Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three

by Long, Heather

  I shrugged. “We talked.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising.” Worry filled his gray-green eyes.

  “It is what it is. Tonight, we’re celebrating, right?”

  He searched my face, but I pasted on my smile and lifted my chin.

  “Yeah,” he said slowly. “We are. But you don’t have to pretend with me. Ever.”

  That made me smile for real. “I want to have a good time tonight. I want to not be—angsty Frankie, and her awful no good bad decision bagel days.”

  The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he chuckled. “Bad decision bagel days?”

  “Well, it sure feels like that lately. But Ian’s talking to me, so that’s something. I got the scholarship, and that’s awesome. And…I’m here with my best friends.”

  “Okay,” Coop whispered after a long moment, then wrapped his hand around my nape and pressed his forehead to mine. “We’re going to celebrate. Talk college apps. Plan homework. See you in that hot bikini. Play in the pool. Have fun. Maybe not necessarily in that order.”

  “I like that plan. Even the homework stuff.”

  “Of course you do, you’re an overachiever and a workaholic.”

  I made a face and pinched him. He stole a kiss and then danced away from my jabbing fingers.

  “Go get changed,” he said. “I’ll see you in five.”

  He headed to the room next door, and I glanced at the stairs. Still no Ian or Jake.

  Shaking my head, I slipped into Archie’s room and closed the door. There was something comforting about being in there. I crossed over and dropped my bikini on the bed before I sat on the edge and pulled off my shoes.

  Archie wasn’t messy. In general, he picked up after himself—I’d seen him do it. Though, there were times he just tossed things, too. I would imagine the maids—there were two of them who came in to clean the house three times a week—definitely made passes through here.

  Having a maid was weird. Having a Jeremy was cool, but someone who actively cleaned up after you? Eh. Even Mom didn’t do that. I stood and pulled out my phone. There was no message from Mom on the screen.

  So far, so good. I put it in do not disturb and dropped it on the comforter before undoing my shorts.

  A whisper of air brushed my neck a second before hands settled on my hips. Heart slamming against my ribs, I swallowed a scream as Archie leaned close to me and whispered, “Boo.” As it was, I jerked my elbow back and got him in the stomach. He oofed and then laughed.

  “Oh my god, you asshole,” I yelled as I pivoted. He had both hands over his stomach, grimace-laughing.

  “Thank you for not hitting me in the balls,” he grunted, but his eyes danced. “And sorry, you were lost in thought and so damn delicious looking, even when you didn’t notice me in the bathroom door.”

  I groaned.

  A knock on the connecting door preceded the jiggling of the handle. “You okay in there?” Coop called.

  “I’m fine,” I answered. “Archie left a big jerk in the middle of the floor.”

  “Wounded,” the guy in question chuckled. “So wounded.” He swiped at an imaginary tear and then grinned harder when I flipped him off.

  “Jerk.”

  “Sometimes,” he agreed, just like he had earlier. “Sometimes.” He tipped his head to the side. Dressed only in his swim trunks, he looked positively edible. “Please don’t stop changing on my account.”

  “You sure you’re all right?” Coop asked again, his tone exceptionally dry. “And I thought the big jerk was down by the pool.”

  “You thought wrong!”

  “Ha,” Coop bellowed. “You snuck in there to startle Frankie.”

  “Lies,” Archie answered with a smirk. “All lies.”

  We could be up here all day at this rate, so I stripped off my shirt, then my bra and reached for the bikini top. Archie gave me two thumbs up before he reached out a hand. When I smacked his fingers, he cracked up all over again.

  “Lookie, no touchie,” I scolded, and that just set him off in another fit.

  When I slid out of Jake’s boxers, I kept my gaze on him, and it was delightful to see the heat in his eyes. Even more, the pout when I pulled on the bikini bottoms.

  “Fuck, I’m giving you a pair of mine.” He crossed over to his dresser and opened it. Then he pulled out a pair of dark boxers and held them up. “You have a preference on color?”

  I laughed. “You’re making it weird.”

  “Says the girl who wore another guy’s boxers and turned me on by standing in my room in them.”

  “You weren’t supposed to see them,” I pointed out, though I was a little warm from the way he kept raking his gaze over me.

  “Getting girls to say yes, it was a game. A game we could all do and we got really good at it.”

  Ian’s words whispered in my ear, and I straightened, turning away long enough to fold up my clothes.

  “Hey,” Archie said. “I was just teasing.”

  “I know.” The words would probably sound a lot more convincing if that little niggle of doubt wasn’t doing a version of a stomp dance on my good mood. “You pick out the boxers, but I’m not telling you when I’m going to wear them.”

  “Oh, that’s cold,” he said slowly. “And a little mean.”

  “Take it or leave it,” I offered before reclaiming my phone and meeting his gaze. See, I didn’t always say yes.

  “I’ll definitely take it.” He pulled out a dark blue pair that he’d worn on our first night together. “These.” When he dangled them, I had to take a couple of steps to get them from him. Even expecting it, I still laughed when he tugged me closer and then wrapped an arm around me a heartbeat before he kissed me.

  The light nip of his teeth stung my lower lip before he laved his tongue over it, and I sighed against his mouth. Coop knocked and said, “You’ve hogged her long enough. Let’s go, it’s time to share Frankie.”

  Archie groaned against my mouth, even as a light shiver skated up my spine. We dragged the kiss out for another ten seconds, and I wasn’t the only one panting when he lifted his head.

  “Better. Ready to be shared?”

  That sounded so much dirtier when he said it.

  “And if I’m not?” I challenged.

  He squinted. “I could be totally convinced. Really, wouldn’t even take much. We can just keep the doors locked.”

  I laughed. “No, we can’t.” I patted his chest as I took possession of his boxers. I set them with my clothes and headed for the door. “We’re celebrating.”

  “Right,” he exhaled. “Celebration. Put a little swing in those hips because the party in my pants is all about celebrating you.”

  I groaned and stared at him.

  “Too much?” He gave me a cheesy grin, and a real laugh bubbled up through me.

  They were idiots sometimes. All of them.

  But they were my idiots.

  “Maybe a little.” I held my thumb and forefinger together, and he winked. There was no mistaking the pleasure in his eyes when I laughed. Archie was worried about me, and he was trying to cheer me up.

  It worked.

  “Heading out,” I called to Coop.

  Archie covered my hand on the doorknob, and we wrestled it open together, laughing to find Jake and Ian had finally made it up the stairs. Jake raked an appreciative gaze over me and smiled, but Ian’s expression shuttered as he glanced from me to Archie behind me.

  “It’s about time you slowpokes got up here,” I said, refusing to be embarrassed, even if my face heated.

  All the air seemed to be sucked out of the hall as we stood there in that awkward frozen tableau.

  “Finally,” Coop declared as he left the guest room. “I thought I was going to have to Mission: Impossible my way in there to get you two out.” He squeezed right past Jake and Ian to sling an arm around my shoulders and tugged me out into the hall. “Move it or lose it, guys!” he called back as we headed for the stairs with Archie right next to us.r />
  It wasn’t until we were outside in the heat that the shiver hit me. No way Coop missed it this close to me, but I bumped his hip and slipped away before I dropped my phone and bracelet on the table, then I raced forward and dove into the pool.

  We were going to have fun tonight, dammit.

  Bad decision bagel or not.

  Chapter Six

  Are You For Real?

  Jake

  “’Not a chance in hell’?” Bubba quoted my words back at me as Coop disappeared inside with Frankie. “Really?”

  “Her? In a dress that’s thinner than cotton while on your bike to go to Homecoming? Yeah, that definitely falls in no chance in hell.” I dragged my backpack out of the back and then locked the car.

  “You think I’m going to take her on the bike?” Bubba stared at me, his expression tight. To be honest, we hadn’t said much to each other the last couple of days.

  “I don’t know what you’re going to do. I didn’t expect you to take off on Frankie or bail on me, so what do I know?”

  “Apparently enough to make decisions for her.” The barest edge of hostility frosted the words.

  “I don’t let my friends do stupid shit,” I told him bluntly. “I tried to stop you on Saturday, too. But you wouldn’t listen. Now…she thinks you’re out. While she puts on a great show, it’s eating away at her. Personally, I think she has enough problems, she doesn’t need any more.”

  The only thing keeping me from punching him—particularly after he had to bail on lunch to hang out with Sharon and the kill-me-now club—was Frankie. It would ruin her day. We were here to celebrate that killer scholarship.

  I didn’t know a more deserving person. I came clean about my own scholarship, and she’d been thrilled for me. When I’d admitted I’d worried about the fact she hadn’t gotten it, she’d laughed at me and called me sweet.

  Yeah, I was sweet. On her.

  The fact that I got to spend the whole night with her pretty much made all the crap parts of the week worth it. Even the anger management—wasn’t that a joke?

  When Bubba continued to be silent, I shrugged. “We better get moving…”

  “You know what the problem is,” he said, and I sighed as I dropped my chin. Facing away from him, I seriously debated just continuing to walk.

  “No,” I answered. “But I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

  “We’re pretending the summer didn’t happen.”

  “Excuse me?” I pivoted to face him.

  “You heard me.” He’d dragged his own bag out of the saddlebags on the bike and slung it over his shoulder. The sun beat down on us, but right now, I didn’t care about the heat so much. “We made a lot of bad calls, and we’re pretending it doesn’t matter because now she likes us. I know how damn desperate I was to even have her talk to me again.”

  “We screwed up with Frankie.” I could admit that much. “We should have been up front with her. Maybe a little more blunt.” If I’d had half an inkling of what it would be like to really kiss her? I’d have long since just done that. “But the summer has nothing to do with her.”

  “It has everything to do with her, Jake,” Bubba exhaled. “Now you and Arch… you just had to get her into bed. Did you even slow down for a second before you fucked her to think about whether it would be good for her?”

  “Be really careful, Bubba,” I warned him as aggravation raced over my skin like an angry rash. “Nobody gets to talk about her like that.”

  “Like what? Another notch you and Archie punch into your belts to make a point?” Bubba glared at me. “She’d never dated, and in less than a week, Archie has her in bed and you…tell me you didn’t get damn close? You were pissed that Archie got there first? Or were you just pissed at the points you lost?”

  “Say it again,” I dared him as I dropped the backpack and narrowed the space. “I fucking dare you to say that again. Your face won’t be so pretty for the game.”

  “See, I don’t know if this is just your natural state or if you really do care…”

  “Where the fuck is that coming from? Do I really care about Frankie? Fuck you, Bubba. I know I care. I know I care enough that I’m not putting her on the spot or making her feel bad that she likes all of us. I’m not going to punish her for not just picking me.”

  His eyes shuttered, and he gave a little jerk like I’d actually hit him. Good. He deserved a solid fist to the jaw.

  “What is going on with you?”

  Bubba sighed and then shoved a hand through his hair.

  “Dude, I’m not playing with you right now,” I pushed on. “’Cause you plan to keep this shit up, just leave. Cut the cord and let one of us take her to Homecoming. Don’t jerk her around like she’s some puppet for you to play with.”

  He turned that glare on me, anger flaring in his eyes. “I’m not playing with her. I care about her. I care about her more than I do me or scratching some damn itch. She’s worth a hell of a lot more than a score card or a pickup line that will make them agree.”

  “No shit. So what is wrong with you?” Out of all of us, I expected Archie to play the power games—not Bubba.

  “I’m worried about her.”

  “So are we.”

  “The crap with her mom, the stuff at school—we still don’t know who did that to her car.”

  “Yes and yes, how does shoving her away help with all of that?”

  “Because Rachel was right.”

  Now there were words I never wanted to hear. Rachel Manning had a thing for my girl, and all other competition thoughts aside—Rachel could be a real bitch on wheels when she put her mind to it. Nobody fucked with Rachel. Not if they didn’t want to be eaten alive.

  “About Frankie needing a friend?” Because Rachel had said other shit to her, some of it in those notes—and didn’t that just burn that Rachel was the one to give Frankie those words of encouragement and thought that should have come from us—and more at the party the weekend before last.

  “Yeah,” Bubba said. “We’re supposed to be her best friends, but…we haven’t really been good at that part. All we’ve done is make it worse. You guys…look, Jake, I get it. You saw an opportunity, and you took it. But did it ever occur to you how she was going to cope with it later?”

  “Cope with what? The sex?” Because if he was implying I forced her, I really was going to relocate his jaw.

  “Yes. Frankie’s not one of the other girls who didn’t care as long as they got off.”

  “No shit.” Why the hell he had to keep bringing up some of those… “Bubba, no one was lied to. If Frankie said stop, I would have stopped.” I did stop. Not that it was any of his business. That first night she and I made out after I slept over. The first time I got to really touch her and she’d touched me.

  ‘Course, after she put her mouth on me, I don’t think anything could ever compare again. All the heat in my body drained south just at the idea.

  “Stop lumping her in with everyone else. She isn’t them, and they could never be her.” The game had been fun, stupid maybe, but fun. And it had been a way to drown out the noise. None of us had been happy with her cutting us off, but it wasn’t about dating Frankie—at least, not then. We hadn’t stood a chance then, at least we hadn’t thought we did. “You and I both know none of us ever thought we had a chance with her.” Sometimes spoken, often left unsaid, was the fact we’d all been hung up on Frankie, and she didn’t look at us the same way until now.

  I wasn’t going to make excuses.

  “And that’s done now.” We hadn’t marked a point in weeks.

  “Then why the rush?” Bubba asked.

  Was he for real? “What rush? I’ve been into Frankie for years. This didn’t feel like a rush, so much as finally having a chance to show her how I feel.”

  “You’re right, it has been years—for you, for me, for them. We’re supposed to be her best friends. But we sucked. Then we hurt her. Now you’re setting her up to be hurt again. To have to choose betwee
n us…I can’t do that. I’m not leaving her, but I am going to be good. I’m going to be her friend and not just the guy who wants to get between her legs.”

  “Good. You’re going to be the good guy?” I pinched the bridge of my nose and started laughing. “Okay, you go hang out with your ex and plan Homecoming. That sounds great.”

  “Not my idea,” Bubba argued. “Don’t be an ass.”

  “You first,” I retaliated. “Being a good guy means not making her feel like crap.”

  “I talked to her.”

  “And?”

  “And, none of your business. We butt out of each other’s dates.”

  “Except you’re not dating, and I definitely am. You can be the friend, I’m definitely the boyfriend.”

  “A boyfriend,” Bubba corrected. “One of…not the only one. I just told you I’m not leaving.”

  “No, you’re going to be her good friend. Like I said, boyfriend,” I continued, and tapped my chest. “Which means now I’m telling you. Get your shit together, Bubba, before you damage what you could have irreparably. Then again…if you’re out, you’re out. I’m not gonna fight for you, if you can’t be bothered.”

  I hated it. It had been the five of us for years. It felt wrong to have him step back. Not leaving wasn’t the same as being in. Not leaving wasn’t the same as continuing to date.

  “Can you make it sound less like I’m a villain? I’m just trying to be a good guy. The guy she needs.”

  I snorted. Whatever, man. He wanted to be the good guy, and that made me what? The bad one? Fine. Whatever. "I get it. Good boys go to heaven.” I clapped him on the shoulder before picking up my backpack. “Bad boys take her to heaven. Keep being good, man. She'll get there with or without you."

  Then I headed in the house.

  “You are such a jackass,” Bubba muttered, and I grinned.

  Yes, yes I was. But at least I knew what I wanted and who I wanted. I could be her friend and her boyfriend. I wanted it all.

  Coop

  Jealousy didn’t look good on anyone, and Bubba was so jealous, he could spit. The fact he wouldn’t actually label it jealousy didn’t change the facts. I got it, I really did. I understood when he tried to explain to me he felt like an ass and that we were taking advantage of Frankie.