Page 42 of The Parent Trap

“See you at work,” he says, and then he’s gone.

And it’s weird, when he leaves, how empty my house feels.

Even weirder is how hard I have to work tonotthink about Thai in the shower. Or being in the shower with him.

Gah, what’swrongwith me? Icannotthink about Thai Bristow that way. It’s not safe, and not healthy.

I don’t like him that way.

I really need to find a date—get my mind off Thai and my stupid fantasy. My stupid, fake, never-going-to-happen, absolutely cannot ever happen again fantasy. About Thai. And how sexy he is. And the things he could do to me, if I didn’t hate, loathe, despise him.

Maybe I could call Tyler—I don’t do booty calls or friends with benefits, but Tyler is someone I’ve gone out with a few times, and I know the sex is decent.

So maybe it is a booty call. I just dress it up with dinner and a movie and call it dating.

But when I bring Tyler up in my text thread, I can’t bring myself to actually suggest we meet tonight.

I just…can’t.

And I refuse to examine myself closely enough to figure out why.

Mainly because if I did, I’d have to admit I don’tactuallyhate, loathe, despite Thai at all, anymore.

Ugh.

This is getting…complicated.

Chapter Eleven

Matthais

Dammit.

I really wish I hadn’t seen her like that.

In those fucking shorts.

In that fucking bra.

I mean, it was a sports bra, meant to contain and compress. For utility, not the male gaze. But…damn. She wore thefuckout of it.

And those shorts? Goddamn.

I knew the woman had a killer ass, but until this morning, I didn’t understand just how killer.

Fucking…magnificent. In those shorts she may as well have been naked, and the lecherous male in me did not mind at all. The way it moved? Hypnotizing. A little jiggle, but still taut. Round enough to make my dick sit up and take notice.

If it was anyone else, I’d be thinking about how I want to bend her over my bed and slap that ass till it was pink and she was begging for me.

But this is Delia.

My best friend’s sister. I know there’s some kind of taboo about that, but I’ve never gotten it. Maybe because I never thought about Delia that way. Until I came back into town and into her life, that is.

And realized what a freaking smoke show she is.

Did I notice, back in the day, that Delia was a fine-looking piece of woman? Yes, I did. Did I ever allow myself to think about her sexually? Not on your life. If my mind so much as tweaked in that direction, I’d do something to hurt her, just to stop myself. Why? God, I don’t fucking know. I’m not sure I want to know. Is that cowardly, of me?

I strip out of my slept-in clothes and twist the water on. While it’s heating, I brush my teeth and say fuck it to shaving.