Addicted to You(16)

“I know. But I also know how much you love your black olives.” He stood, dusted the sand off his shorts, and stole a quick glance in my direction.

And yeah, the smile was still plastered to my face. I shrugged. “I’m starving. I’ll eat anything right now.”

I sat up, reached into my bag and pulled out a yellow dress, slipped it over my bikini, then stood and reached down for my towel. “Not that I would complain if there were extra olives.” I gave my towel a little flick, then rolled it up and shoved it into my bag.

He smiled back at me, and to say I was relieved would be an understatement.

There was hope for our friendship after all.

—

I leaned toward Colby as we drove to Jack’s. “Are you mad we took so long?”

In typical girl fashion, it had taken longer than even I’d anticipated for us to get ready.

He glanced toward the backseat where Taylor and Matt sat. He kept his voice low, just as I’d done. “No, why?”

“Well, you’re frowning, like you’re upset or something.”

He relaxed his expression. “Oh. No, not at all. Didn’t realize I was. I’m just a little tired, I guess.”

I stared at him, studying his expression as if I could answer my own question just by reading it. He’d seemed fine at his house. We’d eaten pizza with surprisingly little to no weirdness between us, but after we’d gotten changed and into his car, he’d gone quiet. “You sure that’s it? You seem…thoughtful.”

His mouth cracked into the tiniest smile. “You’re right. Guess I was just thinking about how some things are changing too fast, while others aren’t changing at all. You know?”

But I didn’t respond right away. He could have been talking about a number of things, but how could I not feel that I was to blame for some of that?

I didn’t want to bring down our night, nor did I want to take two steps back when we’d finally made some progress, but I had to at least acknowledge his feelings. I nodded my agreement and said, “If any of that is my fault, which I feel as if it might be…I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Isla, I didn’t mean—”

“Wow, there really is a crowd tonight.” I glanced at him, giving the clear signal the conversation between us was over, then turned to Taylor. “Guess you were right about the singer.”

“Oh, for sure.”

“What about the singer?” Matt asked.

I grinned. “She heard he’s crazy hot.”

“Yep.” Taylor added, “I bet half the girls in there are here just to check him out.”

“Hey now,” Matt teased.

“I said I’d heard. Plus I said half.” Taylor laughed, and quickly added, “But not this half.”

“This half,” I whispered loudly while pointing to myself.

Matt and Taylor laughed while Colby did not.

We parked in the first empty spot we found. Jack’s lot wasn’t that big, and cars were already starting to pull into the vacant lot next door for makeshift parking. We all hopped out and made our way to the entrance. The usual door guy was checking IDs, but just waved us in.

As if it was second nature, Colby reached back for my hand. It didn’t feel like a friend trying to lead me through a crowd, nor did it feel romantic; it seemed almost like some innate desire to keep me safe as we were swallowed by the crowd. And I more than liked it. I followed closely behind him as we made our way toward the back tables where the guys had said they’d meet us. I was glad they’d gotten there early because we’d never find a place to sit in this horde.

“Holy shit. He’s divine.” Taylor looked embarrassed as Colby glanced back, like she hadn’t realized he could hear.

So I got a look at this singer for myself, and well, yeah, it made sense the girls would be going crazy if tight pants and overgrown rock-star hair were their thing. It wasn’t mine.

Nope. Mine was the guy whose hand was firmly clasped around mine. Maybe it was the beers I’d had with the pizza finally making their way through my body, or maybe it was the heat radiating off the packed dance floor, but suddenly my body was buzzing. I stared at our hands, letting my gaze drift up his arm, across that very chest I’d pressed my nails into only a few nights ago, then slowly lift to his face.

And when our eyes finally locked, there was no question in my mind. He felt it too.





Chapter 7


I forced my gaze away because, damn, if Colby didn’t look like he wanted to drag me back to his place. Not that he’d have to drag me. I’d probably skip the whole way out.

Of course, the frustrating part of this whole situation was that I’d worked so hard over the last few days to separate myself from all these crazy emotions and now here I was. One little gesture, and my feet were kicked out from under me and once again I was spiraling heart-first into Colby.