Falling for her best friend's brother was NOT a part of her summer plans...
Karma Fitzgerald never saw Nathan Jenkins as anything other than the womanizing big brother of her best friend, Lanie. That all changed during a summer trip to the beach, wh...
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"Start from the beginning."
Well, Lanie sure made it sound so easy, didn't she?
I inhaled a very much needed deep breath before I glanced at Nathan. He was sitting beside me on his bed while Lanie was in the chair at his desk across from us. This was exactly what I didn't want to happen. I didn't want her finding out any other way than by me. But it seemed like the cat was out of the bag on that one.
"It started at the beach. I'd gotten into an argument with my mom and was emotionally eating some ice cream when Nathan came home from a date. He found me in the kitchen and offered to sit with me in the living room and watch a movie. So, we did. The next morning, I wanted to get out of the hotel. Nathan offered to give me a ride and took me bowling and to get something to eat."
Okay, the second part of that wasn't exactly the truth, but I couldn't deal with the whole USF thing right now. That was something I wanted to tell Harper and Lanie in private. Just the three of us.
"He took you bowling? He stinks at bowling."
Nathan snickered next to me. "I'm better than Karma."
"Anyways," I drawled, giving him a warning look. "We kind of just started connecting after that."
Lanie raised her brows. "Connecting? Connecting how, exactly?"
I went on to explain all about the lingering glances and the night at the club. The latter really got Lanie's attention. She was surprised that I danced at all, let alone with a complete stranger. And then fact that I was drunk. Then when she heard about my dance with Nathan...let's just say her jaw dropped a little.
Due to my lack of memory from the second half of that night, Nathan explained the next part to her. I tried and failed not to blush when he described what happened in his bedroom. Even though we didn't kiss or anything, it still felt like a huge deal.
"Wow, Nate," she breathed with surprise. "I can't believe you did that for her."
She was referring to Nathan holding me while I slept in his bed. I still had a hard time believing that myself.
"I'll be honest with you, little sis. I was scared shitless." Nathan chuckled before smiling at me. "But I just couldn't say no to you that night."
I smiled back at him. "I don't think I gave you much of a choice."
Lanie cleared her throat. "Can we get back to the story please? What happened next?"
My best friend was an impatient one. I couldn't blame her though. If she had a story as juicy and surprising as this one, I would be in a hurry to hear it, too. But not knowing how she felt about this was killing me. More importantly, how she felt about me keeping it from her.
I didn't bring up the whole hot tub thing. And neither did Nathan. Even though nothing happened that night as far as kissing, something did happen that night. It felt like something changed between us while we talked in that steamy water. Which is why I chickened out when he came so close to kissing me.
