42 Hours (Time for Love 3)

After I’d thrown my hair up in a bun and threw on some sweatpants, I joined the girls in Shelly’s room, where she’d laid out all of her purchases on the bed.

“Oh my gosh,” I cooed when I caught site of a bunch of multi-colored onesies. “Look how little they are.”

“I know, I just couldn’t control myself,” Shelly sighed happily.

We spent a few minutes going through all of Shelly’s new goodies before joining the men and beginning dinner. The guys were planning to go do some fishing, while the girls made the meal. Since we were having the big barbecue tomorrow, we’d decided to keep it light with grilled chicken, salad, and asparagus tonight.

“I need some real meat, chicken doesn’t count,” TJ was grumbling as Sasha ushered him out the door with Cal.

“You’ll survive,” she told him before she reached up and kissed him passionately on the mouth. Satisfied, and no longer thinking of food, TJ tapped her nose lightly with his finger, following Cal outside.

“You good?” a seductively low voice said by my ear, just before Scott’s lips gently brushed the sensitive spot right below it.

“Mmm, hmm, great,” I replied with a smile, turning to brush my lips against his.

“Great,” Scott replied, his eyes crinkling in the corner, his face expressing his happiness. He looked freer than I’d seen him in a long time. More like his old self. “See you in a bit … I’m off to do manly things.”

I chuckled, and said, “Have fun,” then, feeling the freeness of the moment, I gave him a good game as he walked away.

Scott turned back to look at me as he walked away, his smile still teasing, but his eyes darkened. Then he shot me a wink and left the house.

“This is so fun,” Sasha said gleefully when I turned to join her and Shelly in the kitchen.

“It is … but still not quite as fun as dinner with you and TJ after you guys started ’seeing’ each other,” Shelly said, putting up her hands to give air quotes. “Remember when we all went to dinner and you guys did it in the supply closet? I need more of that from you.” She pointed at me when she said the last part.

“What?” I stuttered. “I don’t think you’ll get that from me…”

“Why not?” Sasha asked, hands on her hips.

“Because I’ve never done anything like that before,” I replied. “You guys know that … I’ve never been with anyone that I wanted so bad, I lost sight of where we were or who was around us.”

“You felt a bit of that today though, didn’t you?” Shelly asked.

I smiled at the memory of Scott’s body covering mine while on the bank of the lake, and I realized they were right. Today was the first time I’d felt the passion Sasha and Shelly were always talking about, and I wanted more.

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, hold on to your panties, Gabs,” Sasha said with a sexy smirk. “That was just the beginning.”

We opened a bottle of wine and began prepping the food. By the time the salad was together and the chicken and asparagus were on their way to being ready, the guys walked in and we were opening our second bottle of wine.

Feeling confident and not just slightly emboldened by liquid courage, I walked straight to Scott and put my arms around his waist. When I had him where I wanted him, I tipped my head back and looked up into his handsomely scruffy face. Looking at it made me want to feel it, so I tiptoed up and pressed my lips to the scruff on his chin. When I settled back on my feet Scott was smiling down at me, and I knew he was pleased that I was so comfortable being affectionate with him.

“Hi,” I said sweetly.

“Hi,” he replied, and I swear I could feel all eyes in the room on us.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“We didn’t catch anything,” Scott said with a shrug. “But we had fun hanging out and enjoying the day.”

“Good.” I smiled up at him. I wondered if I’d ever smiled so much in one day in my entire life. “Hungry?”

“Starved,” he replied, dipping his head lower to kiss me lightly.

“I’m starved too,” Cal said, humor apparent in his tone. “Let’s eat.”

Scott broke away and kept my hand in his as we walked to the table.