by Ashley Munoz
Letting the water out of the tub, I stood and grabbed a fuzzy, white towel. Wrapping it around my body, I dried off and reached for the small bundle of clothes Ryan had left. Part of me assumed he’d give me some leftover clothes of Henna’s, but as I thumbed the dark material, I saw that they were Ryan’s.
I pulled the shirt over my head, the hem falling to mid-thigh on me. He’d left sweats too, but they were too big, and since I didn’t have any clean underwear, I settled on pulling up the pair of boxers he’d left, rolling them down a few times and then letting his shirt cover them.
Ryan’s scent overwhelmed me, taking me back to the last time I’d worn one of his shirts, back to the last time I’d felt that soft fabric pool around my legs, felt it press against my breasts. I used to love how riled up it would make him when I’d walk out or slip into his bed wearing nothing but one of his shirts.
I was about to exit the room while folding up my dirty clothes when I remembered my cell was tucked into the back pocket of my work slacks. Pulling it free, I found that Shay had texted a few times. I punched in a quick message back to her so she wouldn’t worry.
Hey, sorry. I’m still picking up the kids at the resort.
I felt my face flush as I considered what she must think about me still being here. Her face lit up my screen only moments later with a FaceTime call.
“Hey,” I whispered once I swiped the screen up to accept.
“Don’t hey me. What the hell are you doing?” my best friend whisper-yelled. Based on the vending machines in the background, I knew she was on her break. Her hair was a frizzy mess and a granola bar was shoved in her mouth.
“Nothing. It’s a long story!” I whisper-yelled back.
“Are you wearing his shirt?!” She leaned back, her eyes going as wide as saucers. “I saw that—you winced. You totally are wearing his shirt! Omagawd!” She stuffed the bar back in her mouth.
“Stop eating while you talk to me!”
“Don’t change the subject.” She gripped the bottom half of her snack while narrowing her eyes.
“Shay…” I whined, crumpling onto the lip of the tub. “It’s the kids, and I’ve had the worst day…I just don’t want to talk about it.”
“Are you staying the night?” She took a massive bite, chewing while grabbing for some coffee.
“I don’t…”
“You hesitated.” She stopped pouring her coffee and focused on me again. “Why did you hesitate?”
I brought my free hand to my forehead. “Just…I don’t know, okay?”
She waited for a few seconds before pushing on.
“Please just promise me you’ll be careful…you are so blind when it comes to that guy.”
“I know…and I am being careful,” I promised, almost feeling relieved to have her forced permission.
“The fact that you’re wearing that shirt says differently—you know how he’s going to react when he sees you in it.”
“Shay, I had no clean clothes…it’s fine, okay,” I replied defensively.
“Okay, okay…just come over tomorrow and fill me in.”
“Will do.” I gave her a weak smile before hanging up.
I loved my best friend; I really did, but sometimes her concern for me was overwhelming.
Leaving the bathroom and shaking the conversation with Shay, I padded down toward the sound of laughter at the end of the hall. Wedging my shoulder against the door, I watched as my children laughed and giggled at Ryan, who had put on a pair of swimming goggles and wore a massive foam pool noodle around his waist, pretending to be a monster.
He growled, diving down to attack Bella’s belly, and then he roared while diving for Cole. They were laughing so hard…a little too hard, which meant we needed to calm things down before…
“Cole, buddy, calm—”
“Ewwww, Cole farted!” Bella yelled, plugging her nose.
“Dude, buddy…that was…” Ryan started, but he ended up coughing and choking instead.
“What? Everyone farts!” Cole argued, still giggling, his eyes watering with the effort of holding in his laughter.
“How does this thing open?” Ryan rattled the window, trying to push it up, which made me start to laugh.
“You have to release that locking mechanism first.” I pointed toward the latch covering the top of the window.
“Come help me—we’re going to die.” He gasped for air, making a point of being dramatic, which made Cole and Bella giggle even more. Unfortunately, that meant Cole let another one loose.
“Cole!!!” we all yelled.
He toppled over, laughing.
I fumbled toward Ryan. Initially, I was playing along with the joke, but now I was honestly gasping for air. I was stopped by Cole grabbing a hold of my legs, which forced him to slowly fall off the twin bed.
“No, don’t take her,” Ryan fake-yelled, trying to reach for me. He fell short, his gasps for air making my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. Before we knew it, all four of us were in a pile of blankets and shaking with fits of laughter.
“Cole, you’re being careful with that leg, right?” I finally let out a sigh, not ready to get up. Bella was snuggled into my side, Ryan’s muscular thigh pressed into my hip, and Cole was twisted on top of the blankets, covering us.
“Yeah, I’m keeping it up and being careful. I didn’t even swim with it today.”
“Good, but you need to get up, because it’s getting late and we need to get going,” I said, pushing against the bulk of the weight pinning me down.
Ryan made a sound off to my right, but I couldn’t see his face, which was better. He made it sound like he wanted us to stay, but I knew he didn’t. Not really. Whatever his fascination was with us, it would fade. He had movies to make and models to date, and we were just some experiment he was trying on for size during his vacation.
“Come on. Up, up.” I started to wiggle, pushing against Cole’s back. Right as he started to move, he let out another loud fart. “Cole Ryder Woods.” I laughed, shaking my head amidst the pile of limbs and feet jutting into my side.
Suddenly a firm hand gripped my waist and a pair of warm lips touched my ear. “Stay tonight, Bex. Don’t make it complicated, just let them stay.”
I froze at his possessive gesture on my hip, his hot breath fanning my neck as his words landed in my heart like a boulder in a small pond. It was on the tip of my tongue to argue with him, to push his request away, but it was late. It was nearly ten at night, and it was another thirty-minute drive home, putting my kids in bed at almost eleven.
“Fine, help me put them to bed then,” I replied, just as softly, speaking carefully to avoid intensifying the waves of uncertainty shifting between us.
A second later, the whole pile shifted, forcing me to the side, along with Bella.
“Okay, let’s get into bed.” Ryan clapped his hands together.
“I’ll take the couch.” I followed Ryan out of the kids’ room. He kept his head down as he led the way to the same area where I’d taken my bath. I hadn’t dared to look at the bedroom it was attached to.
“I owe you a foot rub, Bex…come on.” He tilted his head in the direction of the room.
My heart pounded at a rapid pace as I followed him, realizing that, after the exhausting day I’d had, I didn’t have enough energy to fight him on this.
Entering his room, I inhaled a steadying breath. Thick beige carpet ran under my feet, until it stopped at the eggshell white walls and large box windows, bordered by a glossy cedar framing. The furniture and bed frame matched the cedar, creating a log cabin vibe. I knew it was just a vacation rental, but it was still nicer than any vacation I’d ever gone on.
“Nice place.” I pushed my hair back, toying with the ends, nervous as hell about where I was supposed to sit. Did he want me on the bed?
He kept walking toward the middle of the room, bypassing the two chairs facing a large, flat-screen TV. He had this wicked smirk gracing his lips, and those gray sweats were just gr
ossly pornographic. I needed a glass of water, maybe something stronger.
“Yeah, it’s been nice,” Ryan finally replied, moving further into the room, past the foot bench—a perfectly acceptable place to rub feet—on toward the end table at the head of the massive king-sized bed. “You okay with this lotion?” He held up a brown glass bottle with a white label.
I squinted to try to see it better but realized I was going to need to get closer.
“It’s jasmine and mint or something like that.” He lifted his shoulder, like he had no clue.
I nodded my agreement because saying I didn’t want to use his ex-girlfriend’s—ex-fuck-buddy’s?—lotion would make me sound petty and jealous, two things I absolutely was but refused to let him in on.
“Come on then, I won’t bite.” He smiled earnestly while crawling toward the end of the bed.
He was a liar; the man I used to love absolutely did bite and did it in the most satisfying ways. My heart had given up on warning me against this with its solid thuds; now it was my head pounding in caution. I’d been intimate with this man before. It wasn’t a big deal, and yet… I couldn’t mentally adjust to the idea of being in the same bed as him.
How many beds had he shared over the years? How many women had he been with?
It doesn’t matter.
“You okay?” He pulled the covers back, making everything a billion times worse.
“Yeah, good…just…” I blinked, shook my head to clear my thoughts, and climbed into the bed. Holy softness, it was so plushy and perfect. Henna must have loved this bed.
“Here, give me your leg.” Ryan reached for me.
I was so thankful I had pulled on his boxers, because his shirt lifted when he pulled me closer to him, and the sweats would have slid right off.
“Do you need me to come over there and adjust those pillows for you, or can you handle it?” He grinned.
Shit, he was so handsome. Even after all these years, those full lips that ended in a dimple on each side of his face. His eyes still lit up when he was trying to be funny, and that dip between his brows and the dimples that only appeared when he smiled still made my stomach flip.
“I got it.” I pulled the cloudlike down pillows closer so they were wedged behind me, propping me up.
The second the cool lotion touched my skin and those hands started rubbing, I let out a moan. I couldn’t help it; I couldn’t stand how good it felt to have the aching pain rubbed out of my tired feet.
“Damn, I’ve never brought a woman to orgasm so fast.” That full smile slung to the side of his face, forcing a dimple to pop.
I didn’t even care that he’d said it because it had sounded like I’d just come.
“Sorry, my feet were hurting pretty bad.” I tipped my head back and just let him have his way with my feet. His thumb pressed into the arch of my foot, slowly moving up in a circular motion, eliciting another moan from me.
Ryan cleared his throat. “So, why was today so hard?”
I stared at the ceiling, letting out a sigh as I explained.
“A kid pooped in the women’s locker room. Like, on the floor, the toilet, on part of the wall…I don’t know how or why this happened, but I had to clean it.”
“No, Bex, you hate…” Ryan started laughing, tipping forward, wedging my foot against his stomach…his crotch? I mean, I had no idea what I was touching, but it was warm and firm.
“I know. I tried to get out of it, but I’m the rookie, so I had to deal with it.”
“Why didn’t the mom clean it?” Ryan recovered, sitting up right, returning to rubbing my feet with deliciously strong strokes.
“I don’t know. I mean, she just kind of came and told us and then bought her kid an ice cream sandwich because she felt bad for him.”
“Him?” Ryan moved those strong fingers up my leg, to my calf, rubbing as he maintained eye contact with me.
“Yeah, her kid was like eight or nine—total brat. He even messed with a ton of our brochures and touched literally everything in the store before he finally left.”
“Shit, Bex…no pun intended,” he said with a snort.
My heart flipped backward, off a cliff, like a total freaking idiot, because when Ryan snorted, it was the cutest damn thing in the universe.
“After that, I was asked to drive across the resort to do pool duty at another pool, then I had to vacuum the tennis courts. It was like a hazing event or something, I swear.” I shook my head, still staring at the ceiling.
“Why on earth would you have to vacuum the tennis courts, and did you use a regular vacuum?” Warm fingers tugged on my heel, pulling me closer. It wasn’t a hard tug, just gentle, almost like he didn’t think I’d notice.
“It’s this massive industrial machine thing, and because the tennis balls leave behind all those fuzzy green bits. After enough time, it gets really bad, so we have to vacuum the entire thing.” I toyed with the hem of my oversized pajama shirt because it was getting more difficult to keep my eyes off the man touching my skin.
“Wait, isn’t it a double court?”
“Yeah, it took forever.” I heaved a pitiful sigh, wishing I could go back in time and ignore the stupid job listing that had popped up in my email when I was job hunting.
“Oh, baby, you’ve got to be exhausted.” My left foot dropped gently to the bed while he grabbed for my right and started over on that one.
I ignored his baby comment because, again, zero energy to fight this man tonight.
“Yeah, but honestly tonight helped a ton. Thank you for the bath and the foot rub.” I lowered my gaze and smiled at him. His fingers might have been on my feet, but I swore I could feel them grasping at my heart—which wouldn’t do. Not at all, especially not with how wide he smiled, or how dark his eyes went as he stared at the boxers covering that tiny space between my legs…the space he had access to with how close I was to him now.
“How about you? How was your day with the kids?”
His smile transformed from dark and sexy to happy and playful. “Good…your kids are amazing.”
If any man were to try to date me or get into my pants, it would best be done by complimenting my kids. Pride swelled as emotions fluttered in my chest, irrationally straining for something familiar and safe. Someone who knew how to hold me, make me laugh, make love to me. Someone he used to be.
“Thank you, they are pretty great.” I hushed the thoughts bombarding my mind, focusing instead on how tired I suddenly was. “Thank you for watching them—I know they had fun with you,” I added, trying to make sure he knew how much I appreciated that he wanted to be near them.
“Thank you for trusting me.” He met my gaze.
Dark aqua eyes drowning in the most exotic, brightest parts of the sea, froze me in place, silently reminding me that our entire past was there just hanging in the balance, still unresolved, still unfinished.
“Well, I should probably go down and get my bed set up on the couch.” I pulled at my foot while smiling at him so he knew how much I valued him, but if I kept staring at him, I’d sink.
“Stop it—you aren’t sleeping down there. Sleep here, with me,” he offered, moving off the bed, heading toward the bathroom.
This was ridiculous; I wasn’t going to sleep in the same bed as him. I twisted to get off the bed and veered toward the hall, knowing there was likely extra bedding in one of the closets.
“Seriously, Bex?” Ryan stuck his head out of the bathroom with his shirt pulled off.
Holy lord.
“Ryan, I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you.” I crossed my arms to cover the fact that my nipples were begging me to stay.
“Why not?” He leaned into my space, his minty breath teasing me to get closer.
“Because we’re not together.” I lifted a shoulder, like it was as simple as that.
“So. We’re friends…or friendly, at least. We’ve known each other long enough not to get caught up in all that.” He lifted his shoulder with an equal measure of
nonchalance.
Caught up in all that.
Right.
I narrowed my eyes, so exhausted that I didn’t care if this hurt him. “You just ignored me for almost a week after telling me we needed to leave things the way they were…”
His wince was nearly covered by his hand running over his mouth, his eyes trained on the floor. “You need me to apologize? Fine, I’m sorry I said that. Obviously I didn’t mean it.”
I shook my head in disbelief then decided I would need to give a direct message in order for him to understand. “Would you sleep in my bed, knowing Logan had slept in it with me?”
He clenched his jaw, and that dark gaze turned from heated to glacial.
Exactly what I thought.
“See my point?” I gave him a small smile and turned to leave, except his warm hand shot out to stop me.
“Henna and I weren’t intimate a single time she was here. From the day I saw you, I didn’t touch her.”
“Wrong. You did touch her, multiple times in front of me—you dry-humped in the pool!” I whisper-yelled, hating how much energy it took from me, hating even more how many cards I was revealing by showing that it hurt as much as it did.
“Bex…” Ryan rubbed at his forehead in frustration.
“Ryan, the couch is great.” I gripped his wrist and squeezed it before letting it drop.
“She sat down there too, you know. Even fell asleep on it once…if you’re going to be all technical about not sleeping somewhere Henna slept.” He crossed his arms, making his biceps pop.
Ignoring how good he looked, how tan and toned…I closed my eyes, blinking away the image.
“The issue isn’t where she sat or slept. The issue is where she slept with you—probably in little to no clothing.” I shook my head, gaining steam for this conversation because it was probably best that we had it. “Look, I get it. Your life is fun and full, exciting, and you aren’t tied down to anyone. I know you have multiple fuck-buddies you keep on deck for when you’re ready to change it up. But, I’m not that kind of girl. I never have been. I’m not judging you for it—”