Lust and Other Drugs (7 page)

“What if I lose him, Gin?”

“Then I’ll be there to snatch him right up.” She flashed a
devilish smile. “Seriously, you’re not going to lose him. There might be some
growing pains, but you’ll come through it. I promise.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” Gin smirked.

“Why do I surround myself with people who have an answer for
everything?” She took another long drink of her wine.

Gin lowered her voice to a faux whisper. “Because you’re one
of them.”

They both laughed.

Anne noticed her fingers were getting pruny but she didn’t
care. “Bubbles. I need more bubbles.”

“What you need is to kick Gin’s butt into gear,” Seth said
from the doorway.

Anne shrieked. “Is there a conspiracy to kill me? You hear
of knocking? Or you know, calling?” She took a deep breath.

“That’s my fault, Anne. I told him to pick me up here.” Gin
looked sheepish.

“Then there’s the fact if I called, you’d know I was coming.
Gin said you’d be in the hot tub. I didn’t know if maybe you two were feeling
experimental…” He let the rest of the sentence hang.

“Huh?” Gin asked.

Anne remembered that it was Seth who’d helped design the
supplement. “Why? Does it make
you
feel
experimental
?” she shot
back at him.

“Yeah, kind of.” He smirked.

Anne’s eyes widened but she quickly gained her composure.
“Well, if you’re secure enough to experiment, dinner theater shouldn’t be a big
deal.”

“Not
that
experimental.” Seth snorted.

“Wait, did you think you’d catch Gin and I doing
something…else?”

He shrugged and nodded knowingly. “That drug is pretty
powerful.”

“How do you know… Oh.” Anne colored as she realized the
blond on the site was him. The other guy had to be their friend Justin.

“What are you talking about?” Gin raised a brow and looked
back and forth between Seth and Anne.

“Yeah,
oh
,” he repeated. The shy Seth Grayson was
gone and in his place stood a man who was very sure of himself and what he had
to offer. Chase had obviously told Seth about what had happened. And that she
knew about the site.

“Damn Chase for telling you.” Anne blushed again.

“I’m still not catching this. Someone explain it to me,” Gin
demanded.

No way was Anne going to tell her it was Seth on the site.
She was sure Gin would explore it more later on her own anyway, and when Gin
realized she actually knew everyone, it might propel her to take that step with
Seth. And Anne could stop feeling bad about hooking up with Chase.

“When you grow up, little Gin-bug, I’ll tell you all about
it,” Seth promised.

Gin waded closer to Seth and propped herself up on the
ledge, allowing the edge of the Jacuzzi to push her breasts up. “I’ll have you
know I’m grown
now
. In case it escaped your notice, your ‘I’m smarter
than you’ shtick is getting old. That’s why you don’t get laid.”

“What?” he asked, obviously entranced by her cleavage.

“See, it doesn’t matter how smart they are. It all comes
down to boobies.” Gin shrugged. “Gee, Anne. You could show him yours and he’d
fall over dead.”

Anne glared at Gin. “Actually, Seth, I was wondering. Gin
was telling me she had a rash of a most intimate nature. Maybe she needs an
exam. Do you think you could help her with that?”

“Maybe I could. But I wouldn’t want her to think I was
trying to be smarter than her.”

“That’s not even a good retort.” Gin scowled.

“Oh, baby. I like it when you use your words,” Seth teased.

“Go away. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“I think not. Remember the Ozzy concert? ‘I’ll be right out’
turned into three hours. Not a chance.”

“What, are you going to watch me dress?”

“Maybe I will,” Seth threatened.

“You have to at least buy me dinner if you wanna get
that
show,” she grumbled.

“That’s why it’s called dinner theater.”

“Those were Justin’s tickets. You didn’t buy anything.”

Anne realized that their banter was much like hers and
Chase’s. Too bad Gin couldn’t see it. “I promise she’ll be in to get ready in
five minutes.”

“So that means we’ll actually be able to leave in six
hours.” Seth looked at his watch. “Right on time.” He turned and went back in
the house.

“Why does everyone give me grief because I want to look
nice?” Gin groused.

“Because you’re kind of a space cadet and you get
distracted. Seth and Chase both hate to be late anywhere.”

“It’s not like I set out to be late.”

“I know.” She quickly hugged Gin. “Now, get out. You have to
get ready.”

“Are you going to tell me what you guys were talking about?”

“No. I think you’ll have more fun figuring it out for
yourself.”

“I don’t like that wicked gleam in your eyes, wench,” Gin
said.

“Then stop looking at it. Your knight with the shining
speculum awaits.”

Gin spat her last gulp of wine out into the yard. “Did you
really go there?”

“I think I did.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No, I only had two glasses.”

“That was a whole bottle.”

“You’re the one who brought three,” Anne teased. “No,
really. I’m not tipsy in the least. All the grease and pizza sucked it up like
a sponge.”

“I’m not interested in Seth,” Gin clarified.

“Okay.”

“Really.”

“Really, okay.”

“Seriously.”

“Who are you trying convince? Me or yourself?” Anne asked.

“Shut up.”

“Then get your butt in gear before he comes out here again.”

“I don’t know why he’s here so early. We have
six
hours.”

“Maybe he wants to take you to eat first.” Anne grinned.

“It’s dinner theater.”

“The food probably sucks.”

“Or he thinks he’s going to get laid,” Gin mused.

“Come on, you know Seth isn’t like that.”

“Well, why isn’t he? Fucking is simple. That makes sense to
me,” Gin said with a pout. “I don’t understand him.”

“Why are you trying to understand him? I thought you didn’t
like him.”

“Shut. Up.” Gin splashed her and climbed out of the tub.

Anne just laughed as Gin padded into the house.

When Anne was sure she’d heard the telltale sound of Seth’s
car pulling out of the driveway sometime later, she ripped her bathing suit off
and flung it onto the deck.

She turned the jets on high and relaxed with another
soul-deep sigh. She reached for more pizza and refilled her glass of Rosa
Regale. All was as right as it could be at the moment.

If she didn’t take into account she’d left her towel in the
kitchen.

Chapter Six

A naked and dripping Anne was doing exactly shit for his
resolve to forget what had happened between them.

Not that he could actually forget living out his fantasy in
the kitchen or forget it had been better than anything he’d dreamed of, but for
the sake of their friendship, Chase had decided he had to put it out of his
head. He’d been around the block more than once. He’d had friends with
benefits, but Anne deserved better than that from anyone she was with.

He hadn’t been able to think, all the blood that should have
been powering his brain diverted to keeping his cock hard. And today, he
couldn’t stop thinking about her, remembering the taste of her on his lips, the
feel of her breasts and the way her sweet cunt had clenched around him as she’d
whispered for him to fuck her. Something he’d only ever heard in his wildest
fantasies. Those words could have been dirty and crude, but they weren’t. On
her lips, they were intimate and soft, only for him.

Now she stood before him, the ends of her dark hair clinging
in damp ringlets around her shoulders, a stark contrast against her skin, which
was pink from the heat of the Jacuzzi. Droplets of water sluiced between the
valley of her perfect breasts, over the flat plane of her belly and down the
long length of those legs that had been so recently wrapped around his waist.

Her full lips parted in a tiny gasp and she blushed but
didn’t try to hide her nakedness. Chase struggled to draw his eyes up to her
face, but he couldn’t. He’d been looking into the depths of her eyes for years
and this was a vision he’d never get enough of. Chase memorized the curve of
her hips, the delicate, dark triangle at the apex of her thighs, the dark-rose
nipples that were tight and hard, begging for his mouth. This was more
beautiful and more sensual than he’d ever imagined her.

Chase knew he should speak, or look away, but his mouth was
dry and words had failed him.

“I forgot my towel,” she offered in a hoarse voice. “Sorry
I’m getting the floor wet.” Anne put a hand out, bracing herself on the kitchen
island.

The place where he’d had her on her back, tasted between her
thighs and spilled inside her. He ached, wanted her again more than anything.
All his careful resolve crumbled to dust.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered.

She took a tentative step toward him but he was still
frozen. Anne seemed unsure of what to do herself. Perhaps the previous night
had only been because of the supplement and she didn’t want him?

He even half hoped that was the case. Because this need that
blazed between them, it changed everything.

That thought sobered him enough to draw his stare up to her
face and the shy look in her eyes. She swept her lashes down suddenly, as if
she were afraid to meet his gaze, and she took another careful step toward him.

“Really?” she asked as she bit her lip.

Of their own volition, his fingers ghosted down her arm.
“Stop fishing for compliments.” Normally his remark would be some slick
beginning of banter, but he sounded as if the words choked him.

“Then stop being stingy with them,” she teased.

“Anne, I think we have to talk about what happened.”

“Why?” The moment was broken and she pushed past him to grab
her towel.

“Because we’re friends. We’re roommates.”

“Meaning?” She wrapped the towel around herself like a
cocoon. It had become her armor, hardening that inviting softness previously on
display.

“I don’t want to lose our friendship, Anne.”

“How about we forget it happened? That’s what you said after
our dance. It wasn’t a big deal. So don’t make it one.”

“Because I know you’re not a person who can do that. I know
you have to analyze every little thing that happened and then you have to beat
each thing to death and then some. That’s just how you’re wired.” He took her
hand. “I don’t want to be the guy on the other end of that. I don’t want to be
the one you’re calling Gin about because
I’m
your best friend. I’m good
at being your best friend.”

Chase didn’t say the other thing that was on the tip of his
tongue. Yes, he was good at being her best friend, but what he
wasn’t
good at was being in a relationship. The only thing that could be a priority
was medical school, and no woman wanted to be second to anything.

“I’m not calling Gin up and sniveling over what happened.”

“That’s not what I meant. See, things have already changed.”

“Chase…” She paused. “Nothing has changed. We’re still
friends. You’re still my
best friend
. I just happened to like looking at
you naked. I’m not seeing anyone right now and the site fills a need. I thought
women were the ones who were supposed to have trouble compartmentalizing?” She
made a quick exit to her room, intending to have the last word.

But those particular words hit him in the gut. They reminded
him that she used the site—and she’d just told him she wasn’t going to stop.
Now he had an image of her bringing herself off, and thinking of
him
while she did it.

His cock was already painfully hard, but now he was losing
brain function because all he could think about was following her into her room
and taking her at her word. Bending her over the bed and filling her every way
she could possibly imagine.

Chase found himself in her bedroom doorway before he could
stop himself. “What are you proposing?”

She dropped her towel and stepped into a pair of purple,
lacy boy shorts. He was hypnotized by the bounce of her breasts with every
motion, her nipples tight and hard.

“I’m not proposing anything, Chase. If nothing has changed,
why would I?” She smiled softly, the same smile she gave him when she knew
she’d won a point.

He’d said he didn’t want them to change, but they already
had. “So, you can look at me every day and not remember what happened in the
kitchen?”

“I don’t
want
to forget, but I’m not going to pick at
it. Are you?”

“No.” But he would, because he was picking at it now.

“Look, I meant what I said earlier. What’s a little fucking
between friends? It’s just making each other feel good, right?” She was using
his own words, but somehow they sounded accusatory out of her mouth. “Shouldn’t
friends want each other to feel good?” Anne grinned this time.

“All this bullshit aside, nothing is worth losing you. Not
even living out my fantasies,” he confessed.

She still hadn’t dressed. “Your mouth says one thing, Chase.
But your eyes and your cock say something else. If I told you right now that it
could never happen again, what would you do?”

“Besides know that you’re right?”

“A real answer, Chase. Or can’t you give me one because
you’re too busy looking at my tits?”

“It’s not fair to expect anyone to form a coherent thought
with tits like those in their face.”

She smiled. “They never bothered you before.”

“Jesus, Anne. Then I’m a better actor than I thought. I
saved my lunch money for a week to give to Jennifer Eisler so she’d call our
names together for Seven in Heaven.”

She made no move to cover herself. “So what happened,
Chase?”