Read Online Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5) by Zoe Dawson - Free Book Online Page A

turning toward me. “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah.”
I was just damned fine. Too much thinking, too much pressure, and too
much wanting. “Yeah,” I said again. “I’m
fine.”
    My head was a
fucking mess, but I was fine.
    “Is something
wrong? You pissed at me because of the phone?”
    “Yeah, so shut
your trap so I can get some sleep. I have a class in the morning.”
    In the morning, I
raced to the shower as soon as the alarm went off and I did a quick
job of it. I really wanted to be out of there before Deke got up. I’d
already decided that today I would request another room. I couldn’t
watch him and Emmie together. It was beyond me. Once again I was
reminded that I would lose out to more social guys. I was quiet. Too
quiet, except with Emmie it was easy to talk to her…until I
realized I was talking to her, and then I got tongue-tied.
    The shitty thing
about it was I really liked Deke. I had originally classified him as
one of those dicks who liked to make fun of me. But he’d turned
out to be great, and we hit it off. I thought we would be best
friends. Now, with Emmie between us, that wasn’t possible.
    I slipped back into
the room just as Deke was getting out of bed. It was early for him
and I knew he didn’t have a class.
    “Hey, Travis.”
    I grunted at him and
pulled the towel from around my waist and dried the rest of the way
off.
    “Hey, you
guys,” Emmie’s voice came from the doorway, and she was
standing there with a bag and a tray of coffee.
    I froze completely,
naked as a jaybird. It was like a catastrophe that can’t be
controlled, kind of like rolling out in slowmo and fast forward at
the same time. She turned to look at me with a smile on her face. It
froze there as she stared at me in all my bare-assed glory.
    I started to reach
for the towel, but our eyes met and I saw appreciation in hers, an
expression I had never seen there before. No sarcastic quips, no
biting, witty comments, not even a breath seemed to stir her as she
stared at me. I got hard, right then and there, as her eyes literally
caressed me from my face down my torso, lingering on my abs and then,
fuck, my dick. Then her eyes popped back up to my face and she backed
up, still totally speechless. A state I had never witnessed before.
    Her breath rushed
out and she bobbled the coffee. Deke rushed towards her just in time
to catch the tray, just barely. Covering her face, she backed out and
slammed the door behind her.
    Deke started
laughing. He set down the tray and laughed harder. I grabbed my
underwear and slipped into it, then my jeans. He was still lying on
the bed laughing.
    “Dammit. Did
you see the look on her face?”
    “I’m
glad you find this so amusing, you jackass.”
    Deke sat up wiping
his eyes. “I bet she knocks from now on.”
    “I’m
sure she would prefer seeing you in your altogether.”
    All humor drained
from his face and he turned serious eyes on me. “What?”
    “You know what
I’m talking about. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
    “What are you
talking about? She couldn’t take her eyes off you. You’re
a stud, son.”
    “Right.”
    Deke stood up, and I
was getting madder by the minute, with despair wrapping tighter
around my heart like a vise.
    “Travis…”
Deke looked toward the door then at me. “You think I have a
thing for Emmie?”
    “And she has
one for you.”
    “What?”
He walked up to me. “You’re crazy. That’s not
true.”
    “Don’t
try to spare my feelings. It is true.” I turned away, but he
grabbed my shoulder and all my rage came boiling up. I swung and hit
him right on the cheekbone. He flew back, hit the night table and
went down.
    I just stared at
him, sprawled in a heap, and felt sick to my stomach. There was a
knock and then Emmie peeked in. She saw Deke on the floor and gasped.
    “What the heck
happened?”
    She ran over to him
and cradled his head in her lap. I was horrified, agonized to see how
much she cared for him. I’d never hit another human