Her mom laughs, waving a hand. “Well, you are engaged after all.”
Drowning in lust.
Vale
“This is our bed?”
“Yes,” I tell him.
“It looks small.”
“What, are you afraid we might brush against each other in our sleep?”
He just sighs and starts unpacking.
I should let it go, but he pissed me off in the barn. And I can’t. “What’s the big deal? It’s not like we’ve never shared a bed.”
He mutters something with his back turned.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“It sounded like you said something about Trent.”
His shoulders rise and fall when he sighs. “I said, maybe you should share a bed with good old BTO since he’s obviously still lusting after you.”
“Please. That was over years ago.”
Is he jealous? I don’t want to let myself believe it, but what other reason would there be for him to act this way?
“I don’t think it’s so over for him.”
“Please.”
“Whatever,” he says, taking his clothes out of his suitcase and hanging them in the closet. “It’s obvious he still has a thing for you.”
“Well, unfortunately for Trent, we are engaged. And I’m crazy about you.”
“You didn’t look too crazy about me when you were in his arms.”
“Are you jealous?”
“No, actually, I am not,” he says. “But you wanted this whole charade. The least you could do is show some respect for our fake relationship and not flirt with him in front of me.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I say, moving toward him and invading his personal space. We’re so close that I can practically feel his chest rise and fall. “When my being this close to you is hell?”
He shakes his head at me. “It’s not really a conversation we needed to have in front of your family. But now that you’ve brought it back up and we are alone, it is hell, being this close to you.” He slides his hands up my back. “Because we were good together.”
“Were,” I emphasize the past tense at the same time I feel my body heating up.
“And not being able to have you puts me in hell.”
“Who says you can’t have me?” I blurt out. Because right now, that’s all I want. Us tangled up in the sheets of my little bed. Naked. For days.
That’s how it was whenever I was with him. Sure, we’d go out for dinner with friends sometimes. But for the most part, our time was spent alone. Usually in bed. Or somewhere. Having the most amazing, sensual sex.
I close my eyes and can practically feel his lips gliding across my neck.
“I say I can’t have you,” he answers, pulling back.
“I’m still not over you,” I tell him.
“And I think you’re just saying that because you need me to be your fake fiancé. I think we need to set a few ground rules. When we’re with your family, we will flirt and act like we are in love, but the second we cross this threshold, we go back to what we are in real life.”
“And what’s that?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says.
And that breaks my heart. Again.
He doesn’t say anything else, just strips his shirt off and tosses it onto the bed.
I have to look away from the chest I love. The washboard stomach I know so well. How many times did I allow my tongue to dance across those abs? And then there are his shoulders. The ones I clung to, dragged my nails over—
“I think we should both get a little more casual, don’t you?” He drops his pants next.
I don’t know what to do anymore. My skin’s on fire along with a sudden warmth in certain other parts of my body.
“So, what? We strip for each other? That’s your idea of casual?”
“I meant for the shower.”
“You want to take a shower with me? Now? But I thought—”
An amused look forms on his face. “I was referring to the couple’s shower. Tonight.”
CHAPTER SIX
Arts and crafts.
Carter
Vale seems to have no idea what she does to me every time she touches me.
The way her hand casually brushes against mine.
The swell of her breast against my arm when she leans in to murmur in my ear.
I understand why we have to look close. In my brain, I know it.
The rest of me is another story. She has no idea how I’m struggling against the flood of memories when her body presses against mine.
We are sitting in a circle with all the other guests. Lakelyn and AJ are in the middle, opening shower gifts.
“I love it!” Lakelyn squeals, holding up a blender. “Thank you so much!”
“What are you doing?” I ask Vale, noticing how she writes something down in a notebook every time her sister unwraps a gift.
“I have to keep track of who gave what,” she explains, “so she can write thank-you cards. It’s the maid of honor’s duty.”
“What other duties do you have?” I can’t help but wonder.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” she confesses out of the corner of her mouth. “I’m only doing what I’m told.”
Meanwhile, Brooke and Raine are taping the many ribbons and bows from each gift onto a paper plate.
There’s a reason men don’t usually come to these things.
AJ seems to be taking it all in stride. He wears a goofy grin, which I can only attribute to being deeply in love with his girl. He’s happy to see her happy.
I just wish watching it didn’t make me imagine myself in his shoes. About to marry the girl of my dreams.
Now, all that’s left of those fantasies are bruised pride and the ring now shining on Vale’s hand.
“Oh, it’s a pasta maker!” Lakelyn is beside herself. She seems like a genuinely good person, truly thrilled with each gift. “Thank you so much for getting this, Aunt Helen!”
“Dinner at Lakelyn’s!” Blake grins from his side of the room, where most of the men are gathered.
I decide to take a stroll over there and get away from the estrogen for a while.
Blake immediately hands me a beer. “This’ll be you soon enough.” He winks. “Looking forward to it?”
“Oh, it’s always been my dream to have bits of glitter all over me for days after unwrapping gifts,” I say as AJ brushes more glitter from his pants.
Blake laughs. “Then, you’ll have a great time with us tonight. From what BTO and I have planned, we’ll all be covered in glitter by the time the night’s over, if you catch my drift.”
I have a sneaking suspicion I know what he’s talking about but decide to play innocent. “Arts and crafts?”
“Strip club, my man. We have a stretch limo all set to pick us up at nine. It’s an hour drive. We pregame in the limo and then settle in for the real party once we arrive.”
“Sounds like fun.” Really, it sounds like the most boring, generic bachelor party imaginable, but we’re in the middle of Iowa. I guess there are only so many options.