Page 48 of Decidedly Off Limits
My heart suddenly forgot to how to beat, hoping that he meant what I thought he meant.
But how could he have? Holly was everything I wished to be: sexually confident, well-rounded, and great at sports. She was also one thing that I wasn’t, but it just made her that much more perfect for Trent. “She practically lives at the office, like you. You guys are made for each other.”
“Why? ’Cause we’re both workaholics?”
“Exactly.” Holly might be well-rounded, but at the end of the day she was still a workaholic, putting in more hours at the office than the average person.
“Just because we’re both workaholics doesn’t mean we’re perfect for each other.” He stepped closer to me. Mere inches separated us. He reached up and caressed my jaw with his thumb. “You’re the one I keep thinking about at night, Kels—you naked in my bed. Not Holly.”
I swear my heart gave up beating at those magical words. Trent, the guy I’d wanted for all those years, was telling me that he thought about me at night? In his bed? Holy crap.
I needed to sit down.
Maybe breathe into a paper bag.
“You…what?” I gasped. He grabbed my arm like I was going to have a seizure. And maybe I was. “Since when?” I asked.
“Christ, have you taken a look at yourself lately, Kelsey? You’re gorgeous and sexy and ever since I saw you on the side of the road, I’ve wondered why I haven’t…fuck, I don’t know. But it’s complicated. You’re my best friend’s little sister. Liam would kill me if he knew how I’ve been thinking about you naked in my bed.”
Heat rushed between my legs, ignoring what Trent was saying. He had a point, though. Liam would do exactly that. He was way too overly protective for his own good.
“And after he’s finished with me,” Trent continued, “my sister would rip me a new one, too.”
He had a point there as well.
I stared at the ferns growing near us. “And I can’t go through another relationship like I had with Owen.”
But I also couldn’t imagine surviving another day without Trent touching me like I longed for him to touch me. “And then there’s Holly. She’s my friend. Even if Liam and Erin were okay with us being together, I refuse to hurt Holly because you and I can’t keep our hands off each other.” I swallowed, shoving down the words I wanted to say but probably shouldn’t. Too bad they were stubborn. “But I…”
“But you what?”
“But I also want to be with you. I want to kiss you. I want to touch you.”I want to make love to you.
20
Trent
There wassomething about standing in the middle of the woods, with the warm breeze cheering you on, to help you forget all your common sense. Throw in a cawing crow and you were set.
“Trust me, Kels, I want that too,” I said.
She bit her lip in that adorable way of hers, which made me want to push her against a tree and explore her mouth again, except this time more thoroughly.
“But like I said,” she pointed out, “I don’t want to have a repeat of what happened with Owen. I’m not ready for another relationship.”
Neither was I.
“So what are you suggesting?” I asked. “That we become fuck buddies?”
Remember the first three best-friend rules (never fuck the guy’s sister, never think of fucking the guy’s sister, and never thinking about her naked whilenotthinking about fucking her)? I was positive there was also a fourth rule: no fuck-buddy arrangements with his sister.
But if this was the extent of my being able to kiss her and explore her in ways I could only have dreamed about until now, then fuck buddies it was. And given neither of us was looking for a relationship right now, it worked for everyone.
Everyone except for Holly.
I’d been so blinded by my lust for Kelsey, I’d failed to notice the shift in Holly’s feelings toward me. Now things started to make sense, like her long hours in the office when she didn’t need to stay so late. Like why she had shown me the thongs she had bought that one day—only it hadn’t ended with the reaction she’d hoped for.
“I was thinking more like friends with benefits.” Kelsey shrugged at my what’s-the-difference expression. “It sounds less crass than your version.”