Page 56 of Rescue

“Sorry,” Karen says, pushing my glass of water toward me. But she’s smiling.

“Who told you I was in love with her?” I ask when my eyes finally stop watering. “Because I’m not. We barely know each other.”

“You’ve hung out about as long as Sam and Cash did,” she points out.

I scowl, not really having an answer for that.

“Come on,” she says. “It’s just us.”

“I can’t imagine why I wouldn’t want to talk about my love life with the girl who tells Paige everything.”

“I do not tell Paige everything. I wouldn’t tell herthis.”

“You haven’t really talked about it, man,” Levi adds. “And you’ve seemed a little down about it.”

I sigh, pushing my sandwich away. “Fine. She’s… I like her. We get along and…” I have a fleeting thought of the way her lips felt on mine and swallow. “Anyhow. She’s not interested in a relationship, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“She told you that?” Karen asks.

I nod.

“She didn’t look not interested in the club the other night,” Levi says, and Karen’s eyes light up.

“Flirtations in a club? Details. Now.”

“You really are as bad as Paige and Daisy,” I say. “Fine. We slept together back in England, and it was… it was pretty great.” I rub a hand across the back of my neck, uncomfortable. I was never really the type to share information like this. Probably a reaction to being grossed out by Cash’s oversharing in his really bad man-whoring days.

“Pretty great, huh?” Karen asks, waggling her eyebrows. “You want to elaborate?”

“No,” I say sharply. Then I sigh. “But after that she pulled away. Said we should just be friends.”

“Which still doesn’t explain the club,” Levi says.

“We went out dancing in Barcelona the other night—”

“God, I’m jealous I didn’t get to go to Barcelona,” Karen interrupts. “Was it amazing?”

“You want me to talk about this or not?”

“Sorry, sorry,” she says quickly. “Go on.”

“So we were out dancing and… I don’t know. There was a spark.” I think of the way she felt in my arms, the way her eyes remained so fixed on my lips as we danced. The way her skin felt like it was burning my palms whenever I touched her.

“Definitely a spark,” Levi adds. “They looked like they were gonna go to town on each other in the middle of the dance floor.”

“So what happened?” Karen asks.

“She asked me to take her back to my room.”

“What?” Levi practically yelps, sitting up straighter. “Why didn’t you go?”

I give him a withering look. “You look like a pre-teen at a slumber party right now, Levi. Chill.”

“I don’t even care.” He shoves a piece of bread in his mouth. “You Ransome boys are better than a soap opera.”

I direct my attention to Karen so I don’t have to see my best friend talking with his mouth full. “And then, in the next breath, she told me it would just be a one-night thing.” What words did she use? Friends with benefits. I grimace at the table.

“And you wanted more,” Karen says.