Friends and Lovers (9 page)

Kelli turned her lovely blue eyes back to Lauren. “How do you know Sherry?”

“She was my best friend since high school. You?”

Kelli studied her, clearly wondering about the past tense. “I introduced her to my brother.”

Lauren’s jaw dropped. “You’re Ken’s sister?”

Kelli laughed. “Guilty as charged. I just thought they’d hit it off, and they did.”

“How did you know Sherry?”

“We were in the same aerobics class, and sometimes we’d hang out afterward, but once we both got more involved with our husbands that tapered off. Of course, now that Sherry’s due date is so close she doesn’t come to class at all.”

“I haven’t met Ken yet, but I hear he’s a great guy.”

Kelli beamed. “He is. They’re good together.” She raised her glass of punch and Lauren’s eyes popped at the rock on Kelli’s finger.

“That’s a beautiful ring,” said Lauren with a tinge of reverence.

Kelli turned her hand and admired it herself. “I love it. Hal picked it out for me. My husband has incredible taste.” She looked off dreamily. “We just had our first anniversary last month.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you. Is it my imagination or did I see Sherry’s brother Wes deliver you to this shindig?”

“You don’t miss much.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but you’re lucky. He’s quite a catch.”

“Oh, we’re not together.”

Kelli’s eyebrows curved slightly. “Are you sure about that?”

Lauren nodded, unable to mask her disappointment.

Kelli’s eyes softened. “You’re in love with him.”

Lauren shrugged, then after an uneasy beat gave another fatalistic nod. “Yes.”

Kelli smiled kindly. “Be patient. I’ve got a feeling about you two.”

“Are you a love medium?”

Kelli laughed. “Hardly. I’d say it’s more of an intuition about these things.”

Once the shower got underway Lauren was more of an observer than a participant, though she tried her best to smile and gush along with the others while all the little outfits and gifts were unwrapped. Occasionally she’d catch a little smile from Kelli but overall Lauren felt like an intrusion. When Wes came back ten minutes early she could have kissed him.

* * * *

Not wanting to disrupt the fun, Wes went over to the treat table to graze. Dipping a tortilla chip, he smiled as Sherry fawned over a colorful mobile. His gaze drifted back to Lauren and he was startled to find her watching him with a look of quiet desperation on her face.
Shit.
Had she enjoyed herself at all?

Taking pity on her, Wes drifted over and leaned down to speak softly in her ear. “I take it you’re ready to go?”

“Yes,” Lauren whispered. She rose and hurried upstairs to find her purse.

Wes looked up and met his sister’s eyes. Sherry shook her head helplessly and mouthed a silent
call me later
. Wes nodded.

Lauren came back downstairs and stopped to give Sherry a quick hug and congratulations then fled through the front door. Wes followed. She was waiting at the car. Even from a distance he could see she was trembling. He hit his key fob and the locks clicked. She was in her seat before he could get the door. He closed it gently after her, and Lauren stared straight ahead as Wes got in on the driver’s side.

Driving Lauren home, Wes found her silence disquieting. He could see she had a lot on her mind. He glanced over repeatedly but didn’t know what to say or how to broach the subject. Something went drastically wrong today, and he had no idea how to help.

It was a shock when Wes realized Lauren was silently weeping as she looked out her window. He pulled the car over and shut off the engine. Releasing his seatbelt, he turned to her. “What happened? Can you talk about it?”

Lauren shook her head and went searching in her handbag for a tissue. Blotting her eyes and wiping her nose, she finally sobbed, “I feel like I don’t even
know
Sherry anymore.”

Wes gripped the back of her headrest, wishing he could stroke her hair instead. “Sure you do.”

“I didn’t know
any
of her friends. I’ve been replaced. It’s like we’re strangers. I’ve missed so much.”

Now he understood. “Do you care about Sherry?”

“Yes,” said Lauren without hesitation.

“Then you have to make the effort to repair the friendship. Just because Sherry has new friends doesn’t mean she doesn’t want you in her life too. You have to reestablish your connection, that’s all. It isn’t going to happen overnight or even in two short hours. What did you expect?”

She threw up her hands. “I don’t know.”

He’d never seen a more forlorn expression in his life. The tears clinging to Lauren’s lashes were too much for him. Expelling a deep sigh, Wes cupped the back of her neck and pulled her in. His kiss was soft, compassionate, and infinitely tender. The wet tissue in Lauren’s hand flattened out against his shirt and he felt the moisture leech through the light cotton, dampening his skin underneath. He didn’t give a damn.

The timing was wrong, all wrong, and yet he couldn’t help himself. The need to be close to her, comfort and caress her, was almost unbearable. In his mind he’d held back long enough. Now it was up to her. If Lauren pulled away or asked him to stop he would.

She clutched his shirt instead.

Chapter 9

Wes was lost to everything but sensation. Lauren’s subtle perfume wrapped around him like a seductive veil as his lips grazed along her damp lashes and swept over the shell of her ear. He felt her shudder when he kissed her neck, and she drove her fingers up into his hair, gripping him at the scalp. That’s when Wes’s instincts took over and he seized her, dragging Lauren tight against him. He wanted everything she had to offer. There wasn’t an inch of her satiny soft skin he didn’t need to touch, to taste. When he took her mouth again, he took it hard, and her soft gasps and moans were as delicious to his ears as the tongue that shared them with him. He wanted to feel Lauren’s silky hair falling across his bare skin, brushing his chest, his stomach, his…

Beep! Beep!

Two sharp blasts from the horn of a passing car startled them so much they both jumped.

Pulling back, Wes ran his hand through his hair and stared at Lauren in wide-eyed shock. “I can’t believe I just did that. I’m so sorry.”

Only now did he finally glimpse the elementary school directly behind her and he got even angrier and more disgusted with himself. So what if it was Saturday? It didn’t change the fact that this was a public street, not lover’s lane for fuck’s sake! No way would he let anyone else get away with going tonsil diving like he just did without issuing a stern warning. Incredible. How could he fail to notice a school? If his raging hard-on had left any blood in his brain whatsoever this never would have happened.

Then he noticed the hurt and confusion in the eyes staring back at him and felt like an even bigger ass. All the headway he’d made recently with Lauren was now totally fucked.
Shit.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized again.

“Me too,” she mumbled.

When Wes dropped Lauren at her parking lot the awkwardness between them was worse than ever. He’d never felt more despicable than when she fled into the building alone.

He wanted to follow her but how could he explain what he didn’t understand himself? Wes put the car into gear and drove back to Sherry’s. Maybe Ken would give him a beer. He could use a guy’s company right about now.

* * * *

Lauren slammed her apartment door and, dropping back against it, slid to the floor in a miserable heap. For ten minutes she cried, lamenting the distance she’d felt between her and Sherry and even more, agonizing over the critical misstep she just took with Wes. No doubt the kissing was going to damage their fledgling friendship.

She could hardly get her head around what just happened. Talk about extremes! One minute she was so high she was floating off the seat and the next, she was plunged into an icy bath of rejection! That first heady kiss had been a long time coming but
she
wouldn’t have been had they kept going. She never believed she would get that close to Wes, yet it wasn’t nearly close enough. She’d wanted to absorb him, step inside him, lose herself in a way she never had before.

She’d felt like warm clay in his hands. She wanted Wes to mold her, shape her, and yes, please, please, seduce her. There was so much she wanted to learn and experience with him. When he coaxed her lips apart, she offered more, willingly, knowing it would never be enough. Lauren remembered cupping his ears. His hair was so soft when she buried her fingers in it. She felt dizzy remembering the next intense kiss. Wes could have consumed her whole and she wouldn’t have cared. The tears pooling in the corners of her eyes were all for him by then, for the sheer wondrous joy of finally getting a taste of her unattainable fantasy.

But with Wes’s horrified withdrawal, Lauren fell back to earth with a mighty crash. Oh God, he regretted touching her, comforting her! Swamped by humiliation, Lauren slipped under the cold waves completely at his apologetic rejection. That stung more than anything ever had in her life.

Of course Wes would regret it. She should have known he’d act on instinct when she started to cry. That’s the kind of guy he was. Trying to make things better was second nature for him. What did she think it meant, that he actually cared about her, wanted her? No, she inspired his pity, nothing more, and it crushed her.

How could she be such an idiot?

Easy, emotions didn’t travel in the realm of reason. She got carried away by her feelings. To make matters worse, Lauren knew damn well she would have gone even farther if Wes had been willing. It wouldn’t have taken much. Her mind was already there, so was her heart, her body was merely catching up.

By kissing Wes, Lauren learned something about herself. She’d never felt so empty, or so hungry in her life. She fed from his lips like a starving thing, tasting the chocolate truffle with raspberry filling he ate just before they left the party. She flared with heat when she realized how desperately she wanted more than just his tongue inside her, though that would have been nice too. In the absence of consummation, they made love with their mouths instead, or at least she had. She couldn’t vouch for anything Wes was doing or thinking. All she knew now was they’d crossed a line that threatened to sever everything between them.

She curled up on the floor, rested her cheek against the cool tiles, and gave into the exhaustion of misery, finally falling asleep where she lay.

* * * *

Ken eyed the empty bottle in Wes’s hand. “That was quick. Do you want another?”

“I want a whole goddamned case.”

“Then you’re staying over.”

Wes laughed bitterly. “No problem.”

“What the hell happened today?”

Wes flicked the mouth of the bottle with his middle finger and got a dull ring from the glass. “I’m pretty sure I fucked things up with Lauren. She actually ran from me.”

“What? Why would she do that?”

“Because I’m a goddamned pig, that’s why. She was crying, and instead of comforting her, I made a pass.”

“A pass? That’s it?”

Wes squirmed uneasily. “Not exactly. I kissed her and the next thing I know it’s almost twenty minutes later and I’m realizing I’ve never kissed anyone like that before—
ever
. She didn’t see it coming any more than I did.”

Ken grinned. “You made out for twenty minutes?”

“Pretty much.”

“Where was this?”

“The front seat of my car.”

Now Ken was laughing. “That’s so high school!”

“This was nothing like making out when I was in high school,” he disagreed ominously. “Do you want another beer?
I’m
getting one.”

“Sure.”

Sherry came home five minutes later and Wes and Ken were roused off the couch to bring her gifts in from Jolene’s minivan.

“Hey, I like the rocker,” Ken said, holding the door open for Wes.

“That’s because I’m carrying it up to the nursery for you,” Wes said on his way by.

“Doesn’t hurt,” Ken called after him.

Afterward Ken threw a frozen pizza in the oven and while he and Wes polished it off Sherry gave them a recap of her baby shower.

When her recitation was over she turned to her brother and said, “Now, tell me if you found out what was wrong with Lauren.”

Wes sighed. “For starters, she felt like an outsider. I think meeting all your friends and not knowing any of them was a real shock. It hit her hard.”

“My God,” Sherry said sympathetically. “I didn’t even think of that. How was she when you dropped her off? Were you able to help?”

Ken pointed at Wes with his beer bottle, coaxing him on.

Wes didn’t appreciate the smirk. “Not exactly,” he hedged.

Sherry’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’d you do?”

“He thought he’d kiss it and make it better,” Ken said oh so helpfully. Wes chucked a piece of cold sausage at him.

“You kissed her?” Sherry snapped. “I can’t believe you! Lauren’s not equipped to handle someone like you on a good day and you nailed her when she was really vulnerable?”

“I didn’t
nail
her,” he said scathingly. “I kissed her, or we kissed. I don’t even know anymore, but I’m not making excuses. Don’t you think I feel shitty about this already?”

“I don’t know,” she said testily.

“Well, I do, damn it! I care about her.”

Sherry’s eyebrows went up. “Are you serious?”

He nodded and Ken stretched back in his chair and smiled at the siblings, clearly enjoying their bickering

“Yes, I
still
care about her and I’m not going to leave her alone anymore. Lauren’s a grown woman, and yes, I was a prick today for taking advantage of a weak moment, but I don’t regret kissing her—just the fucked up timing.”

Sherry blinked at him. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything, just butt out this time.”

“I was right back then and you know it.”

Wes frowned, not ready to admit it even though he’d already come to the same conclusion on his own. “There is something you can do for Lauren. Give her a little one-on-one time. She was overwhelmed today.”