Free Chasing the Sun (A Rebound Novella Book 2) by Nikki Mathis Thompson Page B

legs and press his now hard ridged shorts into the soft fabric of her bikini bottoms. He wanted to lick the beads of water clinging to her bottom lip. He loosened his grip and she pulled free. Trey had a strange look on her face, the kind where he could tell her mind was going a mile a minute, but before he could think another thought, Trey ducked underwater and swam towards the corner.  
    “Men are so predicable,” she said over her shoulder as she climbed the steps, laughed and shook her head.
    What the hell?  
    He laughed back, trying to save a little face. He was going to have to stay in the water a while. It was going to take a few minutes to fully “recover.”
     
      They’d gone inside to get out of their wet suits, each taking a turn in the bathroom. Ian had changed and walked into his bedroom to find his friend on her stomach, ankles crossed in the air, as she flipped pages in her trash mag.
    “Make yourself comfortable. Can I offer you an ice cold beverage?”
    She sniffed. “What? You can screw me on your couch, but I’m not allowed to lay on your bed? That’s just insulting.”
    Uh...
    “Ha! The look on your face. Classic.” She shook her head and looked back down at the page displaying some red carpet or other.
    Ian grabbed his pillow and walloped her on the back of the head, repeatedly.
    “Ouch! Shit, Ian. Stop!”
    “That’s what you get, you little brat.”
    “Okay, okay. Mercy!” was her muffled reply.
    “You done messing with me?”
    Silence.
    Whap. Whap. Whap
    “I’m done, I’m done…God, so touchy. Sheesh, make one awkward sexual encounter reference and all hell breaks lose.”
    He pulled the braid that now held her hair and plopped down beside her.
    “Don’t you have to be at work tonight?”
    “Yeeees, and I don’t wanna.”  
    “You want me to come in and keep you company?” Ian asked.
    “What? And miss a night with Miss Aurora Monroe?”
    “Jealousy is not slimming,” he teased, earning him a quick punch in the ribs. “And no, she has plans.”
    Trey gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. “Hmmm, very interesting.”
    “What, hmmm? What’s interesting?” he asked.
    “Oh nothing, just an observation.”
    “You’re deranged, you know that.”
    “Very aware, thank you.” She turned, leaning on her hand, her face serious. “Just don’t sleep with her, okay. She has a tendency to sleep around and not stick around, if that makes sense. I know you just got over someone and I would hate to see you get hurt again.”
    “Trey, I’m a big boy…as you know.” Eyebrow wiggle. “I’m not looking for anything serious, so whether or not I sleep with her is a non-issue.” He felt like he should tell her, but then decided against it. It was between he and Rory. Trey would just make a big deal of it, which it wasn’t.  
    He thought about Rory when he wasn’t with her, and the sex was amazing, but he wasn’t falling for her or anything.  
    “I just worry about you. You wear your heart on your sleeve and I would hate for a man-eating harpy to hurt you again.”
    He laughed. “I thought you liked Rory?”
    “I do. I just know how she is. Guys fall for her all of the time, but never last. Well except the ones that treat her poorly. I’m serious. Like I said before, you’re not her type.”
    I was her type last night, twice.
    “Trey, I can handle it.”
    “So you have slept with her?”
    “No.” The lie fell from his lips before he could consider the consequences. He was going to take it back, but Trey seemed so relieved by the erroneous statement that he bit his tongue. He would come clean later.  
    “Good. Now before I have to go and dodge the advances of drunken patrons will you do me a favor?”
    “Name it.”
    She rolled off of the bed and walked over to the stand holding his guitar.
    “Play me a song from your garage band days. One of your favorites…Pleeeaaase.” She bunched her hands on the side of her face and batted her lashes.  
    When