“Ah, you have me pegged. I’m a dirty opportunist.” Lee sighed dramatically, unable to wipe the grin from his face. He thought I was funny. Getting up from the couch, I stumbled slightly, but he caught me in time to prevent my fall.

“Easy,” he murmured, his hands clasping my elbows.

Looking up at him from beneath my lashes, I swallowed tightly and stepped out of his hold. Turning, I managed to make it to my bedroom, where I unceremoniously bumped into my wardrobe.

“Ow,” I whined, clutching my knee.

Lee stood just a few feet shy of my doorway. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I answered, and then proceeded to face-plant onto my mattress. Fully clothed; I had no intention of going to the effort of undressing. I could sleep like this.

Lee entered my room. “You sure you don’t need some help?”

“Nope, I’m good,” I said, waving a hand in the air.

“You’re just going to sleep in your clothes?” he asked.

“Pretty much.”

“Karla, let me help you.”

Annoyed, I flipped over onto my back and levelled him with a hostile glare. “I said, I’m fine.”

Lee sighed and went back out into the living room, not bothering to shut my door. I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but the waist of my jeans began to bite into my skin, and I felt uncomfortably sweaty in my silk blouse. Only a minute or two had passed when I called out sheepishly, “Lee?”

The smile in his voice was unmistakable. “What is it, Snap?”

“Maybe I could use some help.” No way were these skinnies coming off on their own. Chuckling, he returned to my room and stood at the foot of my bed, grinning down at me.

“You’re adorable when you’re drunk.”

I scoffed. “Sure.”

“Let’s get these off you, then,” he said, resting a knee on the mattress and bending forward to undo my fly. With effort he pulled them down my legs, finally getting them off. I was already unbuttoning my blouse when I realised he’d gone quiet, and looked up to find him standing over me, heat in his eyes as they traced my bare legs.

“You good from here?” he asked, swallowing tightly.

I couldn’t answer, because his stare was creating a burning need between my thighs. My throat was thick when I finally said, “Yeah, I’m good.”

He had turned to leave when I added, “Wait, can you help me with the duvet before you go?”

I shouldn’t have said it. I could easily deal with a bloody duvet by myself. The truth was that I didn’t want him to leave. Not yet. Nodding, he didn’t say a word as he returned, slid an arm around my waist, and lifted me up while pulling the duvet out from under me. Exhaling heavily, I stared at his thick lashes, then at his lips, before finally resting my gaze on his.

Acting purely on instinct, I seized his mouth, moving my lips and coaxing his to open. He groaned as I kissed him, his entire body still and tense. My skin heated, my body responding to the contact as I arched my hips and felt the stirrings of an erection in his pants.

“You’re drunk,” he said as he broke away briefly, like he was trying to reason with himself.

“Mm-hmm,” I murmured indistinctly, pulling him back as I slid my tongue into his mouth and wrapped my arms around his neck. Lee hissed when I ground myself off his dick, seeking friction. For a second he kissed me hungrily, drinking me in and tasting me. Then a moment later he was gone, rising off the bed and running his hands through his hair.

“Fuck,” he swore. “You can’t test me like that, Karla. I’m not strong enough,” he said gruffly.

I lay there, staring up at him, breathless. “I’m sorry.”

Lee frowned and shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. I just don’t want to take advantage….”

“It’s okay, I know. You’re a good person, Lee,” I told him, not sure if that was drunk Karla talking, or sober Karla.

The way his eyes raked my half-naked body gave me chills. “The thoughts I’m having right now are far from good. Tell me to leave.”

“Leave?”

“Okay, I’m going,” he said, still staring at me, or my chest, to be more exact. “Yep, definitely leaving now.”

Turning, he walked out of my room, this time closing the door behind him. I pulled the blanket up around me, savouring the warmth but wishing it was another kind. In the end the alcohol in my system won, and I passed out cold.

Twenty-Two

I woke up to the sound of Reya’s voice, and, sure enough, when I walked into the kitchen, she was sitting across from Alexis, holding Oliver in her arms and cooing at him like an annoying grandmother. Or maybe I just found it annoying because my head was spinning.

“How are you not dying right now?” I asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton of orange juice.

Reya shrugged. “I don’t really get hangovers.”

“Just you wait,” said Alexis, pointing to me. “A few years, and you’ll be as bad as this one.”

“Yeah, no offence,” I added, “but I kind of hate you right now. I’m going to take a shower.”

When I came back out, clean and dressed, I found breakfast waiting for me. Apparently, Reya felt guilty for her lack of a hangover and decided to cook me bacon to make up for it. She was such a gem. Sitting down at the table, I dug into my food. Her phone went off with a text, and she hurried to check it. I was willing to bet I knew who it was.

“Trevor?” I asked between bites.

She nodded sheepishly and put her phone back down. “He wants to hang out today.”

“Really? You should go.”

She shook her head. “It’s more of a group hangout. He and a few of his buddies are practicing for some free-running competition. He wanted to know if I was interested in coming to watch.”

“That sounds exciting. I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday.”

“So why don’t you come with me?” she put in eagerly. “It’ll be fun, and I’ll buy you ice cream.”

There was something about the innocent look in her eyes that I couldn’t say no to. “Sure, I’ll come. Got nothing else planned anyway.”

“You’re the best,” she said, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand.

A half hour later we were on the Tube, heading toward Hyde Park. Trevor texted Reya, telling her to meet him at the Albert monument. When we got there, we found him, Liam and a bunch of their friends leaping up and down ten steps at a time, like they were running drills. There were also lots of people hanging about watching; not surprisingly, they were mostly female. That wasn’t what caught my attention most, though, because sitting off to the side and shouting encouragement was Lee.

I grabbed Reya’s arm, my voice tight as I said, “You never told me he’d be here.”

She shrugged out of my hold, smiling at me like butter wouldn’t melt. “Trev never mentioned it.”

I knew she was lying when I caught the both of them sharing a secret little smile as Trevor waved to her from the steps. They were trying to play Cupid, I could tell. Deciding not to let it get to me, I continued walking toward Lee.

“Hey,” I said tentatively, and sat down next to him on the steps. “So what are you, their coach or something?”

He looked up at me, eyes moving down my body before settling on my face. “Or something. How’s the head?”

“Thumping. I’m sorry about, uh, last night,” I said, fiddling awkwardly with the zipper of my jacket.

Unfortunately, I remembered every second of my embarrassing attempt to kiss him and his subsequent rejection. I wished I could scrub the humiliating behaviour from my brain, but they hadn’t created a pill for selective memory loss yet.

I knew from the set of his mouth that he was trying not to smile. “Nothing to be sorry about.” Leaning forward, he nodded to Reya.

“Good to see you again.”

“You, too,” she replied shyly. My friend tended to get quiet around good-looking men, which explained her behaviour with Lee. What it didn’t explain was her friendship with his brother. Then again, when Trevor decided he was going to be friends with someone, they didn’t really get a say in the matter. I’d learned that firsthand.