Bedding The Best Friend (Bedding the Bachelors, Book 4) (9 page)

Ryan blew out a breath. The last thing he felt like doing right now was hitting the weights. But it wasn’t like he could do what he really wanted to do either.

He glanced down at the hardened tent pole lifting the sheets. God, that dream he’d had of Annie had been relatively tame, but his continued state of arousal since that sexy phone call last night was bordering on ludicrous. Even though he’d tried to keep some distance between them by pretending he was acting as her fantasy man, Kyle, Ryan’s body hadn’t been fooled. The sound of her breathing and moaning and clearly getting off had revived his sexual fantasies about her big-time.

He could still hear her husky voice as she’d told him how she was touching herself. Could still hear her whimpering while following his instructions to touch her breasts, tug her nipples, finger-fuck herself.

She’d been sexy as hell. And when she’d suggested that he go back to her apartment to be even naughtier with her, he’d already been reaching for his keys before he’d forced himself to freeze.

She was obviously going through a vulnerable time in her life—testing out those “waters”—but Ryan wasn’t who or what she really wanted, otherwise she wouldn’t have propositioned him for the very first time on the eve of her bang-a-stranger-in-Vegas trip. And only after he’d helped her get off to her fantasy man Kyle.

If he’d gone back to her apartment, he’d have been a stand in, a convenience, no more than a warm-blooded sex toy. Not what he wanted from her and certainly not worth risking their friendship over.

So he’d ended up rejecting her instead.

“Fuck,” he murmured as he rose out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

He leaned against the bathroom sink and stared blurry-eyed at his reflection. “You’d better not have fucked up the one good relationship you’ve ever had, Hennessey,” he said.

An hour later, he managed to make it to the gym and onto a treadmill next to the one that Cole was running on. Around them, men and women were lifting weights, running on the assorted cardio machines, and punching sand bags. This was a serious gym and Cole was a focused exercise partner. Because he was a private bodyguard, staying fit was just an extension of who he was, the same way it was for Ryan.

“Have you heard anything more from Eric?” Cole asked.

Still running, Ryan took a drink from his water bottle, swallowed, then answered, “Nope. It’s beyond bizarre. He’s loved Brianne since the day he met her.”

“We all love Brianne,” Cole said between breaths. “Maybe that’s the problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“We love Brianne because we’ve known her so long. Maybe Eric realized he didn’t want to be tied down to the same woman he’d been with since college.”

In other words, romantic love didn’t last. Not like friendship did. “Maybe. I suppose we won’t know the truth until he shows back up or contacts one of us.”

Eric’s disappearance had them all on edge. Sure, their group of friends weren’t as close as they’d been in college, but there was a deep connection that held them together. Similar to the connection he had with Annie. He didn’t know what he’d do if Annie took off for parts unknown.

It seemed that by losing the weight, Annie had changed not only outside, but inside, too.

Irritated at where his mind kept going, he punched the speed of the treadmill higher and sprinted until sweat poured off of him. Yeah, that’s right, he’d sweat Annie out of his system.

But thirty minutes later, off the treadmill and holding a barbell over his friend as Cole adjusted position on the weight bench, Ryan still had Annie at the forefront of his mind. Damn.

“Can you lift the bar a little higher?” Cole asked.

“Will do,” Ryan said, focusing on the heavy barbell. But his mind wandered to Annie yet again, and the bar slipped—just a bit, but enough to send Cole back up to a seated position, glaring at him.

“Dude. You want to tell me what—or who—you’re so distracted about? I take it it’s a girl?”

Ryan let the heavy weight settle back into the cradle and ran a hand over his face. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Samantha? I thought you dumped her, the way you dump them all.”

The comment smarted a bit. He didn’t dump all the women he went out with—some left him when they realized he wouldn’t make a major commitment. “I didn’t dump her. It was mutual. But you’re right. I’m not seeing her anymore.” Ryan wiped sweat from his forehead and sat on the weight bench next to Cole.

“So who are you…” Understanding lit Cole’s eyes. “Ah. Is this about Annie?”

Startled, Ryan turned his gaze to meet Cole’s steady one. “How’d you know?”

Cole shrugged. “That girl means more to you than all your other friends combined. And you’ve got your Mr. Protective vibe going on. Right along with your Get Your Mind Off Her Tits one.”

Ryan glowered at him.

“It’s true,” Cole said. “Funny how they always show up hand-in-hand. The first time I saw them together was in college, when she came to visit, and you wouldn’t let any of us ask her out. You said none of us was good enough for her. But it’s been obvious for years that you don’t think
you’re
good enough for her. At least, not good enough to keep her, or to nail her and stay friends with her.”

“Watch your mouth,” Ryan warned.

Cole laughed. “See? There you go again. You want to protect her, and the more you want to protect her, the more you want to fuck her. But you refuse to let yourself think that way, so you torture yourself. It’s a cruel, endless cycle, dude.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Is that right? Then why don’t you tell me what’s got you so twisted up?”

Ryan couldn’t. He wouldn’t betray Annie’s confidence by telling anyone about her naughty list. But…

“She’s heading to Vegas today. Alone.”

“Why is she…” Again, that look of understanding flashed across his friend’s face. “Ah. A little tit-for-tat, maybe?”

“Huh?”

“You were in Vegas last week for the bachelor party. Maybe she’s imagining you doing all sorts of things, things she’s pissed as hell about, so she’s dishing out some payback?”

The idea stunned Ryan. It wasn’t possible. Annie didn’t play those kinds of games. Well, the old Annie wouldn’t, anyway. This new Annie hadn’t even told him she was going to Vegas.

Cole handed him a water bottle. Ryan stared at it.

“You know she lost a lot of weight recently,” he began slowly.

Nodding, Cole said, “She’s a bit on the skinny side now—I liked her with more meat on her bones. But I have to admit, she seemed different at the wedding. More confident. So she’s going to Vegas to see exactly what her new body can do for her?”

“Maybe,” Ryan grumbled. “I tried talking her out of it, but…”

For a long while, Cole simply sat, staring ahead at the hustle and bustle of the gym. Finally, he said, “When does she leave?”

“Three hours.”

“You know what they say…” Cole said.

Ryan lifted his head. “No. What do ‘they’ say?”

“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

“Meaning?”

“Go with her. And while you’re there, figure out what you want. If you could have her, would you want her?”

His first thought was Hell, yes. Annie was beautiful. Smart. Fun and kind. The women he dated inevitably came up short when compared to her. But the problem was, he wanted Annie for a lifetime, and the best way to make sure that happened was to keep sex out of it. “I want to be her friend.”

“But what if you can be more?”

“She’s not interested in me in any other way than friendship,” Ryan said. “She wasn’t in high school and she’s not now. She said it herself. She wants to ‘test the waters,’ and a girl who wants that is someone ready to move on at a moment’s notice. As you pointed out, that’s standard operating procedure for me. Eventually, for one of us, it wouldn’t be enough and I could lose her forever.” It wasn’t worth the risk. “Let’s talk about something else. Any news on the real estate front?”

Cole had his own place in downtown LA, but he’d been putting off selling his mother’s home in one of the surrounding suburbs. His mom had passed away three months before from breast cancer. Though he didn’t talk about it, Cole had been close to his mother, who’d raised him on her own. Cole would be grieving her loss for a long time to come, but selling her house would be an important part of him moving forward.

“Not yet,” Cole said. “I took so much time off when she—you know, when she was really sick—and right after. I can’t keep leaving things to Luke to run on his own.” He stood and turned at the sound of girlish giggles. There were a couple of young women on the treadmills, and they waved at Cole and Ryan.

Ryan smirked. “Looks like you’ve got a fan club.”

“It’s you. They want some fire-boy lovin’,” Cole said.

“No, they clearly want some biker-boy action. Wait! I think I can read their lips.” He spoke softly but with a slightly girlie tone. “Look at that one, the one with all the tats. Oh…he’s
soooo
dreamy. Just imagine what it would feel like to touch all that hard muscle. To feel that goatee against your skin. To ride his…
bike
.”

Cole snorted. “Shut the fuck up and, since you can’t seem to spot me worth a damn, I’ll spot you. I don’t want to be in a high-rise when a fire breaks out and have to worry about whether your fat ass can make it to the top floor to save me.”

Ryan grinned and got back into his workout. It would be a cold day in hell before Cole needed rescuing from anyone. He’d be the first person Ryan would want taking his back. And it wasn’t all brawn and no heart with Cole either. Every other weekend, he and his biker friends got on their bikes and did a run for one charity or another. Most of the time, it was for kids, but lately he’d been doing cancer runs. Two weeks ago, Cole and all of his tough biker friends had been wearing hot-pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness.

Cole glanced back at the girls again as he spotted for Ryan.

“Why don’t you just go over and say hello?” Ryan said.

“Nah. They’re cute, but I don’t have time to get involved right now.”

“The way they’re looking at you, they might be up for a drive-by.”

Cole chuckled. “No time for even that. You, on the other hand, have the whole weekend free.”

Ryan arched a brow. “You’re suggesting I go over there and chat them up?”

“Nope. I know you’re not interested. And something tells me you don’t have the time either.”

“Why’s that?”

Cole tossed Ryan a towel. “You’re going to have to hustle to make that flight to Vegas.”

Chapter Six

The first boarding call for Annie’s flight echoed through the San Francisco airport. All around her, people jockeyed for position, even though the flight had assigned seating.

“Oof!” Annie grunted as she bent to pick up her carry-on bag, trying to move it away from a rather oblivious group of travelers. She’d bagged up all her clothes after she’d lost the weight and taken the bags to the local homeless shelter, then bought all new, form-fitting clothes to show off her new look. But skinny jeans meant just that—skinny. And bending over in pants that were practically painted on was proving rather difficult.

And she’d certainly shoved a lot of stuff into her carry-on bag.

But not her new toy.

That she had shoved deep into her checked bag, which presumably was somewhere in the belly of the plane. No way would she risk having airport security pull out her toy for all to see.

Her stomach clenched, and a surge of panic washed over her. Was she really going to get naughty in Vegas? Next to her, a young woman stood, latte in hand, chatting with a nearly identical woman. Both girls were in their mid-twenties and dressed in designer clothes that fit their rail-thin bodies like a glove. One of the girls was talking about how she’d gotten laid the night before and how amazing it had been.

Annie could barely remember the last time she’d gotten laid. Ryan had coaxed an orgasm easily from her last night, but that had been a favor and it’s not like they were going to do that again. Maybe sex with a stranger was exactly what she needed. No expectations. No confusing feelings. Just hot, sweaty sex solely in the name of fun.

Yep, this trip was definitely going to be a turning point in her transformation.

Last night, after coming hard to the sound of Ryan’s voice in her ears, she’d finally mustered the courage to invite him over. To offer her body to him. But he hadn’t wanted her. That had been clear from his answering silence. The poor guy had obviously been trying to think of a way to turn her down gently. God, how mortifying. She’d spent the next few hours reliving the embarrassment, resulting in a restless night’s sleep.

But that was all behind her now. She was going to go through with her plan, get over him, and not have to suffer through all of these conflicting feelings anymore.

The announcement came loudly that her group was boarding. She hefted her carry-on over her shoulder and got in line behind the two young women. In her back pocket, her cell phone buzzed. She pulled it out to see a text from Ryan.

Instantly, her mind and body went where she’d been dutifully trying to keep it from going—back to last night. With Ryan’s husky voice asking her what she was wearing and telling her to touch herself. Despite the circumstances, it had felt so natural—so
right
—but in the end it had taught her a lesson: the more Ryan gave, the hungrier she became. She needed to keep things between them firmly in the friend zone.