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I let him go quickly, ignoring the way my body craves more contact with his and instead remind myself he’s not a huggy person at all.
“Sorry,” I say, pulling right back. “I’m just so relieved to see you.”
He huffs out a short laugh and sits back on the couch. “I couldn’t leave you alone with those two.”
I’m reeling with gratitude as I sit back and study his profile. Aside from the scowl he casts in Cass and Duncan’s direction, he looks good. Better than good, actually.
He’s clean-shaven again this evening and he’s wearing a grey suit. A suit! I’ve never seen him in anything so formal. Then again, he did go to the races, which is an event one dresses up for.
Duncan walks into the lounge room holding Cass’s hand. “Hey, Lainey.”
“Hi, Duncan.” I’m relieved to see he’s done sucking my best friend’s face. “Did you have fun at the races?”
“Ben won a few hundred dollars. Did he tell you?”
“Don’t believe I’d had a chance to yet,” Ben says, scowl on his face once more.
“I’m not in Ben’s good books,” Duncan explains. “He had a very hot brunette throwing herself at him all night. I told him he could have gone home with her, but he insisted on coming here with me instead.”
Because he didn’t want me to feel like a third wheel. I’m grateful, even though it stings a little to think he probably wishes he was with her right now instead of me.
“So, what have you girls been up to?” Duncan asks as he and Cass sit down together on the other two-seater couch, which is at a ninety-degree angle to the couch Ben and I are sitting on. “Watched any good movies?”
“Actually, we’ve really just been talking,” Cass says.
Duncan smirks and pulls Cass onto his lap. “About me?”
“Just about stuff,” I say, shooting Cass a warning glance. “Personal stuff.”
“Ah,” Duncan says knowingly. “Cass has been trying to talk you into getting more ‘inspiration’ for your ‘work’.”
Clearly, the word personal isn’t a deterrent for Cass’s boyfriend.
Ben shakes his head. “Only you could make writing a book sound seedy.”
“It can be seedy. Have you seen some of the stuff that’s out there at the moment? I was with this girl about six months back. She read this book and then wanted me to whip her. I’m telling you; these writers are pushing people’s sexual boundaries.”
I sit there staring at Duncan, trying to work out if he’s serious or having me on. He looks serious.
“I wasn’t encouraging Lainey to search for inspiration,” Cass says. “Though I did suggest she broaden her views on casual sex.”
Ben shakes his head, mutters something to himself, and then addresses Cass. “It’s bad enough you keep pushing Lainey into dating and flirting with guys when she’s not ready, and now you’re trying to talk her into sleeping with some random dude?”
“Why don’t we just drop this whole subject and watch a movie?” I suggest.
Cass is too busy glaring at Ben to pay me any mind. “I wasn’t trying to talk her into anything, and if she wasn’t ready, I wouldn’t be pushing her.”
“How long has it been?” Duncan asks me conversationally, as if we’re discussing the weather. “Since you broke up with Lucas, right? So about...”
“Six and a half months,” Ben answers for me.
I pick up my wine and finish it in a few large gulps to cover my audible swallow and hide the pink heat creeping up my neck and face. I wish the couch would open up and swallow me. I hate that Ben knows it’s been that long for me. At least he doesn’t know that the resurgence of my sex-drive has seen him featured pretty heavily in some X-rated fantasies.
“You’re going to become a born-again virgin if you don’t get on that,” Duncan says, looking worried.
Ben snorts. “Great choice of words.”
Cass shakes her head. “You have to be celibate for more than a year to be a born-again virgin, I think.”
