Page 104 of Hat Trick
“You’re a goddamn smart-ass.” I push open the door to our left so she can make her way inside. “Welcome to my incredibly boring bedroom.”
Lexi puts a hand on her hip and surveys the space, nodding as she goes. “Curtains? A headboard? Alaundry hamper? Oh, my god, Riley. You’re a fully functioning adult male.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am. The bar is low, and I’m impressed.”
“Please tell me some of your horror stories so I can feel better about myself. What’s the worst apartment you’ve ever been in?”
“Worst apartment?” Lexi bends to survey the bookshelf shoved against the wall that houses my favorite novels. She touches each book, smiling when she gets to certain titles and pulling out her phone to take pictures of others. “There was the guy who shared a room with his sister.”
“I hope it was a studio apartment.”
“Nope. A three bedroom. They werereally closeand didn’t like to sleep in separate rooms.”
“I just threw up a little.”
“So did I when he said we had to be quick because him and his sister had a movie to watch together. In hisbed.”
“Damn. My curtains make me look like I have my shit together, don’t they? I might be missing a limb, but at least I’m not into incest.” I grin and sit on the edge of the bed. “Tell me more.”
“There was the guy with the army of stuffed animals, which I don’t mind. I know people have items that are sentimental or bring them comfort. I wrote a paper on that for a psych class during my undergrad, and I’d never make fun of someone for what brings them joy. What bothered me was when he turned them all around when we had sex because he didn’t want themwatching us.” Lexi sets her drink on my dresser and opens the top drawer. “And then he apologized to them after we finished because we took too long.”
“Fucking Christ.” I shake my head and lean back on my elbow. Down the hall, I hear an argument over a slice of pizza, and I throw a pillow at the door so it shuts. “You need to find new people to sleep with.”
“You didn’t have anything weird about you. We got along just fine, didn’t we?”
I dredge up the memory of her with her head tipped back and her thighs open wide. The underwear of hers I still have shoved in a drawer and how it felt to have her nails dig into my shoulders when I had my head between her legs.
Just finesounds like an understatement.
“We did get along just fine,” I say slowly, and from the way she grins, I wonder if she’s thinking about that night too.
“What about you? Are you going to tell me some of your—” Her mouth drops open when she gets to the bottom drawer of my dresser. I didn’t even see her open the middle ones. “Oh mygod.”
“What?” I sit up and frown. “If you find any feet pictures in there, someone planted them.”
“Are theseropes?”
Oh, fuck.
I haven’t used them in so long I forgot they were in there.
I could deny they’re mine. She’d believe me if I said they were a gag gift from one of the guys on the team. We do stupid shit like that all the time with each other, and a collection of ropes wouldn’t be the weirdest thing one of them has given me.
But a loud, annoying part of me wants to be honest with her.
She’s seen me when I’m weak and vulnerable and pissed off at the world. Why would I hide it from her?
“Yeah,” I finally say. “They are.”
“What the hell are they for?”
“I sail sometimes?”
“Riley.”
“Okay, fine. They’re, uh, for sex. I have certain… interests in the bedroom.”
