Reagan dropped her head back and looked up at the ceiling, then muttered something under her breath. “Okay. Wow. So now you know why I don’t drink straight tequila.”
I gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded slowly. “It all adds up.”
“All I can do is say that I’m sorry you had to witness that.”
“I’m not. It was the most fun I’ve had in ages.”
“You thought that was fun?”
“Reagan, you set up a betting pool in a bar, tried to do the Coyote Ugly dance on the bar, and spent thirty minutes telling my dog you love her so much you want to sleep with her in my bed. It was hilarious.”
She pressed her hands over her face and shook her head. “Oh, my God.”
I leaned back on my hands, grinning. The shame rolled off her in waves. Clearly, tequila-drunk Reagan was a little secret she was hoping to keep for a bit longer.
I, however, was fucking delighted to have discovered it.
“No more tequila. Ever.” She dropped her hands and looked at me. “Do you mind if I take a shower?”
I shook my head. “Go ahead. I need to take Poosh out for a walk anyway—do you want me to get anything while I’m out?”
“A time machine, maybe? I’d like a do-over of last night.”
“No way.”
“How did I end up in your shirt, by the way?” she asked when I stood up.
“Oh, that.” I looked down at her. “When you realized Poosh wasn’t interested in sleeping with you, you tried to talk me into having sex. I told you I really wanted to fuck you in that t-shirt, so you pulled off all your clothes and put it on. Then I told you to lie down and I’d be right back. When I came back, you were asleep. Or passed out, really.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, meeting my eyes. “Again, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. I doubt it’ll be the last time I see you drunk.”
“Oh, I will. I’m never drinking again.”
“Yeah, okay.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
* * *
REAGAN
Fifty Shades of Shame
I couldn’t believe I’d let myself get talked into tequila.
This was what happened when guys infiltrated girls’ night. One of the three of us got depressed and headed straight for the deadly liquor. Last night, it’d been Ava.
She had it in her head that I was going to marry Noah and have all the babies, and since Halley was marrying my brother—far more likely, if you ask me—which meant that Ava was all alone.
That was code for ‘shots.’
I grabbed a fresh bottle of water from the fridge and leaned against the kitchen island. I couldn’t believe I’d actually called Noah last night and that he’d reacted the way he had.
He just did it. Helped me and the girls home with my brother’s help. Didn’t laugh—all right, he laughed, but in an amused way. He didn’t think we were stupid or idiots, even though we were both of those things.
God, he was perfect, wasn’t he?
He was something else. We’d only ‘met’ around three weeks ago, yet I was standing here in his kitchen, thinking that I wasn’t sure there was anywhere else I’d rather be.
I just didn’t know what to do now.
Maybe it was my hangover clouding my mind. Not that it was as bad as it should have been, given the amount of tequila I’d consumed, but I was completely exhausted and definitely not thinking one hundred percent clearly.
The only thing that was clear was that I wanted to keep this man in my life.
I wasn’t sure how to go about doing that. At this point, his life was far more put together than mine was. I mean, I was back living with my parents, my insurance company was being a dick about paying out, and I was getting tequila-drunk like I was illegally drinking at a frat party.
And, apparently, hitting on his dog.
The only things I had going for me right now was that I had a good job that I loved, a business I’d one day inherit half of, and I was damn good in bed.
Actually, as far as pros and cons went, I was doing all right.
Still, I knew I wanted to find out where this would go. It’d been such a long time since I’d met someone who I felt like this about. Sure, I’d dated and fooled around and casually spent time with people, but a relationship…
No. It’d been forever.
I didn’t know what to do with these feelings. I didn’t know exactly how he felt. I knew we had this amazing connection and that he made me laugh and feel comfortable. I hoped he felt the same way I did.
And, let’s face it: one of the biggest hurdles in any relationship was sharing the television remote.
We already knew we were compatible in that regard, given our conversations about the worst characters ever. We hadn’t even gotten started on the best ones.
I pursed my lips and pulled myself to sit on the island. My legs swung against the gray cupboard beneath me, and I tugged the bottom hem of Noah’s shirt down over my thighs. I’d showered since he’d left to take Poosh out, but I didn’t want to put my jeans back on, so…
Here I was.
Wearing his shirt.
Like it was totally normal for me to be sitting here in one of his old t-shirts, drinking his water, on his kitchen counter.
Maybe it was normal—or it would be. One day.
I could hope, right? I could hope that one day this might be totally normal.
The front door opened, and I peered over my shoulder at the doorway.
“Get in, Poosh. No, the stick is too big. You can’t take it—damn it, Poosh!”
What the hell was going on?
I jumped off the counter and set my water down, then headed toward the front door. I stopped dead in the hallway when I saw why Poosh was stuck.
This tiny chihuahua had a really, really long stick in her mouth.
And she was desperately trying to get it into the house, but she couldn’t. It was longer than the door was wide, and she was never getting it inside.
“How is she even carrying that?” I dragged my gaze up to meet Noah’s. “The stick is literally bigger than she is.”
“It’s just long,” he said, exasperation in his tone. “It’s not a log or anything, but it’s strong enough that it won’t snap and let her inside.”
“Why won’t she drop it?”
“I didn’t think of that.” He stared at me. “She’s attached to it. She’s been carrying it since the park.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Did you shower?”
“My hair didn’t wash itself,” I replied dryly. “I showered. Why?”
“You’re still wearing my shirt, that’s all.”
“I didn’t want to put my jeans on.”
“Is it a problem?”
“If you’re in my jeans, yeah.”
I frowned at him, then paused. Right. I dropped my gaze to his groin and bit the inside of my cheek to hide a smile. “I see.”
“Mhmm.” He stared at me intently. “Since you two are best friends now, you wanna help me out here?”