Free Touch Me by Christie Ridgway

combine cheap white wine and orange sherbet and trying not to puke.”
    “And then…”
    Rose shook her head. “Blake. Sixteen times thirteen is two hundred and eight.”
    It made Lily laugh again, though she tried to hold it back until it released in a snorting sort of cough.
    “Oh, go ahead and let it out. Though I don’t think it’s quite fair since you had the advantage of being initiated by Payne Colson.” Over the years, Rose had tried hard not to think too much about that.
    Lily’s eyes were still bright but her laughter stopped. “I never slept with Payne.”
    Rose jerked back. “No?”
    “No.” She glanced down at her son. “I’m not sure I feel comfortable confessing this in front of Marcus.”
    “Of course.” Rose waved both hands. “We don’t have to—”
    “I’m teasing.” She lifted the baby and bussed his tiny nose. “He’s good at keeping secrets.”
    “Lil—”
    “It’s was Gavin. It’s always, and only, been Gavin.”
    “Your husband ?”
    “That’s the one.” Mischief tilted her smile. “And I’ve never done times tables, I promise you.”
    “Or Payne,” Rose murmured, wondering about that all over again.
    “Or Payne. There were reasons.”
    Was one of them her and her impetuous, desperate attempt to give herself to him? Rose flushed with guilt.
    “He didn’t push,” Lily said.
    Rose took a deep breath. “Uh…here’s the thing. I might have pushed him.”
    Lily’s expression didn’t look angry, just surprised. “What are you talking about?”
    So Rose tried to explain. Ice cream, car rides, a rescue from jerks. Her intense crush. “And then you two were, um, fighting.”
    Lily seated herself on one of the stools, Marcus still cradled against her. “I remember.”
    “So one night I was staying over at Amalie Irwin’s house and she had hidden a bottle of peppermint liqueur in her closet…”
    “And she lived not far from the Velvet Lemons compound.”
    “So after a few swallows of the stuff, I snuck over there. The gates were open and I had Payne’s number, so I called him. He found me before I’d made it very far onto the grounds.” She recalled his puzzled expression, his concern that something was wrong.
    “I sort of launched myself on him,” she confessed. “With my previous kissing experience a few experiments the summer before with that boy I met on the lake during vacation…well, I was enthusiastic, but not very practiced.”
    Lily appeared bemused. “What did Payne do?”
    “Pushed me away, and pretty quickly at that.” She remembered the thunderous expression on his face. “Humiliated, I ran off, though he followed me all the way back to Amalie’s—I guess to make sure I was safe. Before I slipped back into her house he told me to never touch him again.”
    “Oh, poor Rose.” Lily reached out and stroked her hair.
    “You shouldn’t be nice to me. I broke one of the basic rules of sisterhood.” She glanced up at her sister. “Will you forgive me anyway?”
    “Of course. That was ages ago, you were just a kid, and it’s probably the only rule you’ve ever broken in your life.”
    Rose’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah, well, look how great it turned out.”
    Lily gently put a sleeping Marcus back into the chair, then perched on the neighboring stool. “You’ve been agonizing over this for a long time.”
    “I think I have.” Rose met her sister’s gaze. “There’s something else you should know. I just heard he’s still hung up on you.”
    Instead of expressing concern or consternation, her sister went off into laughter again.
    Rose stared. “It’s funny?”
    Lily shook her head. “It’s B.S. I’ve heard it before and it’s not the least bit true. I’m his excuse and someday I’ll get back at him for that.”
    “Excuse?”
    “He uses my name to push women away. I think he pulled the idea out of his ass one day and he’s stuck to it because the ploy must work.”
    At Lily’s certainty, Rose felt suddenly light.