Balanced in Love (Written in the Stars Book 9) Read online

  “I must’ve dozed off.” I wipe my palms down my face and shake my head, trying to clear it from the fucked-up thoughts that were occupying my dreaming mind. As I look up, I realize my computer screen is filled with the last thing I need Brody to see. I quickly lock the keyboard and turn my attention to him. “What’s up?”

  He leans back in the chair, tucking his hands behind his head. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for the weekend. As hard as we’ve been working, a few days of beach, beer, and babes will be just what the doctor ordered.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be good to see everyone—get a little R and R.”

  I haven’t talked to Taylor since the night of Brody’s party. The night when everything changed. I’m hoping to get some alone time with her while we’re at the beach. I need to find out where her head is.

  “Noah’s in, and Marcus will be there. I’ll make sure we get at least a couple of boys’ nights out so we can check out the local talent.” He wriggles his brows. “You’ve been a surly little shit the last few days. You need to get laid, man.”

  Shit, dude. You don’t know the half of it, and if you did, you definitely wouldn’t like it.

  We make plans for what time he wants me to swing by to pick him up, and leaves my office. When he does, I unlock my computer.

  The image on my screen is not a piece of artwork for our latest client. It isn’t a pinup for the hood of some famous baller, or the logo for some band to put on their tour bus. Nope. The portrait on my screen is one I’ve been working on all week, but not for our shop. It’s a face that’s been keeping me up at night, and if Brody had seen her, his sister Taylor, on my screen, it would be the end of our business partnership, not to mention twenty years of friendship.

  Brody and I drive over on Saturday and arrive around lunchtime. As the beach house becomes visible at the end of the road, I see Gabi’s BMW in the driveway. Taylor would definitely have ridden with her, and just the idea of seeing her has my pulse racing out of control. It’s fucking ridiculous. I’ve never had these thoughts about my best friend’s little sister before. Then, the night of the party, everything changed, and I don’t think I can ever go back to how we were before.

  I became friends with Brody in third grade, right after my mom and I moved to Charlotte. We were inseparable, more like brothers than best friends. Taylor was his annoying kid sister. As we got older, I looked out for her, just like Brody did. If someone was picking on her, or some little prick broke her heart, I did whatever I could to make it better. I was at their parents’ house all the time, and whatever was going on, they always included me. From football games to summer scout camps, they let me tag along, and Mr. and Mrs. Tarver treated me like one of the family.

  If they knew what I spent last Saturday night doing with Taylor, they’d never speak to me again. Hell, Brody would probably try to kick my ass, and I’d deserve it.

  The sad thing is, I don’t that would even be enough to keep me away from her, if she wanted to see me. I always liked Taylor. She’s smart, funny, and has the biggest heart of anyone I know. To top it all off, she’s insanely fucking beautiful. The way she looked at me that night? I can’t explain it. It changed everything, and now that I know what it’s like to be with her, to have her look at me that way, it’s all I can think about. She’s all I can think about.

  “Hey gorgeous,” Brody calls as he slams the door of my SUV shut. When I look up, I see Gabi walking out to greet us.

  “Oh, player. You know you couldn’t handle me.” She leans her cheek up for Brody to kiss.

  He clutches his chest theatrically. “You wound me, Gabs. I mean, maybe I couldn’t handle you, but we’d have some fun finding out.”

  I walk to the back to grab our bags, and Gabi meets me, hugging my neck. “I’m so sorry you had to drive four hours with this asshole.” She nods her head toward Brody and laughs.

  “Why do you think we made it in three? I have to look at his ugly mug every day. I couldn’t wait to get here and have a change of scenery.”

  Brody flips me off and I toss him his duffle bag.

  “Where’s Tay?” I swallow hard as Brody asks.

  “Inside unpacking.” Gabi walks inside with us, and as we enter the kitchen, she slides her arm through mine and bats her lashes at me. “Have I told you lately how much I appreciate you, Ethan?” She grins, squeezing my bicep. “Ooh, how about that. You been working out?”

  I laugh. “What do you need, Gabi?”

  “Well,” she looks up then flashes her best charming grin in my direction. “If it’s not too much trouble, could you run to the warehouse club for some beer and food? You have the biggest car.”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem.” We walk inside and I nod toward the stairs. “Which room do you want me in?”

  “There’s one open on the second floor, and a smaller one up top.”

  “Let me drop my bag and I’ll head out. You got a list?”

  “I’ll text it to you, and send you some money through the Payback app.” She reaches up and kisses my cheek. “You’re the best, Ethan!”

  Brody and I walk up and come to the empty room on the second floor. “You wanna take it?” He crooks a thumb toward the open doorway. “I mean, if I meet somebody while we’re down here, that king-sized bed would come in handy.” He grins.

  “Take it, man. I’ll take the smaller one upstairs.”

  “Thanks, brother.” He smacks me on the back of the shoulder, and a pang of guilt stabs at my chest.

  I head upstairs to find drop my bags before I head out to run Gabi’s errands. The bed is a little smaller than the one in the room Brody took, but it’s still built for two. Not that I’ll be sharing it. I mean, I’d rather share a bed with Taylor, but that doesn’t seem likely on this trip.

  When I get back and put the supplies in the kitchen, I throw on some board shorts and a tee-shirt, grab a towel, and head down to catch up with everyone the beach. When I get to the end of the boardwalk off the back of the house and cross the small dune, I see everyone in lounge chairs and sitting on towels under one of those sail canopies. Somebody’s Bluetooth speaker is blasting an old song about getting lucky, and everyone seems to be having fun. Gabi’s the first one to spot me and she gives me a wave. I wave back, and everyone turns as I walk up.

  “Well, if it isn’t the late Ethan Lastra,” Noah jokes as I walk up.

  He stands to shake my hand as I reply. “Wise ass.” I look around him to where Elle is sitting cross-legged on a beach towel. The girl’s practically translucent with her red hair and freckles, so it’s no surprise she’s sitting in the shade. “You still letting this guy hang around? You should keep better company.”

  “I really should.” She grins as she greets me.

  I shake hands with Marcus, and hug each of the girls. I spot Taylor as I’m hugging Felicia and my heart nearly stops. She’s wearing a pair of pale blue shorts and a loose pale pink tank cut low enough that I can see her black bikini top peeking out from underneath. Her long, dark blonde hair is pulled up in a messy knot on top of her head, and when she gives me a cautious smile, for a split second, I forget. I forget that she’s been dodging me for a week. Instead, for a split second, because I’m so fucking glad to see her, I feel like she could be mine.

  When I get to where she’s sitting on the far side of Gabi, she hesitantly gets up from her chair.

  “What’s up?” I try to sound cool, though inside I’m anything but. She tiptoes up to give me a loose hug around the neck, and I wrap one arm around her and pull her in, but I force myself to let her go far sooner than I want to. We spend the rest of the afternoon catching up, drinking beer on the beach. I try to keep my eyes from wandering in her direction, but I don’t do a very good job of it. A few times, when I glanced in Taylor’s direction, I caught her eye as she was staring back at me. She tried to hide it, but I saw the look she was giving me.

  Maybe there’s hope after all.

  I hit the shower before we all head out to dinner. I�
��m about to walk back into my room to get dressed when the opposite bathroom door flies open.

  My mouth falls open when I see her. Taylor is sashaying into the bathroom, eyes shut tight, arms above her head, singing Starships at the top of her lungs while she be-bops to the music in her headphones. I should slip out the door behind me before she realizes I’m here, but I can’t. I’m fucking hypnotized. She’s wearing a pair of black lace panties and a matching bra with lace cups that cut straight across the full globes of flesh they’re barely containing. She has on one of those flowery kimonos, but it’s open at the front, so when she moves her hips back and forth, the fabric moves, giving me glimpses of even more smooth skin.

  I’m glad I’ve got this towel tied tight into a knot at the side, because the sight of her is making my dick stand at attention. When she pauses, holding one finger against the earpiece of her headphones and points the index finger of her other hand in the air for emphasis as she sings along, it’s so damn cute.

  She resumes her dance, throwing one palm out, it lands squarely in the middle of my bare chest. She sucks in a huge gasp, snatching the white headphones from her head as her eyes fly open.

  “Ethan! Shit, you scared the crap out of me.” Her palm is still flush against my chest, and her skin sears mine everywhere it touches.

  “Sorry. I was just leaving, and when the show started, I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.” Her eyes are locked on mine, her lips just barely parted. I can’t resist. I clutch her palm to my chest. My free hand reaches out, my fingers sliding through her soft hair, the pad of my thumb gliding against her jaw until it’s resting on the side of her neck so I can feel the thrum of her pulse.

  Her body betrays her as she steps closer. “Ethan, I…we can’t do this.” She barely breathes the words, her fingers gliding lower until her palm rests over my heart. Her eyes drop to my lips, and for a long, desperate moment, every unspoken word between us over the past week hangs in the air. My eyes drop to her chest, her perfect tits rising and falling as her breath syncs with mine. I don’t miss the way her nipples pebble, poking through the barely-there lace of her bra. My dick is acutely aware that the best thing that ever happened to it is just inches away. I want to kiss the shit out of her and show her I don’t give a fuck what anybody else thinks.

  My voice is low, fraught with the tenuous hope I’ll get to taste her lips again. “You didn’t return my texts. I’ve missed you this week, Taylor.”

  Her lips purse softly as her eyes narrow, just for a moment, as if she’s conflicted. When she speaks, her voice cracks, just a little. “I wasn’t sure what to say.” She licks her lips. “But I missed you, too.”

  My fingers tighten in her hair, bringing her closer. My eyes dart to her perfect lips, then back up to those dark pools of blue. My heart rattles in my chest as her lips are about to meet mine, when I suddenly feel more pressure, resistance, from the palm she still has planted in the center of my chest. She pulls back, her face nodding back and forth as she takes a step backward, and another, until she’s out of reach.

  Damn. So fucking close.

  Chapter Three

  Taylor

  Logically, somewhere in the back of my brain, I guess I knew Ethan might be in the other room on this floor. It was definitely not in the front of my brain when I went dancing into the bathroom to get ready for dinner. My dorky self was blasting Nicki Minaj through my headphones and dancing like a fool. Worse yet, I was doing it in my underwear and skimpy robe. When my hand connected with warm skin and hard flesh, it scared the crap out of me. When I opened my eyes and saw Ethan, shower-fresh, a plush, white towel wrapped low around his hips, his tanned skin practically glowing from a day in the sun, my heart stopped.

  He’s ridiculously handsome. Broad shoulders, capped with hard, round muscle are artfully decorated with intricate swirls of black ink—a design I happen to know he drew himself. Strong arms end in broad palms. Low on his taut six-pack, a fine trail of hair peeks out above the towel, leading to what I know first-hand is a thick, beautiful cock, built for pleasure and wielded with skill by a man who knows how to a satisfy a woman.

  I don’t want to touch him; I need to touch him more than I need my next breath. When his fingers snake through my hair, pulling me close, my body complies, because it knows what this man is capable of and it desperately wants more.

  The way he’s looking at me, those dark eyes piercing through me… how could one look be so unsettling and feel so comfortingly familiar at the same time?

  I can feel his breath, hot and minty on my lips. He pulls me closer and we both know what’s about to happen. If I don’t stop it, I’ll fuck him right here in this bathroom because we both know how good it would be, and from the way he’s looking at me now, we both want more.

  I pull back, shaking my head. “I’m sorry, I… I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’ll let you finish up.” I turn, but before I can get far, his hand envelopes mine, and pulls me back.

  “Taylor.”

  I take a bracing breath and look back up at him. His eyes are softer than before. The intensity is still there, but it’s tinged with sadness. My heart squeezes.

  He blows out a breath as he stares at the place where his hand is wrapped around mine. His thumb just grazes up and down the sensitive skin inside my wrist. It reminds me of when I was little. If I had a skinned knee or bruised feelings, he’d squeeze my wrist and glide his thumb up and down to soothe me until I stopped crying. His brows draw together, his eyes still locked on our hands. “I hate this so fucking much. I don’t want things to be weird with us. We’ve known each other too long for that.”

  A pang of guilt stabs at my heart. If I’d only said no that night. If I’d just shrugged it off as one stupid moment, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

  My eyes scan the ceiling of the bathroom as if there’s an answer there I might have overlooked before. “I know. I don’t want that either. It was a one-time thing. We should just put it behind us.” When my eyes return to his handsome face, I expect to see some sign of relief. That’s not what’s in his eyes, though. It’s the same desire I saw the night we were together.

  “Taylor, I don’t—” He stops short. A voice in my bedroom filters through to where we’re standing, and both our eyes go wide.

  I pull my hand from his and practically shove him through the door to his room with both palms. “Go!”

  I pull the door shut, fast, and turn just in time to hear the knock on the door from my bedroom to the bathroom. “Tay? You decent? I want to borrow that glimmer stick from your makeup bag.” Gabi tentatively opens the door. “Tay?”

  “Hey!” I stiffen and give her a far-too-wide smile. “Um, glimmer stick? Sure. No problem.”

  She looks me up and down. I turn bright pink when I realize I have my robe open and am clutching a thick, soft, white cotton towel. The same towel that was wrapped around Ethan just moments before.

  Shit!

  I must’ve grabbed it when I shoved him back into his room. Thinking about how this means he’s now in all his naked glory makes my mouth water.

  Gabi raises a brow. “Do you need a private moment or something? I mean, not sure exactly how you’d do whatever it is that floats your boat with a towel, but I won’t judge. I mean, you do you. I can come back later.” She smirks.

  “Huh? Oh, no. Nothing like that.” I chuckle. “I was just,” my eyes dart back and forth, then it comes to me. “I just washed my face and was about to put some makeup on.”

  I pat my face with the towel in my hands to demonstrate how reasonable this explanation is. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that the towel was wrapped around the delicious manliness that is Ethan just a few minutes ago. When I put it up to my face, apparently feeling the need to demonstrate how face-washing works, I inhale.

  Big. Mistake.

  Now, I’m drunk. Completely devoid of my senses from inhaling his fresh, manly, soapy scent.

  “Are you okay?” Gabi steps forward, crossing her arms and looking
me squarely in the eye.

  “Yep. I’m good.” I toss the towel over the shower door and grab my makeup bag. “Come on, we’ll use the mirror in my room.”

  I know my best friend, and the look she’s giving me is riddled with suspicion, so I change the subject as we stand in front of the mirror, applying makeup.

  “Did you say you were booking us a tour or something?”

  “I did. We’re doing a kayak tour tomorrow at sunset, and Thursday night we’re doing a ghost tour.”

  “How did you get Felicia to agree to that? She hates anything scary or morbid.”

  “She and Marcus aren’t coming. He’s taking her out for a romantic dinner that night.” She wriggles her eyebrows.

  “Do you think he’s going to…”

  “I don’t know, but I have a feeling she may have some new jewelry to show us pretty soon.” She winks as we both apply our makeup in the large mirror over the dresser.

  I’m happy for Felicia. She’s a good friend, and like all of us, she has dated her share of duds over the years. It just makes me feel a bit behind. I mean, Gabi is a successful attorney, Felicia is going for her master’s degree, Brody and Ethan have a successful business, Noah and Elle both have great jobs… now, with Felicia and Marcus maybe getting married, it feels like everyone is moving forward except me. I’m stuck. I mean, I love my job, but I haven’t completely decided whether or not I should make the leap to law school or not. I haven’t dated anyone decent in, well, ever. And worst of all, I can’t stop thinking about the one guy I can never have. I mean sure, he’s attracted to me, and if I had any doubts, what just happened in the bathroom proves it. It wouldn’t be anything more than sex, though, and in the end, is that worth risking his relationship with Brody?

  “Earth to Taylor!” Gabi jars me out of my thoughts.

  “Sorry, what was that?”

  “I asked if you want to go dancing after dinner. My cousin says there’s a great place on King Street we should check out. Come on, let’s go dance with some cute guys and cut loose. It’s vacation, after all.” She puts her arms above her head and shakes her hips side to side.