The water slipped over my back, and I shouted, coming into my hand and against the shower wall, just the thought of May riding me until we lost our minds sending me over the edge too quickly.
I hadn’t even let the water grow cold before I came in my hand like a teenager. All while thinking of a woman who would never be mine.
I blushed, then quickly finished my shower and got out, wrapping my towel around my waist.
I leaned against my counter, cursing and calling myself all kinds of a fool. Because I shouldn’t think of May that way. She was a friend. Or someone who could be a friend. And how was I supposed to face her when I imagined what her nipples would look like? Wondered if they would be large. Pale. Dark. Little red berries begging for my mouth.
It didn’t matter in the end. Because all that mattered was that I wanted to know what her cunt tasted like. If she was honeydew or strawberries. Peaches and cream. But I was not allowed to know those things.
The guys had warned me off her, and for a good reason. One should not date within their group of friends. Things got sticky.
I’d seen that firsthand when Lake and Nick first started dating. Sure, everything had worked out for them. But what if things had gone to hell?
The two of them owned a damn business together. If they had truly broken things off like they tried to, things would be insane. It would be awkward as hell and hurt more than just pride.
While my connection to May was complicated, it didn’t make sense for me to take a step that could have lasting consequences. So, I told myself that this morning was the last time I would give myself an orgasm while thinking of Leif’s nanny.
I shook my head, then got ready for my day. I made the cup of coffee I’d promised myself, then picked up another, as well as some for my friends as I walked past the coffee shop and into Montgomery Ink Legacy.
My phone buzzed, and I frowned, looking at the readout.
Mandy: U free 2nite?
I sighed, thinking about her. She and I had spent the night together a couple of months ago but hadn’t seen each other since. I knew what she wanted since this wasn’t the first time she’d texted, but I wasn’t about that. I didn’t want to settle yet, and Mandy was all about settling. That and using me to make her ex jealous.
I should have ignored the text, but I wasn’t an asshole.
Me: Out with friends.
Mandy: Call me. I want you, Leo. Like before. Eric is being a jerk.
That time, I did ignore her. I needed to head inside and get to work. Besides, I wasn’t sure how much clearer I could be with her. I was shit at relationships.
Nick was already working on a full back piece, and Tristan and Taryn were in the back, fighting with each other. I could hear the laughter in their tone, though, so I knew they were only messing around. Lake was sitting at Nick’s station, her tablet in hand as she worked a mile a minute on some multimillion-dollar company, most likely. Every once in a while, the two would look up, kiss each other, smile, then go back to work.
I only felt a little jealous. I didn’t think that kind of life was for me and didn’t think I could have something like that. You had to be lucky to get that. I didn’t imagine that being me. But maybe. You never knew.
It just wouldn’t be with May.
I wondered why I kept telling myself that, considering I didn’t even know her that well. And yet, there was a pull. A connection.
But was I fooling myself?
Leif looked up from his notebook and smiled at me. “Is that coffee?”
“You know it. I brought something for everybody. Except for Lake. Sorry. I didn’t know you would be here.”
Lake waved me off, even as Nick scowled. “Don’t worry about it. I already had mine.”
“Well, I got coffee for you and a couple of extras, so you’re going to have to take it,” Brooke said as she came in behind me. I hurried out of the way of Leif’s girlfriend. She winked at me, then went to Leif, kissing him hard on the mouth.
Again, I ignored the jealousy that flared.
Brooke and I handed out our drinks and made sure everyone was happy.
“At least we’ll be caffeinated,” Nick grumbled as Lake kissed him.
“You like us that way.”
“You really do,” Brooke teased as she kissed Leif again.
Nick’s client laughed, and I just sighed at the four of them.
“This is what we’re doing? Making out at work?”
“Oh, were you feeling left out?” Tristan leaned forward, his lips puckered. I moved back, laughing as I flipped him off. “Sorry. But you don’t flip my switch.”
“I thought everybody flipped your switch.”
“No, that’s you.” Taryn winked and then kissed Tristan full on the mouth. “There, are you happy?”
Everybody looked at each other and then at the two I’d never seen kiss before.
Instead of looking embarrassed and angry, Tristan’s smile went all gooey, and he melted in front of Taryn. “Always, baby. With you.”
That’s when I realized they were a couple. I nearly smacked myself on the forehead. Of course, the two were a couple. How had I never noticed before? They joked with each other, teased, and had such chemistry that it was off the charts.
Good for them.
I went to my station and got ready for my first appointment of the day. A cover-up on a woman’s ankle. She had an old dolphin that had faded to a blob, and I was going to do a wraparound rosary for her. We were both excited, and it was something I had done before.
Yet it was hard to think with so many couples all around me. In fact, right at this moment, I was the odd man out again—the only person without someone.
Except, of course, Sebastian. Sebastian didn’t have anyone either. And now I felt like shit. Because while he wasn’t here today, the youngest of us had once had a connection that made everybody smile and feel only a little bit jealous.
Now, Marley was gone, and Sebastian was a single dad. I needed to figure out how not to walk on eggshells around him. He would never ask that of me, and he wanted things to be normal, but I always felt like I was doing something wrong around the kid.
I also had to stop thinking about him as a kid. He was a full-fledged adult—and a dad. He wasn’t some kid still in high school, figuring out who he was. He was working, going to school, and raising a daughter on his own.
And here I was, having sex dreams about a woman that barely even knew I existed. Yes, she knew my name when we’d spoken those few times in odd circumstances, but she hadn’t looked twice at me.
I needed to remember that.
Everyone was talking around me and laughing with one another. I looked up at my client.
Brandi sat on the chair across from me and gave me a curious look. “You’re looking all serious like. You want to talk about it?”
I shook my head at the woman with dark hair, kind eyes, and a familiar lift to her mouth that I couldn’t quite place. I knew many people, though. For all I knew, she had a Montgomery in some part of her family tree.
“Just thinking about life.”
“And all the lovebirds around you?” she asked, teasing.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s like an epidemic. Everybody’s falling in love and making out with each other at work. This is a place of serious business.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Nick grumbled.
Lake shushed him. “Don’t curse in front of the clients.”