Blurred Lines (21 page)
I take a deep breath and force myself to continue. To be brave like she was. “But when I touched you, Parker…I slipped up. All those long-buried feelings bubbled up and…you get what I’m trying to tell you, right?”
She wipes her eyes. Nods.
I smile at her. “Those sure as hell better be happy tears.”
She smiles back. “The happiest. I love you, Ben. I should have said it the second I came in the door.”
I laugh. “You probably should have. But
I
should have said it all those years ago.”
She leans against me, her finger tracing the shape of my mouth as though memorizing it. “Tell me now.”
I bend my knees a little so we’re eye level. “I love you, Parker Blanton. I’ve loved you for the longest time.”
Her answering smile is my everything.
“I love you, too, Ben Olsen.”
“New house rule,” I say. “You have to say it every day.”
“
I
make the house rules,” she says, tapping a finger to my mouth. “And I decree that
you
have to say it every day.”
I wrap my arms around her, lifting her off the floor. “Does this mean I get to see you naked again?”
She laughs, and I love the sound of it. “Depends. Are your sheets clean?”
I sling her over my shoulder, ass in the air, and move toward the stairs. She slaps at my back with her palm. “That wasn’t an answer.”
I grin as I take her up the stairs.
My sheets
totally
aren’t that clean.
Turns out, she doesn’t care.
Parker
E
IGHT
M
ONTHS
L
ATER
“Ooh, I know!” I say, pointing excitedly at the karaoke book. “We could do this Disney song.”
Ben gives me a disgusted look. “We could. I could also hang myself with the cord of this microphone—”
“Well,
you
pick a song then,” I say impatiently.
“Would you chill out?” he says, flipping through the ten trillion pages of the song list. “We have, like, four people in front of us.”
“Not if we cut.”
“That only works if it’s you and Lori trying to cut in front of a group of horny dudes. And seeing as Lori has her tongue down Drake’s throat, I don’t think she’s going to be singing anytime soon.”
“God, I can’t believe she’s getting
married
on Saturday,” I say as I look over to where my friend is making out with her soon-to-be husband.
Yep, that’s right. Lori is marrying a guy she’s known for less than a year.
I’m a bridesmaid, along with her sister, and…wait for it…Eryn.
The girl is still a total weirdo, but one of my favorite people ever now that I’ve trained her not to say
everything
that’s on her mind.
“How about this one?” Ben asks, nudging me.
I glance down. “Um, no. Also, to save us time in the future,
every
time you want to do a duet version of ‘Baby Got Back,’ it’s always no. It was no back when we were just friends, it was no when we were friends with benefits, and it’s no now that we’re…”
I break off and he raises his eyebrows. “Now that we’re what? Lovers?”
I wrinkle my nose. “I was going to say boyfriend/girlfriend, but that seems woefully inadequate, huh?”
He tugs me toward him, wrapping his arms around me, and I give a happy sigh because every day I think I can’t love him any more, and every day I wake up loving him so much it takes my breath away.
“How about we’re best friends…in love,” he says.
I kiss him happily. “That’s cheesy.”
“Does it ever bother you?” he asks thoughtfully. “That we spent all those years preaching to the world about how wrong they were about guys and girls not being able to be just friends, only to find out that we were the blind ones?”
“Does it bother
you
?” I ask.
His lips nuzzle my neck, completely oblivious to the fact that we’re in a crowded karaoke bar. “Not a bit. Never been so happy to be wrong.”
Our kiss gets a little more passionate than either of us plans on, and a couple behind us clears their throats loudly.
“We’d like to see the book when you’re done,” the guy says in a pointed voice.
Ben shoves the book at him without ever breaking contact with my lips.
When we finally break apart to breathe, my eyes scan the room as we continue to wait our turn for the stage.
I spot my parents, who are not only turning a blind eye to the fact that Lori and her boyfriend are making out right in front of them but also seem to be doing a little snuggling of their own.
“I can’t
wait
until my mom gets up here,” I say.
“Yeah? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her sing. She as good as you?”
“No, she’s terrible. Totally tone deaf. But it’s on her bucket list, so…”
Ben’s hand rests against my back, softly, comfortingly, and I let the gentle touch soak up some of my sadness. My mom made it past the six-month mark, so that’s positive. But she’s still sick. Really sick. The cancer’s still eating at her.
But we’re exploring other treatments. More aggressive ones. She’ll get better. I know she will.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into coming out on a school night,” Ben says around a yawn.
“Oh, womp womp, Grandpa.”
And then I give him another kiss on the cheek, just because I’m proud of him. Ben got accepted to several business schools in Seattle
and
Portland.
He settled on here. Right where he belongs.
“Hey, go with those girls,” I whisper. “See if they’ll let us go first.”
“On it.”
He heads off, and then is back by my side in a record two minutes. “Done. We’re up.”
“Nicely done!” I say, impressed. “I didn’t even see any of them give me the stink eye when you pointed at me.”
“Why would they give you the stink eye?” he asks innocently.
I give him a look. “You didn’t tell them I was your friend, did you? What
did
you tell them about me?”
“I just told them the truth.” Ben holds out a hand to help me onstage before tugging me close.
“Yeah?” I ask. “And what’s this truth?”
His kiss is sweet, as is his response:
“I told them we were best friends.”
T
WO
Y
EARS
L
ATER
Mr. and Mrs. James Blanton
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Parker Eleanor
to
Mr. Benjamin Robert Olsen
at Seaside Lodge, Cannon Beach, Oregon
on Saturday, the Eleventh of August
at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Karaoke reception to follow.
For anyone who’s ever fallen in love with a friend.
I know firsthand that it can work out quite well. Right, Anth?
Every now and then, a story comes upon an author, seemingly out of nowhere, that absolutely must be told.
Some characters and some types of stories don’t care that the author has a million other projects already in flight. These characters and ideas don’t care that they’re not in vogue with current genre trends. Don’t care that they will cause a dozen different people (author included) to have to scramble to make them happen.
Blurred Lines
and its characters are such a case. Ben and Parker came to me on a random Wednesday back in 2014, and despite the fact that I was knee-deep in existing projects, I stopped everything I was doing and started writing.
A couple hours later, I had the first four chapters (the exact same chapters you read here) and sent them off to my agent, with an urgent plea for her to get them out into the world.
My agent (the incomparable Nicole Resciniti) didn’t even flinch.
Nicole, thank you for coming through.
Days after my “fit,” Nicole sold it to Sue Grimshaw at Loveswept, which is where the thank-yous must come in.
Without getting too much into the complicated world that is publishing timelines, it must be said that the team over at Penguin Random House made this a book in record time. They didn’t have to, but they must have sensed my Total Crazy about it, because they more or less bent time to do this for me.
I know I thank them in every book (because they deserve it!) but they deserve it extra hard here.
To Gina Wachtel, Kim Cowser, Katie Rice, Lynn Andreozzi, Daniel Christensen, and, most especially, Sue Grimshaw, please know that I’m sending hardcore gratitude your way. I feel so lucky to be a part of your team.
Y
L
AUREN
L
AYNE
Sex, Love & Stiletto Series
After the Kiss
Love the One You’re With
Just One Night
The Trouble with Love
Isn’t She Lovely
Broken
Crushed
Irresistibly Yours
(coming soon)
Blurred Lines
PHOTO: ANTHONY LEDONNE
L
AUREN
L
AYNE
is a
USA Today
bestselling author of contemporary romance novels. Prior to becoming a writer, she worked in e-commerce and Web marketing. In 2011, Lauren and her husband moved from Seattle to New York City, where she decided to pursue a full-time writing career. It took six months to get her first book deal (despite Lauren’s ardent assurances to her husband that it would take only three). Since then, she’s gone on to publish several books, including those in the bestselling Sex, Love & Stiletto series, with more stories always in the works. Lauren currently lives in Chicago with her husband and their spoiled Pomeranian. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her either at happy hour, running at a doggedly slow pace, or trying to straighten her naturally curly hair.
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