it go,” she said before breaking out of his grasp.
Hurrying off the dance floor, she made a beeline for their booth. She had no doubt he was going to follow her, but if she had to deal with him, Meghan knew she’d need more tequila. Finley and Liam were sitting in the same spot they’d been the last time she came to get a drink. Cuddled together, talking and kissing and barely noticing the fact that there were other people around them. Declan was also in the booth, a beer in his hand, a scowl on his face as he watched the dance floor.
Sitting down on the opposite side of the booth from Declan, she was careful not to block his line of sight. She grabbed a shot glass from the tray in front of her and the bottle of Patron from the bucket of ice. Meghan did her best to ignore Oliver when he sat down next to her, but it was harder than she thought it would be. His leg pressed against hers from hip to knee. She could feel his eyes on her as she filled the glass then downed the shot quickly.
Oliver didn’t say a word as she repeated the process. The burn of the alcohol flowed through her until she felt loose and ready to get back on the dance floor. Meghan refused to let Oliver and thoughts of a future ruin the fun she was having. There was no telling if she’d have the opportunity to party in Vegas again, at least not as a VIP. She wasn’t going to let real life get in the way of her good time, so she poured one last shot of tequila. Before she could bring it to her lips, Oliver stopped her.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Best one I’ve had all night. You should try it. Might wake you up a bit so you realize what a colossal waste of time I am,” Meghan said as she handed him the bottle.
She had no idea how much he’d had to drink before he’d found her. His breath smelt faintly of alcohol, but that could have been from dinner or the show. Meghan didn’t know why she was challenging him. It probably wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had, but tequila made her do questionable things. Without another word, she grabbed a shot glass from the tray and handed it to him. She watched him fill the glass knowing she was once again in trouble.
“Oh darling, you have no idea what you’ve started,” Oliver said as he took the shot he poured, then poured another one. He clinked his glass against hers before they downed the shots together.
As the music pulsed around them, they went shot for shot, each one doing the opposite of what she’d wanted. Instead of getting away from Oliver, she was moving closer to him. Instead of heading back out to the dance floor, she was practically sitting on his lap; his hand resting on her thigh, just under the hem of her skirt. There was no one else in the booth with them, she had no idea when the others had left; Oliver and the shots had kept her so consumed that nothing else mattered.
A moan escaped her lips, as he casually stroked her thigh. The bastard knew she couldn’t resist him when he touched her. It’s why she’d left the dance floor earlier and it’s one of the many reasons she’d been avoiding him as much as possible since they’d gotten to Vegas. She was putty in his hands and he knew it.
“If I slid my hand up further would I find you wet and needy for me? Would you come apart right here if I skimmed my fingers over your aching clit? Even though everyone could see you…”
Meghan tried to be angry about the situation she’d gotten herself into, but her body was on fire. She ached to be touched, to be fucked. She almost didn’t care that they were in a very public place with cameras recording their every move. She knew exactly what Oliver was capable of, how easily he could push her to the brink. It was one of the things that made him dangerous and so hard to quit.
“Stop fighting it, Meghan. You know we work. I don’t know what’s holding you back, but just let go and give this a try. A relationship with me isn’t going to kill you.”
Oliver’s final words were like a bucket of ice water to her hormones, killing the mood as soon as they were off his lips. It didn’t even matter that he was nibbling on her earlobe, which usually drove her wild. She pushed him away then scooted back so they were no longer touching.
“Why can’t you just leave it alone? Why can’t you just be happy with sex and leave it at that?” Meghan asked again for what seemed like the millionth time in the last week.
“Because that’s not all we could be and you know it. Why can’t you just let go of whatever happened to you in the past? Let’s start fresh, just you and me, with nothing holding us back.”
“No matter how many times you ask me for that, I can’t let it go. I’ll never be able to let it go.”
Oliver sighed. “Then tell me what I can do to help you move past it. I care about you, Meghan. I could see a future with you; one where we’re just as happy as Savannah and Gabriel. Why can’t you?”
“Come on, Oliver. We’ve fucked, that’s it. You don’t even know me.”
“Bullshit. Sure, we’ve fucked, but we’ve talked a hell of a lot more and you know it. Every time we’re in the same space, we gravitate toward each other. I know far more about you than you realize.”
“Damn it. I can’t do this.”
She stood quickly, wobbling a little as she straightened out her skirt. Without another look at him, she hurried off in the direction of the bathrooms. No way would he follow her into the ladies’ room and since there was a sitting area with plush chairs inside of the bathroom, she knew she’d have no problem hiding out in there until he got tired of waiting for her. She just had to make it to the bathroom first, which wasn’t easy in her sandals and inebriated state.
Meghan made it to the hallway before a hand wrapped around her upper arm stopping her from taking the final steps into her sanctuary. He didn’t say a word to her, instead, he used his grip on her arm to guide her further down the hallway until they reached the door to the back staircase. He pushed it open so they could walk through then waited for it to close behind him before he let her go.
“Just leave me alone.”
“No. If all you want out of me is sex, then that’s what you’re going to get. Turn around and put your hands on the railing.”
“We can’t do this here, there are cameras everywhere,” Meghan said even as she complied with his demand.
“Not in the stairwells. Now stick that pretty ass of yours out.”
Meghan knew going through with this was wrong. She should have continued to push him away. Every time they had sex, she got closer to giving in and he wanted a relationship even more. This was the cycle they’d been repeating for the last two months. Before that, it had been a hookup here and a hookup there.
She hated to admit that he was right when he said they’d gravitated toward each other whenever their friends got together. She did know more about him than any man she’d ever been with before…even the ex she once thought she could have a future with. Having sex with Oliver again was a dangerous plan, but she wasn’t sure she could or even wanted to stop it from happening.
“We shouldn’t do this,” Meghan tried one more time, but her attempt was halfhearted at best.
She wanted Oliver so bad she could taste it. Her thong was soaked, her nipples hard. She needed him to touch her, to give her the orgasm he teased her with earlier. Arching her back, she stuck her ass out following his command. With her hands on the rail, she fought against the urge to touch herself. Her body was on fire; primed and ready for whatever he had planned.
Looking over her shoulder, she watched him stalk over to her. He was angry and, if she wasn’t mistaken, a little hurt by her turning him down again. Oliver was using sex to punish them both, which should have made her want to stop, but she couldn’t. She was a glutton for punishment. This would likely be their last time together and she was too selfish to stop it. If this was the memory he wanted to remind him of what they had, then so be it. She just needed him inside of her.
He pushed her skirt up over her ass so it bunched around her waist. The chill of the air felt amazing against her heated skin. Oliver kneaded the globes of her ass as he rubbed his cock against her. The fabric of his jeans created a delicious friction against her body. She heard the clink of his belt buckle and the sharp hiss of his zipper as he hurriedly made work of the barrier between them. The familiar sound of a condom being opened followed. Seconds later he was pulling her thong to the side. He ran his cock along her slit, back and forth a few times before positioning himself at her core.
There was no fanfare, no extended foreplay. It was going to be quick and dirty in the stairs of a Vegas casino and Meghan wasn’t sure she had ever been more turned on. She wiggled her ass then pushed back against him, quickly impaling herself onto his cock. Oliver groaned, his hands holding onto her hips like his life depended on it. He held her in place against him for a minute, maybe two before he lost his composure. Over and over he drove into her, his hips slapping against her ass with each surge forward.
“Even like this, it’s fucking perfect…fuck, I can’t get enough of you.”
Every time with Oliver was amazing, every nerve ending in her body felt like a live wire. She nearly lost it when he reached around her body and pressed his thumb to her aching clit. With every thrust, she pushed back against him; her climax getting closer and closer. Her body trembled, her arms and legs getting weaker as he expertly drove her to the brink.
Wrapping an arm around her waist, Oliver steadied her before her legs could give out. His thrusts became more frantic as he neared his release. She knew once she let go, he wouldn’t be able to hold off his own orgasm. Her body clenched around him as the waves of her climax crashed over her. He continued to fuck her like he owned her until she cried out his name; until she wondered why she was willing to give up the best sex she’d ever had.
“Fuck, I love the way you say my name when you come. You know I’m the only one who can make you feel this way. You feel so fucking good milking my cock…”
Oliver’s words trailed off with a groan, his body stiffening behind her as he came. His grip on her hips hard enough she’d probably have marks in the morning, but she didn’t care. It was moments like this when he lost himself inside of her that she truly felt alive. It was harder to deny their connection when he really was the only person who had ever made her feel special, even while having a quickie in a dirty stairwell.
Like she did every time they were together, Meghan wondered why she couldn’t have it all, why she couldn’t let him in like he wanted. She’d dreamt about taking things to the next level with Oliver more times than she could count but was too scared to make it a reality. Things were so up in the air for her, she wasn’t sure she could ever put someone else through the uncertainty she had to live with.
Still, she wondered what it would hurt if she gave in…and then she remembered the answer. Giving in to her feelings could end up hurting everyone she cared about and that was something she never wanted to go through again.
◆◆◆
“Well, well, well…look what the cat dragged in. Doing the walk of shame, I see?”
Meghan glared at Brooklyn as her friend inserted their room card into the door. Brooklyn waited for the lock to turn from red to green before she pushed the door open. As she walked into their room, Meghan took in her friend’s appearance realizing she too was still wearing the outfit she’d had on the night before. While Meghan knew she looked like she’d been ridden hard and put away wet, Brooklyn still looked as perfect as she had when they’d first gotten ready for the evening, just a little on the tired side.
“Do I really have to point out that I’m not the only one still wearing last night’s clothes?”
“You could…but then I’d have to point out that while we were both out all night, we were definitely not doing the same thing. I mean, case in point, your shirt is on inside out and backward. It’s a good thing Oliver’s room is just down the hall and not on a completely separate floor.”
Meghan looked down, groaning when she realized Brooklyn was right. “Fuck off, Brook.”
Brooklyn laughed. “Oh my god, it’s so easy to rile you up, especially where Oliver’s concerned.”
Sighing, Meghan walked over to the bed she’d claimed, but never got a chance to sleep in. The comforter was tacky yet soft as she laid down on it. If she wasn’t careful, she could easily fall asleep even though they had an entire day of activities planned. Although there were details about the night before that weren’t quite clear, she knew they hadn’t bothered getting a lot of sleep. She still had no idea if it had been their last night together or if she was going to break down and try things with Oliver. There was too much at stake to not give the decision a lot of thought, especially now that she wasn’t sure she wanted to keep fighting what was between them.
“Thanks for at least texting me and letting me know that you were taking off. I wasn’t sure if I should have followed you guys last night, but I’m seeing that following you would have made things very awkward for me.”
Sitting down on the other bed in the room, Brooklyn untied the straps that were laced up her calves then slipped her sandals off of her feet. She rubbed at the arches on each foot and then her heels. The shoes were cute, but Meghan had no idea how Brooklyn could have kept them on for as long as she did; especially not after dancing for hours on end. Leaning back against the headboard, Brooklyn closed her eyes with a sigh.
“I still don’t understand why you guys aren’t together. It’s obvious you have feelings for each other and from the look of you, the sex is amazing. Why are you still fighting it?”
Meghan was glad that Brooklyn had her eyes closed and couldn’t see the unavoidable look of panic on her face. She wanted to tell Brooklyn everything, to finally have someone else know her secret, but she didn’t want things to change. She didn’t want to see the look of pity on her friend’s face when she found out what she was so afraid of. So instead she went with her other fear, the one that she didn’t have a problem admitting.
“What if things don’t work out? If we date and things end badly, I’m gonna lose my friends and I don’t want that.”
“That’s not true. I’m pretty sure we’ve already had this conversation. We’re your friends; one failed relationship wouldn’t change that.”
“Come on. Oliver and the guys all went to school together and have been friends for decades. I’ve only known you guys for a little while. If things ended badly and it got weird, I would be the odd man out. Sure, you and the girls might hang out with me separately on occasion, but there would be a rift amongst us and you know it. I can’t compete with history and I wouldn’t want to.”
Brooklyn shook her head but didn’t continue to argue with Meghan. No matter what she might have tried to say, Meghan knew she was right. They were a tight-knit bunch of friends and she was, and always would be, the outsider. No matter how long they let her be a part of their circle, she would always feel a little unsure about her place amongst them. Last one in, first one out.
Sitting up on the bed, she shook off the feeling of dread that had settled over her. She didn’t want to talk about Oliver or her life anymore. There was something she was dying to know and it was the perfect topic to move on to, even though she was fairly certain Brooklyn wouldn’t think so.
“So enough about why I’m so conflicted about my non-existent love life. What the hell did you do last night? Please tell me it included Declan because he never came back to the room.”
Brooklyn groaned, one eye popping open to glare at Meghan. “That man is so infuriating. I had a perfectly fun, perfectly safe evening planned after you left and he decided he had to tag along. He was grumpy and rude. I told him to leave, but he refused. We tried to lose him, but it didn’t work. I don’t understand what his issue is. He acts like he hates me, but then spends the night following me around like he’s my boyfriend or my dad.”
“Oh, this is far better than I expected,” Meghan said with a laugh. “That man is so into you, but he refuses to admit it. So instead he acts like a jerk, pushes your buttons and basically pulls your pigtails like you’re in elementary school. Someday he’s going to give in and when he does, you better watch out. I have a feeling it’s going to bring the house down, I just hope it doesn’t take you both down with it.”
“Jeezus. Can we please go back to talking about you and Oliver?”
A phone rang from somewhere near the door. Brooklyn hurried over to answer it before the caller hung up. The call didn’t last long, but Meghan hoped whoever was on the other line had done a good job distracting her friend so she wouldn’t head back down the path that led to her unknown future with Oliver.
“You’re in luck,” Brooklyn said as she sat back down on the bed. “The interrogation will have to wait. We’ve got plans with the girls, so we have to get ready. I’ll let you go first since there’s a lot you need to wash off.”
Throwing one of the pillows from her bed at her friend, Meghan laughed when Brooklyn fell over trying to dodge the flying object. Brooklyn picked up one of her sandals and tossed it at Meghan but missed causing them both to laugh. This lighthearted feeling was exactly why she didn’t tell her friend about her past. Maybe someday she’d feel comfortable enough to let everyone know what she’d been through. Hopefully, that day came before she ended up not having a choice.