Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101736 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
I’d had less than one beer, but he had a point, and I struggled not to let my shoulders sag with disappointment. Now that I had Preston’s attention, I didn’t want to lose it, and teaming up with him sounded like fun.
Undeterred, he strolled toward me, taking up all the space around us. He held my gaze as he picked up one of the cups in front of me that was left over from the game. “You can crash here,” he announced, took a sip of the beer, and then his tone thickened with heat. “There’s plenty of room in my bed.”
Holy shit.
My heart tripped and stumbled. He was flirting. Preston Lowe was flirting with me.
And he wasn’t exactly being subtle either.
“What the fuck?” my brother snapped. His chest lifted with a deep breath, perhaps to puff it up, and the atmosphere in the room went taut. Colin glared at his friend, every inch of his face and posture announcing exactly how much Preston’s comment had pissed him off.
Maybe it was because my brother hadn’t been around much once I’d been old enough to date, but I found this reaction surprising. Our parents were strict, which had made him swing wildly the other direction—so I hadn’t expected him to be protective of me. Or so controlling.
I didn’t care what Colin did with his romantic life.
Shouldn’t he feel the same way about me?
Preston laughed, lifted his hands in the air, and backed away from me with a sheepish grin. As if to say his flirting was harmless and he didn’t mean it. He ripped his gaze away from mine and planted it on my brother.
“Chill, dude. I was just kidding.”
I jammed my hands in the tiny pockets of my shorts to prevent me from balling them into fists. If that were true, it stung, and I reeled from the emotional whiplash. I’d been so excited about him flirting, and now I felt like a punchline.
Also, what the hell? Yes, Preston was my brother’s best friend, but he’d never said his friends were off limits. My brother and I weren’t close, and our friends didn’t overlap.
So, why did he care if we flirted?
Or dated?
Colin’s expression remained hard and fixed as he stared at Preston. “Seriously. That wasn’t cool.”
Preston shrugged and tilted back the cup he was holding, finishing the beer in a few quick gulps. “Sorry.”
His gaze darted to mine, only for a single heartbeat and too short for anyone else to see—but it was a lifetime long. It hinted he wasn’t sorry at all, and a thrill shot through me, lighting up every inch of my body.
THREE
Sydney
I sat on the edge of a lounge chair beside the Lowes’ pool, sharing my seat with Madison while we ate cupcakes, but all my attention was on Preston. Across the way, he relaxed at the patio table with his friends, chatting and smiling, and now seemed completely oblivious to me.
Meanwhile, his ‘joke’ echoed incessantly through my head. It made me dream of doing something wild and shocking—something like asking him if he wanted to go out. Not that I’d ever get the opportunity to do that, not to mention, the courage.
Plus, I didn’t know if he was already seeing someone.
I hoped not. My gaze drifted away, only to land on Cassidy Shepard.
Years ago, I’d been so envious of her. She and Preston had been inseparable during their senior year of high school and so sweet, looking at them had given me a toothache.
How things had changed.
Today, she sat next to her boyfriend. Her much older boyfriend, whose arm casually rested behind her on the back of her chair. They looked carefree and comfortable together, but how could that be?
For three years, she’d dated Preston, and then suddenly she was dating his freaking father instead. Dr. Lowe was at least twenty years older than her, and it continued to raise eyebrows in our small, tight-knit suburb.
Colin didn’t talk about it, but I’d heard from a friend that Cassidy lived with Dr. Lowe now. It meant Preston had to share his home with his ex-girlfriend, the one who was dating his dad.
Yikes.
It couldn’t have been easy for any of them.
My gaze drifted back to the patio table on the other side of the pool deck. Preston leaned back in his chair, his elbows on the armrests, and he casually sipped on his can of beer. The evening sun was fading, casting a warm hue over the back yard, and he looked so . . . inviting.
Like he was just waiting for a girl to crawl into his lap.
I swallowed a breath, bunched up my paper napkin, and rose from the chair. I’d handed over my gift, consumed a single beer, which included during the game, and eaten dinner plus a cupcake. It meant it was time to go. I’d shown up for my brother and told him how proud I was of him, graduating despite our parents cutting him off.