Worth the Fall(33)

Abby looked pointedly at her friend. “What’s interesting?”

“You and him,” Angie said, pointing a fry in his direction.

“I told you. We’re friends.” It was the truth. A friend who she envisioned kissing her. A friend who said she scared him too. But Angie didn’t need to know this. And saying it out loud would make it all too real.

“Right.” Angie eyed her as if she could see an alternate truth glowing in Abby’s eyes, like a crystal ball.

“What?” Abby tried to sound innocent and busied herself with tearing open ketchup packages.

“Are you serious or are you just pretending to be blind?” Angie asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Abby avoided Angie’s stare and turned to Gracie, who’d returned and was saying she was going to die of thirst in twenty-thirty seconds. “No, you’re not. Be patient.”

Angie pointed another fry at her. “He wants you. I can tell. It’s all in the look.”

“What look?”

“The look that says”—she lowered her voice to a whisper for the girls’ sake—“I want to lick your entire body with or without chocolate sauce. Slowly.”

Abby’s entire body went hot at the thought.

“You’re blushing.”

She covered her burning cheeks, knowing a part of her wanted him to want her. Even if that’s all it would ever be. “You’re crazy.”

“No. I really don’t think I am. Maybe at around five-thirty, when everyone’s screaming and the frozen dinner is baking. But”—she waved all that off—“right now? No. This is not a crazy moment.”

“Angie, look at me. I’m a whale.”

“Honey, the only way you could be a whale is if you were carrying sextuplets, and even then you’d probably look like a goddess, and I hate you for it.”

“He’s a nice guy. He’s just having fun.”

“Ha. Just having fun my ass.”

Abby cleared her throat, indicating the kids with her head.

“I meant my butt.”

Angie could be a pain, but she did make her laugh. “I’m serious. I think I remind him of his mother.”

Angie spewed a mist of soda all over her daughter’s fries.

Joe and Matt walked up at that moment, carrying trays of drinks and food.

Joe looked from Abby to his wife. “What did we miss?”

“Nothing.” Abby rolled her eyes. “Your wife is crazy.”

“Really? It’s not even five.”





Chapter 10


The sprinkle sprayer park was a colossal structure—sort of a jungle-gym-meets-water-hose on steroids. It offered fun for tots, big kids, and really big kids like Matt and Joe, who were blasting each other with water cannons.

“Looks like the boys bonded,” Angie said.

“Yeah.” Abby watched them team up when the kids turned against them. Her best friend’s husband and her…friend.

“Mommy!” Gracie ran up, water dripping into her eyes. “You haf to come stand over here. It’s weally fun. I pwomise. And nuffing will happen.”

“Sounds fishy to me,” Angie said. “I wouldn’t fall for it.”

Abby laughed and let Gracie lead her to a precise spot ominously marked on the ground with a skull and crossbones. Jack joined them, pulling Matt behind him.

Matt’s shirt was off. His dark hair stood in spikes where he’d run his fingers through it. Water dripped down his cheeks and over his jaw, already darkening with stubble. She wanted to catch the drop on his chin, and immediately her eyes were drawn to his mouth. His lips. If he was hers, she would kiss him, right here, right now. If he was more than a friend—

“Hey,” he said with a boyish grin. “Funny meeting you here.”

Abby smiled up at him and his sidekick, Charlie, pushing away thoughts of wanting more. But the way he coddled her youngest made a serious dent in her wall. One of many.

Matt’s eyes met hers, a slight smile tugging at his lips. “Do you think they’re trying to do away with us and steal the car?”

Before Abby could answer, her eardrums vibrated from a foghorn blast. Charlie plugged his ears and buried his head in Matt’s shoulder just in time to shield his face from five hundred gallons of water dumped on them from a giant pirate bucket.

She instinctively turned away from the onslaught and into Matt. The cool water pounded their heads and shoulders and his arm came around her protectively. Her breasts pressed against his hard chest, while his big hand splayed hotly against the bare skin of her back.

Heart pounding, her body responded to his without permission and she felt something whether she wanted to or not. It was impossible not to want him, to be closer to him. The muscles in his back flexed under her hand. Her core melted at the thought of turning her mouth slightly, sliding her lips across his chest.