Chapter Thirteen: Lacey

I woke the next morning tangled in Ezra’s arms on the bed, still fully naked, sore, and slightly hungover from last night. I glanced over at my best friend, who was snoring softly but still sound asleep, and then I carefully peeled myself away from him, sneaking out of bed and into the bathroom to compose myself.

Last night had been … wow. It had been fantastic. Wonderful. Out of this world, erotic, hot, and intense. I always figured that Ezra was good in bed, but I had no idea how good he was until now, and I was mostly speechless. But—both of us had been relatively drunk. On a vacation high. So, what did this mean? Is it something he truly wanted to do, or would he wake up and tell me that it had all been a mistake? Would last night hinder our friendship?

I took a deep breath and gazed at myself in the mirror. Flushed cheeks, wild hair, and a grin kept fighting its way through even when I tried to force it down. I felt like a goddess in my own body, which was something that I hadn’t felt in far too long—if ever. And it was because of Ezra. He had made me feel that way. He had made me feel so damn good.

I hopped into the shower with a sigh and let the hot water cascade over my body, unable to peel my mind even for a second off Ezra. I was almost afraid to get out and face him, to hear what he had to say, but I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever. I shut off the water, quickly dressed, and quietly stepped out of the bathroom. It looked like he had been sleeping, but as I closed the bathroom door behind me, his eyes fluttered open and landed on me. With an awkward grunt, he rubbed one hand over his face.

“Hey, uh, good morning,” he said awkwardly, sitting up in bed with the blanket draped over his lap. As usual, he looked good, and it took everything I had in me not to crawl back into bed with him and let him take me. But I couldn’t do that, because this wasn’t last night. Now, we were sober. Now, shit was real.

“Hi,” I said softly, running a hand through my hair to detangle some of it. Not knowing what else to do, I took a seat on the edge of the bed and turned to face him, afraid of what was coming next.

“About last night,” Ezra started to say, and I held my hand up, cutting him off.

“It was a one-time thing,” I said quickly and then wanted to kick myself for not letting him finish. Is that what he was going to say, too? Or did I just ruin any real chance with him? I couldn’t handle rejection. I didn’t want to. So maybe it was better I’d spoken first.

“Ah, yeah, right,” said Ezra with a nod. He forced a fake smile even to me, but he didn’t argue this. “Jet lag,” he added. “It can do funny things to us, right?”

“Right. And the booze didn’t help.”

“Definitely not.”

I nodded, stood up from the bed, and crossed the floor to slip on my sandals. “I’m going to head down to the buffet for lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Ezra said, but the conversation was awkward. Not like it usually was between us. Would it stay this way, or was this something we could move past? “I’m going to hop in the shower. Meet you down there in ten minutes or so?”

Relief flooded through me, and I breathed a small sigh of relief. At least he wasn’t keen on avoiding me now. Yes, maybe we could move past this. Most definitely.

“That sounds good. See you in a bit.” Grinning like an idiot, I left the room to let Ezra get ready and headed downstairs to find us a table. The conversation hadn’t gone exactly like I hoped it would, but that was okay. The quicker we could move past the awkwardness, the better. My night with Ezra had been nothing sort of magical, but that’s where it had to end. It was clear that he didn’t want more, and I had to accept that. He never had in the past, so why would it be different now? One and done, that’s all this was. And hopefully, our friendship wouldn’t crumble because of it.

I sat down at an empty booth, wincing as my ass touched the seat, reminding me of how wonderfully sore I was. Ezra had dominated me in bed last night, and truth be told, I liked it. All my previous sexual encounters had been, well, mediocre at best. Slow, kind of boring. But being with Ezra had been so different. So exotic. So hot. Was he that way with all the women he slept with? Probably. No wonder he was so damn popular around town.

Wetness began to form between my legs as I relived last night, and just when I thought I might have to excuse myself to go and clean up, Ezra appeared at the table holding two breakfast plates. Grinning and as charming as ever, he set one of the plates down and slid into the seat across from me. He was acting perfectly normal as if our night together had been nothing more than any other time he’d slept with a woman. For him, it probably was.

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing some silverware to take a bite of the scrambled eggs on my plate. He winked at me, digging into his own breakfast.

“Anything for my best friend,” he said, and heat rose to my neck. I looked away from him, focusing on people watching so I wouldn’t have to focus on him. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for me to move on from this. A few hours, days, weeks, maybe. I didn’t know, and I hated myself for it. Ezra had obviously moved on, so why couldn’t I?

Because it was everything you ever wanted with him, the small voice whispered in my head, and I couldn’t help but cringe.

“Hey,” Ezra said. He must have noticed my expression. “Are you okay?”

“Me?” I squeaked. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe because last night was unexpected.”

I forced a laugh for his benefit but then choked on it and had to compose myself for a moment before I could speak again. “I don’t imagine that unexpected sexual encounters are a new concept for you, Ezra.”

He said nothing to this for a long moment, merely watched me as he put his fork down and focused entirely on me. I felt like an insect under his microscope, and I suddenly wished we were having any other conversation but this one.

“With random women I don’t care about, maybe,” he said. “But not with my best friend.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “One and done, right? It was fun, though.” I wanted to kick myself for adding that last part, but Ezra smiled before I could take it back.

“It was exceptionally fun,” he agreed. “I hope I—I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” I assured him as the tingling between my thighs started up again. Jesus, if things had been bad before, they were bound to be worse now. “I had a very good time.”

“Good,” he said. “So did I.”

We didn’t speak for the next few minutes while we finished up our breakfast, and by the time we were done, the shining sun outside and the sound of the rolling waves against the sandy beach were far too tempting to ignore.

“I think I’ll go to the beach,” I said. “Maybe take a dip in the waves. You up for it?”

Ezra grinned, pushing his now empty plate aside. “Hell yeah, I’m up for it.”

“Awesome. I’ll head upstairs to get my suit and meet you back down here in a few minutes?”

“Sure. I’ll wait here for you.”

Feeling giddy about the prospect of spending the rest of the day with Ezra on the beach, I headed back to the room to put my swimsuit on under my skirt and blouse. As I dressed, every time I looked at the tousled bed in the middle of the room, my brain flashed back to our last night’s moments. Just how perfect it had been. How wonderful. I longed to relive that night repeatedly, but I knew it was just wishful thinking. Ezra and I were okay for now, and I planned to keep it that way for as long as possible. Any more slipups like last night and the entire foundation of our friendship might finally crumble. I couldn’t have that. I couldn’t lose him.

Slipping my sandals back on my feet, I grabbed a couple of beach towels and headed downstairs to meet Ezra, who was still waiting for me at the now empty table. His face lit up when he saw me again, and for a moment, all I wanted was to fall into his arms and kiss him, hard and passionately, and with desire he’d never seen, just to see what he’d do.

But I didn’t.

“Ready?” he asked, standing to greet me, and together the two of us headed out of the hotel restaurant and walked together down to the sandy beach, where I laid out the beach towels I’d grabbed from the room for us. A few other people were scattered around the sand, but no one paid us any mind as we sat down on the towels, gazing out at the rolling ocean. Before we could strike up a conversation, a server with a tray of drinks came toward us, and Ezra ordered us some boozy concoctions. I was grateful because I knew that the alcohol would distract me somewhat from the fact that he had just taken off his shirt to reveal those beautiful, tanned abs that I’d been basically licking all night long.

It’s just a day with your best friend, I thought, relishing the boozy concoction on my lips as I tore my gaze away to focus on anything else. It’s time to chill out, Lacey, because there will not be a repeat of last night, and you know it.