Page 38 of Something Spontaneous

Apparently, fate has better decision-making skills than either of us, though.

The door to the patio creaks open, followed by my sister’s voice. “Oh, there you guys are. I was just coming to check on those drinks.”

Neither of us moves, but our gazes shift to Sisi and Grace, who are now in the very cramped hallway with us. Grace doesn’t pay any attention to me, but I catch the curious smirk she gives Josie. My sister, on the other hand, zeros in on Josie’s fist. Her brows pinch together when she sees that it’s still clenched around my shirt.

“Please tell me you two aren’t at each other’s throats? I thought we were all getting along.”

My eyes meet Josie’s and I know we’re both thinking the same thing. We weren’t exactly at each other’s throats, but pretty close to it.

Josie finally lets go of my shirt, and I take a step back, giving her the space to leave. I note that she stays put, turning to face Sisi and Grace.

“No, I forgot my phone and Sly bought it over. Also, I was making sure he got my drink order right.” She turns back to me. “Did you remember it?”

I glare at her because she knows damn well that we already gave Meredith our drink order. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Good,” she says with a pleased smirk. “Now, I’m going to go check out this patio with the girls.”

“Thank god,” my sister says in exasperation. “I was worried I was going to have to tell Sylvester to behave.”

“He’s being a good boy, I think.” Josie pats me on the cheek and steps past me. When she does, her hip bumps into my crotch, and I’m pretty sure she meant to do that because my dick is still hard and I feel that jolt through my entire body. Maybe she’s doing me another favor by giving me some time alone to get my erection under control.

She joins Grace and Sisi at the door. They step outside, but she stops, holding the door open. She waggles her fingers at me with a playful wave.

“Behave, Sylvester,” she says, dropping her voice into a sultry tone that I know is supposed to be a taunt.

That tone, that voice, sounds so familiar, but so foreign coming from Josie. It makes my skin heat and pulse quicken all over again, and fuck—I didn’t think she could be hotter, but she’s proving me wrong.

She was always a troublemaking firecracker, but she’s grown into that confidence, and she’s downright dangerous now.

And worse—she knows it.

CHAPTER 16

JOSIE

Slutty McSlutterson

I love unpredictable things.

Exhibit A: my best friend, Grace. Driving ten hours and showing up unannounced, out of the goodness of her heart, it’s exactly who she is. There’s nothing predictable about her other than the fact that she is unpredictable.

Exhibit B: Mother Nature. Wildfires changed our plans, a bear told me it was time to leave my campsite, and that’s how I ended up in Sterling Springs. Mother Nature has also been wildly generous with the unseasonably warm, mid-September weather. Not only has it been nice to get a few days at the motel pool, but it’s also why Grace and I are meeting Sisi for a hike on one of the trails that leads into the mountains surrounding town.

“Why are we going to the garage? I thought she was at the diner,” I ask Grace after meeting at her van in the motel’s parking lot. I told her last night she could crash on the sofa bed in my room, but she insisted on staying in her van. Considering I already miss sleeping in my van, I completely get wanting to sleep in your own bed.

Walking from the motel, I have to pick up my pace to stay at Grace’s side, an almost involuntary habit now when we’re together. Even though I’m in good shape from hiking and generally staying active, Grace is just under six-feet tall, and my short legs don’t do me any favors trying to keep up with her.

She shrugs. “Breakfast with her parents went quicker than normal, so she stopped by the garage since Sly was working out front.”

“Oh, got it,” I say, trying not to sound too interested in that development.

When I got back to my room last night, I stayed up far longer than I’d like to admit thinking about that kiss—well, actually—both of them. The first one, I could convince myself it was just for fun, and maybe a little revenge. A meaningless joke in the name of helping him, but also screwing with his head at the same time.

That second kiss—when he tracked me down in the back hallway like a hunter looking for his prey—that was something different. I can’t attribute that to my own misguided shenanigans. I didn’t mean to leave my phone behind the way we used to. I simply forgot it because I was too flustered by the first kiss. He was always shy and never the best at communication when we were young, so non-verbal cues like that became our thing. I can’t believe he remembered that ‘game’ we used to play.

Then there was the look in those blue eyes, and the way he took up all the space and air around me. I still can’t believe I tried to ride his thigh like he’s one of my grinder toys.

Blocking that thought from my mind, it’s time to focus on the day ahead. I’m weirdly excited about taking a hike on the trails I grew up on.