My Favorite Mistake: A Friends-to-Lovers Romance (A Love Like That) Read online

  “Grab a piece of fruit or something,” I told him. “It’ll tide you over until we get there.”

  Twenty-Four

  Madeline

  “You okay?” Christina asked me as she bumped her hip into mine.

  I was going through a drawer of panties, looking for my size. “Yeah. Why?”

  “Because you seem kind of bummed.”

  “No,” I lied. “Just forgot how exhausting shopping for this stuff is. Men have it so easy. Boxers, briefs, boxer briefs. Women have bikini, high cut, thong, boy cut, full cut, briefs, et cetera. And sexy is nice, but most days, I want something comfortable that’s not going to give me a wedgie at work.”

  “I hear ya.”

  “Don’t tell April, okay? I don’t want her to think I don’t appreciate my birthday present.”

  Christina pretended to zip up her lips.

  “Thank you.”

  She nodded down at my hands. “I thought you’d decided on the white? Yet you’re still holding all three.”

  “I know. But I still need to try them on, and what if I’m in there and I decide I don’t like the white? This way, I’ll already have the other colors.”

  “Smart. Maybe I shouldn’t have put mine back.”

  “Go get it, and we can go try our stuff on. I’m done with this store anyway. I want to use my other gift card now.”

  “Good-bye, lingerie. Hello, books,” she said.

  I chuckled. “Exactly. But take your time. It’s going to take me a few minutes to get myself in and out of these things,” I said, holding up the teddies. “And I don’t want to rip anything.”

  “Let’s go find someone to get us rooms.”

  The dressing rooms were in their own little hall. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so we had to take what was open. Christina ended up at the front, and I had to take the room in the back corner.

  My phone rang. It was Christina.

  “I guess we won’t be showing each other how the lingerie looks,” she said with disappointment. “I’m not walking down to your dressing room, half-naked.”

  “I understand.” It would have been nice to be right across the hall from each other to limit our exposure. “I don’t want to walk up there either. We’ll have to stick to our own judgments, I guess.”

  “Good luck,” she told me.

  “Good luck to you too.”

  I hit End and picked the white teddy first. I didn’t even need Christina to tell me that it was the wrong choice. I looked washed out, and I was glad I’d decided to try on stuff before I purchased anything.

  But I did decide not to waste a good opportunity.

  I picked up my phone and turned the camera on. I took zoomed-in pictures of my body. I did my hip with some lace showing. Next, I did a shoulder with a strap. Then, I sent the pictures to Griffin.

  Me: Here are the pics you asked for.

  I laughed as I hit Send. Sometimes, I thought I was really funny.

  I set my cell aside and looked at my other two options. I wasn’t sure how red would look on me, so I opted for the black teddy next.

  It occurred to me that maybe I should have brought in more styles in case I didn’t like any of them. I really hadn’t been thinking as ahead as I thought I had.

  “Madeline?”

  I paused mid-change. I thought I’d heard my name.

  “Madeline?” It was closer this time.

  I quickly pulled the straps up on the black teddy and opened the door a crack.

  It was Griffin.

  “Madeline?” he said again, his back to me.

  I didn’t know if I wanted him to know where I was, but another woman stepped out of her dressing room and gave him a dirty look.

  “Psst,” I said. “I’m over here.”

  Griffin spun around and looked relieved to see me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked him when he reached my room.

  “I came to help.”

  “Your help is no longer needed.”

  “Come on, Mads. Let me in.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think you deserve to be let in.”

  He frowned. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you blew me off today.”

  “I’m so—”

  I held my hand up. “And you lied to me.”

  He closed his mouth and swallowed.

  “I know you asked Troy to hang out. Next time, ask a friend who’s not engaged to my friend.”

  He took a deep breath. “Okay, so you have to let me in, so I can explain.” He put a hand over his eyes. “I promise not to look at you.”

  I rolled my eyes, opened the door, and pulled him inside by his other hand. His elbow hit the doorjamb as he stepped inside.

  “Ow.”

  “Sorry,” I said as I closed the door behind him.

  “You don’t sound sorry.”

  “Eh. You get what you deserve.”

  “Mads”—he dropped his hand and turned around—“I really am—” His eyes widened. “Holy shit, you look fucking hot.”

  I stepped around him and pulled my shirt in front of me. “You said you weren’t going to look.”

  He put his hand back in front of his eyes. “You’re right. But I will never get rid of the image of you in that.” He separated his fingers and peeked through them. “And for that, I’m not sorry.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest.

  His fingers slammed closed.

  “Okay, you may speak now.”

  “On Wednesday, after I left my office, Blake and Caleb asked me if anything was going on between us.”

  This caught my attention. “They know?”

  Griffin frowned. “And that’s a bad thing?”

  “I don’t know. I’d be fine with Caleb knowing, but Blake would give us so much crap that I’d prefer to avoid.”

  “This is true. But I didn’t tell them yes.”

  “Is this why you didn’t want them to know what you got me for my birthday?”

  At the time, I hadn’t understood why he didn’t want them to know. He should be proud of his awesome present, and it was odd that he’d lied about it.

  “Yes. But let me finish, please.”

  “Continue.”

  “Blake started talking about how friends with benefits never work. He’s seen a lot of friendships break up because of it, and it scared me.” He dropped his hand. “You’re my best friend, Mads. I don’t want to lose you.”

  I tilted my head and studied him. “So, your idea was to push me away in order to not lose me?”

  Griff rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled nervously. “When you put it like that…”

  “You sound like a doofus?”

  “Hey.” He dropped his arm and stood up straight.

  “Maybe those friendships broke up because one person thought they knew what was better for the other.” I raised my brow. “Did you ever think of that?”

  “Jeez, Mads, how did you get so smart?”

  “Quit trying to butter me up.”

  He grinned.

  “Seriously though, Griff. We tell each other everything. I know about the time you shit your pants in psych class after being hungover.”

  He shook his head. “You promised to never speak of that again.”

  “And I haven’t until now.” I poked him in the chest. “And you know about the time I took that guy home, and I didn’t know I had my period, so when we turned on the lights, the guy freaked out because he thought I was dying while I just wanted to literally die from embarrassment.”

  Griffin laughed. “That is kind of a funny story.”

  “You weren’t there.” I waved my hand back and forth. “That’s not the point. The point is, if we can talk about shit and periods, we can talk about our friendship. Okay?”

  “Okay,” he agreed with a nod.

  “So, from here on out, we’ll just go back to being friends.”

  He scowled. “I never said that.”

  “Oh?” I bit the
inside of my lip so that I wouldn’t smile. “You want to keep having sex?”

  “Damn right I do.” He grabbed my wrists and pulled my arms wide. “And right now, I want to see you model for me. The pictures you sent me were just plain mean.”

  I lifted a shoulder. “I didn’t look good in white anyway.”

  “Let me see the red.” He licked his lips. “And I’ll let you know which one I’ll be taking off you later.”

  “That sounds like a cheesy pickup line.”

  “It’s only cheesy if it’s never going to happen. I’m totally going to make that happen tonight.”

  Twenty-Five

  Madeline

  I heard the door to Griffin’s apartment open and close and his footsteps move closer to his bedroom. I rolled onto my back, and he pushed the half-closed door open.

  Rubbing my eyes, I asked, “Closing go okay?”

  “Yep. No troubles tonight. Everyone left when we told them to.”

  I watched as Griffin stripped off his clothes. His room was dark, but I could see plenty, thanks to electronics and streetlights lighting up his room.

  When he was naked, he literally jumped into bed with me and pulled the covers over himself.

  He snuggled up against me and ran his hands over my body. “Ooh, naked best friend.”

  “I haven’t moved since you left,” I told him. Besides, I wasn’t going to put my teddy—which was lying on the floor next to his bed—on again, and my other clothes were in his living room.

  “You’ve been sleeping this whole time?” He yawned and moved to his back. “I’m jealous.”

  “Not the whole time. I did spend an unhealthy amount of time on social media.” I rolled from my back to my side and slid my leg over his. “But I did go to sleep earlier than usual. I think something wore me out.”

  His eyes were closed, but he smiled. “Same here. I was dragging ass by the end of the night. Or the end of this morning? Whatever. You know what I mean.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No, you’re not. You probably think I deserve it.”

  When I didn’t respond, he opened one eye and lifted his head to look at me.

  I held my finger and thumb up with a small space between them. “A little bit.”

  He laughed and dropped his head back onto the pillow. “I have bad news.”

  “Oh? What’s that?”

  “I’m about two seconds away from falling asleep, so if you want any sex, you’d better hop on this ride before it’s off for the night.”

  I ran my hands down his body. “But you’re not even—” I found his penis thick and hard. “Never mind.”

  “I’m always hard when you’re around.”

  I wrapped my hand around him, definitely game for some sex now that I’d had a nap. But I wasn’t going to do that to him. He was too tired, and even though he seemed willing, I thought it would be nicer of me to let him sleep.

  “Mmm…that feels good.”

  I kissed his chest and reluctantly let his dick go. “When you said you’re always hard when I’m around, when did that start? My birthday party night? Or right after?”

  He shifted his hips as he seemed to settle in more. “Before that.”

  This had my full attention, and if I hadn’t been wide awake, I was now. “How long before?” I asked in a low, soothing voice. I didn’t want him to know this had caught my interest.

  “Since forever.”

  “Forever?” I said a little too loud.

  Griffin laughed. “Not forever. I didn’t care about girls being girls when we first started being friends. But as soon as I hit puberty.”

  I had been wrong earlier in the day. Apparently, the two of us didn’t tell each other everything.

  “Wow,” I said.

  “Not wow. More like duh. You’re hot.”

  I tried to run through decades of friendship in my head to see if anything stuck out to me. A time where Griffin might have been turned on and I might have suspected.

  But nothing was coming to mind.

  At first.

  I gasped. “Remember that time about five years ago when we were at the water park and we went down the slide together?”

  “Mmm.”

  I took that as a yes.

  “You told me you were hard because of the adrenaline of going down the slides.” He had gone down several in a row. “Were you lying?”

  “Mmm.”

  I shook him. “Griffin?”

  “What?”

  “Were you lying?”

  “Through my teeth. You wore that green bikini. I never knew green could be so hot.”

  I bit my lip. It had been more like a tankini. I wasn’t trying to be sexy. I had just wanted to be comfortable at the water park.

  “I can’t believe you never told me.”

  “I didn’t want to freak you out.”

  I could understand that. It was always a gamble for one friend to tell the other that they were attracted to them.

  “What if I told you there were times you turned me on too?” I admitted.

  Except Griffin didn’t hear me.

  His breathing was deep, and a soft snore escaped from between his lips.

  “Oh, Griff.” I pushed a lock of hair from his forehead and kissed his cheek. Then, I laid my head down on his chest and went to sleep.

  The next morning, I was leaning over Griffin’s counter, drinking my coffee and looking at my phone.

  I had left Griffin sleeping and was trying to be quiet, so I didn’t wake him.

  About five minutes later, I was laughing at a meme when I heard the sound of feet shuffling from the direction of his door.

  I looked over my shoulder. “Morning, sunshine.”

  Griffin stood there, naked and looking half-awake. He turned toward the direction of his bathroom. “I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay. Coffee will be waiting for you.”

  He grunted in response.

  I started watching a video, and while I heard the toilet flush and the sink run, I missed the sound of Griffin walking up behind me until his hands landed on my hips.

  “Whoa.” I jumped.

  He kissed my shoulder. “Morning.”

  “Morning.”

  “Lean over again.”

  “Okay?” I agreed but didn’t understand why.

  He flipped up the back of the T-shirt I had stolen from him. “I was hoping you were naked under this.”

  He tapped the inside of my legs, so I spread them.

  He rubbed the seam of my pussy. “We didn’t have sex last night.”

  “You were tired.”

  “I’m never too tired for sex.”

  He pushed a finger inside me, and I hissed.

  I hadn’t been expecting the foreplay, and I wasn’t quite wet enough.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah. Just go slow.”

  Griffin continued to play with me until I was nice and wet.

  “ ‘Go slow,’ she says. But she’s already soaking, and it’s been less than two minutes.”

  He pushed down on my G-spot when he added another finger, and I moaned.

  Soon, his hands were gone, and I heard the sound of the condom wrapper.

  Both of us had gotten tested and come back clean, but we’d both decided it was best to keep using protection since we weren’t technically in a committed relationship.

  Griffin’s cock replaced his fingers as he slowly thrust into me.

  I pounded my fist on the counter. “So good.”

  He withdrew and pushed back in. He did this over and over, taking his time with me.

  I was close to a climax, but I needed a little something more to push me over the edge.

  I’d been letting him run the show so far, but now, I decided to push my hips back into him. Simply to let him know I wanted harder and faster.

  But I wasn’t expecting the slap across my ass.

  I gasped in shock and excitement as I froze.

  Griffin grabbed
my hips and began pounding into me. Hard and fast, just like I wanted.

  “Oh God,” I yelled as I tried to find something to hold on to. I ended up finding the center of the sink and clutching my fingers tightly on to it as I held on for the ride.

  Griffin tilted my hips, and his dick hit me right where I needed him. It wasn’t but three deep thrusts, and my knees were buckling underneath me as an orgasm washed over me.

  Grabbing my hips, Griffin kept me from falling as he slammed into me. With one last lunge, he exploded.

  He collapsed on my back, breathing hard. He kissed the top of my back and stood. After he slid out of me, he helped me stand up and turn around.

  After throwing the condom in the garbage, he pulled me into his arms. “That’s a better way to wake up than any coffee.”

  I laughed and hugged him back.

  Twenty-Six

  Griffin

  After Madeline left, I worked out, showered, and went over to my parents’. Sometimes, I didn’t go over to their place on my day off, but I did often. Especially during football season. My dad and I had been watching football together since before I could remember.

  “Here you go,” my mom said, setting down some chips and dip on the coffee table for us.

  “Thanks, Mom. I could have gotten those.”

  It didn’t hurt that my mom liked to feed my father, too, and always kept snacks on hand.

  “I was cleaning out the cupboards anyway.”

  “Right,” I said.

  She always made an excuse to bring food out to us. My father was spoiled, but it was a good thing he didn’t act like it. She liked to take care of him but wouldn’t be treated like a doormat.

  “I pumped up the tires in her car this morning,” he told me after Mom left the room.

  I smiled and picked up a chip. “It’s okay, Dad. I know how you two take care of each other.”

  My dad scooted to the end of his recliner and grabbed his own chip as a commercial came on the TV. “How’s Madeline?”

  I frowned. My dad didn’t normally ask me this. Did he have some sort of dad Spidey sense?

  “Uh, she’s fine. I saw her this morning. She didn’t mention anything. Is something going on with her parents?” It was the only thing I could think of since our parents were neighbors.