Somewhere In Between (Madison Square Book 1)

by Samatha Harris

  “It sure is,” I said.

  He pulled me beneath him, nibbled on my ear, and slipped his hand beneath the shirt I was wearing, the one from his room. “So, Millie wants us to come to brunch.” He kissed down my neck.

  “Uh huh.”

  I was so caught up in what he was doing with his fingers, I almost didn’t hear what he said next. “I don’t think we should tell them about this just yet.”

  My eyes snapped open. I pushed his shoulders back so I could see his face. “Why?”

  “Because, for now, I just want to keep you to myself,” he said between kisses. He turned his attention back to my neck and his exploration of my more sensitive nerve endings further south.

  My head was spinning. Why keep it a secret? I get that they would be curious and just bombard us with questions we really didn’t know the answers to yet, but I wanted to know those answers too. For example, were we together?

  His head disappeared beneath the sheet. I felt him part my thighs and all reasonable thought left my head as his tongue worked its magic on the lower half of my body. I would worry about this later.

  ***

  I had to go home and change before brunch. As I left, he said he would meet me at our place in an hour.

  At home I hopped in the shower, then quickly dried my hair. I stood in front of the mirror, suddenly a little self-conscious about how I looked. I was going for casual, effortless even, which, of course, took a hell of a lot of effort. I’d laid out a cute sundress and some strappy sandals, but when I put it on, it just looked like I was trying way too hard.

  It was brunch at Millie’s. If I showed up all dressed up, Millie would know something was going on. I changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a pink cami, and a gauzy white button down. After a few swipes of mascara and a subtle lip gloss, I grabbed my bag and headed out to meet Drew.

  He was standing in our spot in the center of the square, looking effortlessly sexy, as usual, in jeans and a dark gray t-shirt. He smiled when I approached and slipped an arm around my shoulder as he led me to his car. He opened the passenger door for me. Laying in the passenger seat was a gorgeous bouquet of cream hydrangeas.

  “Drew, they are beautiful,” I gushed, picking up the flowers.

  “I figured Millie would like them,” he said, bursting my bubble. I tried to play off the disappointment I felt. I’d assumed the flowers were for me, but it wasn’t a bad thing they weren’t. We were going to Millie’s for brunch. The polite thing was to bring flowers. He was being polite.

  “I’m sure she will.”

  Don’t start, Alex. Do not be the girl who questions everything he does.

  Drew got in, started the car, and dropped his hand to my knee. I stared at his hand and tried desperately not to overanalyze his every move. Just for once, let yourself be happy, go with the flow.

  When we got to Millie’s, I handed the flowers to Drew as he knocked on the door. It wasn’t long before the door flung open and Millie was there with an apron that said “bun in the oven” stretched across her growing baby bump. Her eyes widened when she took in Drew and I standing next to each other.

  “I’m so glad you both are here.”

  She embraced us both and ushered us into the house. Drew went off to find David while Millie herded me into the kitchen.

  She was flitting about like a humming bird, putting the last few touches on the meal. I offered to help and she handed me a stack of plates and told me to set the table.

  I was setting the last plate down when she came in with a quiche and arranged it in the center. “So,” she said, rearranging the quiche again, “looks like you guys talked it out.”

  I smiled at her. There wasn’t a whole lot of talking, but I didn’t want to upset Drew by spilling the beans. “Yeah, we’re good,” I said, placing forks on all the napkins.

  She looked at me from the corner of her eye. I swear she knew something was up. Maybe she had developed some sort of pregnancy ESP.

  There was a knock at the door and she left me to answer it. I let out the breath I was holding and continued arranging the silverware.

  Sean came in with a bottle of champagne. “It’s brunch, bitches!” he yelled and popped the cork from the bottle. It bounced off the ceiling and we ducked as it dropped down onto the table with a loud thunk.

  I laughed, grabbing a dish towel to clean up the champagne that was spilling over the bottle. Millie just shook her head and took the bottle from him, then headed into the kitchen to make mimosas.

  When the food was ready, we sat around the table, laughing and talking. I was so thankful that everyone was back to their old selves. No more awkward tension was spreading through the group.

  I had a mouth full of quiche when Sean said, “I’m so glad you guys finally did it!”

  I coughed as the hot, cheesy bite went down the wrong pipe. I kept choking, and David patted me on the back. I looked up at Drew, who took a bite of his food, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

  Sean continued. “You guys needed to kiss and make up. You two fighting was not good for team morale.”

  I took a sip of water as the coughing finally ceased.

  “It was rough, but we finally came together,” Drew said.

  I spit the water back into my glass to keep from spraying it out of my nose. David patted my back again. “You okay, Alex?”

  “Yeah, you okay, Red?” Drew asked, pretending to be concerned. I shot him a glare and he snorted quietly to himself. Asshole.

  I nodded. “Yeah, just went down the wrong way,” I said, my voice hoarse.

  “Man, you should work on you gag reflex,” Sean said. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You know, I could help you with that.” It was Drew’s turn to choke on his food.

  Millie kept glancing back and forth between Drew and me. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration. She knew, or if she didn’t, she damn sure suspected. Luckily the guys were still clueless.

  We finished eating, and I offered to clean the kitchen for Millie. She protested, but I insisted. She had been on her feet all morning. Everyone went out back on the deck as I started to clear the table.

  I was filling up the sink when Drew stepped up behind me. He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me tight against him as he nuzzled my neck. “You want some help?” he asked, kissing the sweet spot behind my ear. “The faster we get them done, the quicker I can take you home.”

  My body relaxed into him as his hands started to move across my stomach and up my chest. I heard Sean laugh outside and I tensed and stepped away from Drew until my back hit the island.

  “You can’t do things like that to me here. Everyone is right outside.” I pointed out the French doors, where our friends were sitting.

  Drew turned, smiled, and pulled me against his chest. “Kind of makes it more exciting, don’t you think?” he said, his voice low. “We could get caught at any minute.”

  He softly brushed his lips against mine. I gave in, letting him deepen the kiss. Every time he kissed me, I lost all train of thought and all sense of where I was. I didn’t care anymore that we were in Millie’s kitchen. All I cared about were his lips, his taste, that delicious feeling that took over me.

  We finally broke apart, both of us a little breathless. “To be continued,” I said as I headed back to the sink. He slapped me on the ass and headed out to the deck. I was in so much trouble.

  We said our goodbyes and headed back to my place. I tried to stop myself from holding on to too much hope. For all I knew, last night was just a crazy one night thing to him.

  Yes, Drew kissed me at Millie’s, but he also told me to keep this between us. Does that mean he was planning on this being a regular thing? I mean, that’s crazy, right? You can’t have causal sex with your best friend.

  Drew reached across the console and took my hand, interrupting my inner monologue. I looked at him and smiled. I needed to figure out what exactly we were doing here. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to enjoy the process of discovery. W
ho knows? Maybe he wants this as much as I do? God, I hoped that was true.

  We spent the rest of Sunday just lying around the house. We curled up on the couch watching bad 80s movies and making out like teenagers. We were still kissing when I heard Ping, ping.

  “Go ahead, I’m gonna hit the head.” He made his way toward the bathroom as I checked my phone.

  Peter: What can I do to get you to give me another chance?

  This dude was like a dog with a bone. I typed a quick response.

  Alex: It just didn’t work out.

  Peter: We never really had a real shot. Let me show you how great it can be.

  Alex: Peter just stop. I told you it is over.

  Drew came back into the living room. “Who was it?”

  “Peter. He doesn’t seem to want to take no for an answer.”

  Drew laughed. “That’s for damn sure.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He pressed a kiss to the spot behind my ear, trying to distract me. I pushed on his chest to break the contact. I wanted to know what his problem was with Peter. Not that I would ever see him again, but it seemed like it was a big deal to Drew, so I was curious.

  Drew sighed, dropped his head to the back of the couch, and looked up at the ceiling. He sat quietly like that for a while, like he was debating telling me the story. I didn’t push. I really wanted to know what happened and pushing him to tell me would only make him clam up, so I waited.

  “Back in college, I caught him in a compromising position with a girl.”

  “What, like having sex?” I asked.

  “No. The girl was very drunk and naked and he was taking some inappropriate pictures without her consent.” He reached over, playing with the end of my hair as he spoke. “I don’t know what he was planning to do with them, but I wasn’t going to find out. Needless to say, I busted the camera and his nose, then Frankie and I took her home. She was fine. She doesn’t even remember what happened. I don’t know how far he would have gone if I hadn’t…” He reached up to brush his fingers against my cheek. “The guy is complete shit.”

  “What a bastard,” I said, completely outraged and grossed out. I let that scumbag touch me. I shuddered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I tried! That night you went out with him, I tried to tell you, but I seem to recall your exact response was, ‘Fuck you, Drew, I don’t need your protection,’” he said, poking me in the side.

  I batted at his hand. “Okay, okay, you were right.”

  “Wait, I was what?” he teased, cupping a hand to his ear. “I didn’t quite hear you.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You heard me.”

  “Say it again,” he said, moving closer to me.

  “No way.”

  He reached out and tickled my side. I giggled. “Say it again, Red.” He reached for me again with a smirk.

  “No.” I inched away from him.

  “You asked for it.” He attacked every ticklish spot I had. I was laughing so hard that tears streamed from my eyes and my stomach hurt. He had me pinned to my couch.

  “Okay, you were right! You were right!”

  He smiled, hovered over me, and pinned my wrists over my head. “You bet your sweet ass I am.”

  “Well, it is pretty sweet.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, it is.”

  He leaned down, tenderly kissing my lips. I brought my arms around his neck, our lips in perfect sync. We stayed like that for a long time, kissing, touching, and drowning in each other.

  The first time we had sex, it was frantic and unpredictable, which was amazing, but this night, he took his time. It was slow and passionate, just the two of us losing ourselves in each other.

  Our eyes met and I couldn’t help myself. “I love you, Drew.”

  He smiled against my lips as he kissed me.

  ***

  Drew hopped in the shower while I rummaged through the fridge.

  Ping, ping. I grabbed my phone. Four texts and three missed calls, all from Peter.

  Peter: It’s not over, it barely had a chance to start.

  Peter: Alex, talk to me.

  Peter: Answer me.

  Peter: ?

  This was ridiculous.

  Drew came out of my bedroom. He looked sexy as hell with a towel wrapped around his waist, his hair disheveled and wet.

  He nodded to the phone in my hand. “Still not taking no for an answer?”

  I shook my head and set my phone down. I wasn’t going to let that nut bag ruin what was turning into an amazing weekend.

  There was a knock at the door, and Drew went to answer it. He already had the door open before I realized that he was still only wearing a towel.

  “Alex!” I heard Peter shout from the hall. I came around the corner and saw Drew blocking the doorway as Peter fought to get around him.

  “She doesn’t want to see you, man,” Drew said, shoving at Peter’s chest.

  Peter caught sight of me and anger filled his face. “So, you’re fucking him now?”

  I flinched.

  Drew took a step toward him and grabbed a handful of Peter’s shirt. “Don’t you ever fucking talk to her like that again.” Drew released him, shoving him back into the hall. Peter backed up and brushed himself off. He shot a nasty look in my direction, then headed down the hall.

  Drew shut the door and turned to me. “Think he got the message this time?”

  Chapter 19

  Drew (Then)

  “Can you believe this shit?” I said, gesturing to my open laptop.

  Red leaned over to look at the screen. “What?”

  “They’re selling kits on how to write a best man speech.”

  Red looked at me and shrugged. “So?”

  “So? That’s ridiculous. Whatever happened to just giving advice for the hell of it? Now people want to sell you some bullshit kit.”

  “Why are you researching this anyway? Can’t you just write from the heart?”

  “I needed a place to start.”

  “What do you have so far?”

  I sat up straight, cleared my throat, and read dramatically from the legal pad in my lap. “Good evening, friends and family.” I sat there, watching her face for a reaction.

  “That’s it?” she asked.

  “Hey, this is harder than it looks.”

  “Don’t you have some funny story from when you were kids or something?”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, “but isn’t that kind of cheesy?”

  She folded her legs up under her on the couch and pulled her hair into a ponytail. “Not if it’s something personal,” she said.

  Things had gotten a little easier between us since the day we spent at the park. I made it my mission to make her feel like she wasn’t so alone anymore and we had grown a lot closer since that day. We settled into a rhythm, spending almost all of our free time together.

  Tonight, we ordered a pizza and she was helping me with my best man speech for David’s wedding, which was approaching fast.

  “When is the wedding anyway?”

  “Saturday.”

  “Saturday? Like, four days from now?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Why so soon? Wait!” She sat up and grabbed my arm. “Is Millie pregnant?” she whispered as her eyes widened.

  I laughed. “No, but I said the same thing. They want to be sure that mom can be there.”

  She dropped her head “Oh.” Her voice was soft and sad. “How is she doing?”

  “Not bad, but not great either.”

  “I’m so sorry, Drew.” She rubbed my shoulder.

  I nodded. I never knew what to say when people said they were sorry. It felt wrong to say thanks. I was anything but thankful for watching my mom waste away.

  “I wanted to talk to you about the wedding, actually,” I said. “What do you think about going with me?”

  “Me? Don’t you have a rolodex of girls chomping at the bit to go out with you?”

  “None that I want to go with. Come on,
Red. It will be fun and my family loves you.”

  “I don’t know.” She sounded more than a little reluctant.

  “Hey, if anything it gets you off campus and away from Kerri. Plus, there’s cake.”

  “Well, if there’s cake…” she said with a smile.

  “So, you’re in?” I tried not to sound too eager.

  “Yeah, I’m in.”

  “Great!” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “We leave tomorrow,” I said quickly and turned back to my laptop.

  “Tomorrow? Jesus, Drew. Could you give me any less notice? I need to pack. Shit, I hope I have something to wear.” She hopped up from the couch and grabbed her bag.

  “Wear whatever you want.” I shrugged. I watched her flit about the room, gathering her books into her bag and slipping into her shoes.

  “You really don’t understand women, do you?” She laughed.

  “That’s just one of the many things you love about me.” I shot her a cheesy smile. Red just shook her head and tossed a pillow at me.

  ***

  The next day, we pulled into my parents’ driveway just as the sun was setting. I grabbed our bags from the trunk and headed toward the house with Red in tow.

  When we stepped inside, the house was crazy. The dining room table was covered in trays of little white boxes tied with a blue ribbon. Mom and my Aunt Evelyn were on the phone talking to different relatives who were coming in. Papa Jack had most likely escaped to the bar. I couldn’t blame him.

  I set our stuff down by the door, walked up behind mom, and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

  “I have to go, Rachel. Drew just got here. Okay, see you there. Bye.” She hung up the phone and turned to hug me. She wore a light pink scarf and a gray cardigan sweater. Her eyes were a little more sunk into her face and she was nothing but skin and bone. She was deteriorating faster than I thought. Maybe David was right to move up the wedding.

  “Alex,” Mom said, stepping out of my arms to give her a hug.