Lexi looks downright skeptical. "Well, if you say so. All I know is, me and Cannon weren't supposed to end up together. Let’s be real—our relationship started as a marriage of convenience. But once I got a taste of that Kingston dick? Girl, it was all over for me." She grabs her belly and winces. We all snap to attention. She's ridiculously close to going into labor. And ever since her baby shower last week, the second she so much as sneezes, we're all ready to cart her off to the hospital. She waves off our concern and goes back to her bacon.
Iris makes a face. "Same. I tried my best to hate Jude, but those Kingston men have a way of sucking you in whether you like it or not. And once you have sex with them? There's no turning back."
Jessa's eyes go hungry with curiosity and I realize that she’s the only woman at the table yet to have a sip of the sweet, sweet Kingston nectar. "Really? It's that good?"
Lexi nods at her younger sister. "The Kingston charm is one thing. The good looks and those big, strong bodies, too. But once you get that dick—instant addiction—your brain will never be the same."
Something throbs in my chest. I hate admitting it, but I already know that Lexi is right. My best friend has ruined me for every other man.
26
Penny
Walker just called to say he's on his way over.
Deep breaths, girl. Deep breaths...
Immediately, I wipe sleep from my eyes and limp out of bed, delicious bites of pain searing my tender inner thigh muscles. I barely got a few hours of rest after stumbling home from Walker's place, the events of last night still playing vividly in my head.
The sun blazes high in the afternoon sky. I'm staggering around my apartment, trying to wash up my dirty dishes and tidy up my coupon clippings while simultaneously brushing my teeth, flat-ironing my hair and changing my panties.
I'm getting a little overwhelmed here.
I have to remind myself that this isn't a freaking date. It's just my friend coming over to talk. About last night.
I need another reminder to breathe.
There's a knock at the door. My heart is pounding when I open it.
Walker stands there, his chest as wide and solid as a flannel-draped bookcase in my doorway. "Hey..."
There's a chemical reaction in my blood when he talks in that low, gravelly register.
I try to keep my shit together. "Hey..."
God, every part of my body is awake as I watch him. I want to drink him up.
He assesses my flustered expression. One corner of his mouth tips up into a smirk. "Can I come inside, maybe?"
I shake myself out of it. "Yeah. Sure. Of course." I step aside for him.
As he's passing by me, he pauses to sweep his lips across my forehead. I nearly melt right there against the doorjamb. Walker swaggers in, a fresh dose of confidence in his movements.
Is it just me or is it hot in here?
I brush past him and head for the kitchen. I grab a tall glass, fill it straight from the tap and down it in an instant. I must be red-faced and fidgeting because he asks, "You good?"
I nod. "Yeah, I'm great. Just a bit...tired." I fill a second glass and hand it to him.
That I-know-your-dirty-secret smirk is back on his face. "Yeah, I'm pretty tired, too." I see the way his gaze lingers on my lips. His eyes stay on my mouth even as he empties his glass in big gulps.
I wonder if he's picturing me naked—'cause, newsflash—I'm picturing him naked.
Naked, naked, naked.
And sweaty and drilling into me.
A bead of lust trickles down into my panties.
"So, uh, w-what did you want to talk about?" I ask, scrambling to fill the silence.
He slides his empty glass across the counter. "I wanted to apologize for the way I bolted out of there this morning. My mother showed up unexpectedly and immediately I was out the door. I feel like it all happened really fast. But I didn't want to let Ma anywhere near you before we'd gotten a chance to talk."
I snort. "I appreciate that."
Walker's mom can be a little bit intense when it comes to ensuring that her sons find love. But I admire that. Coming from my background, with a mother who gives zero shits about what's going on in my life, I understand that Mrs. Kingston has the best of intentions even when her methods can be a bit intrusive.
"Let me guess—you tried to make up some farfetched story about why I was at your house, in your shirt, and she saw right through you, huh?"
He offers me a half-grin and a head shake. "Nah. I told her the truth."
My eyes bulge a little. "You told her the truth? About the pregnancy thing?"
He nods.
My stomach gives a tight squeeze. "How did she take it?"
He drops his head and chuckles. "She handed me my ass."
"I'm sorry you had to face that alone." I lay my hand on his bicep, something I've done a zillion times over the course of our friendship. Except when I do it today, Walker's gaze snaps up to mine. It's stormy and hooded and intense. It wakes my nipples right up.
Another trickle.
He hooks his fingers into the belt loop of my short satin robe, and gently tugs me toward him. "Don't you apologize. You understand why we're doing this. I understand why we're doing this. I don't care what my mother says or what your girlfriends say or what the nosy fuckers say down at the grocery store. We don't have to justify it to anyone else. Right?" His eyes tell me he's trying very, very hard to convince himself that's true. As grumpy as he is, I know Walker never likes letting his parents down. I don't see the need to call him out on it, though. I feel too guilty about the trouble I've caused.
"Right." I swallow.
Walker's phone rings right then. He takes it out, stares at the screen and then frowns. Something in his tense body language makes me
