Chapter 36
—Kasey—
“Babe, I don’t know if I can do this,” I panted, frantically fanning my face to take some of the edge off the panic.
Yesterday, I’d gotten a little flirty with Reed, but today I was sweating bullets. He was due to pick me up in twenty minutes, and I’d done nothing but pace Simone and Banks’s living room for the last five.
Exasperated because we’d had the same conversation multiple times already, Simone set down her coffee mug with a loud crack against the counter. “For fuck’s sake, pull yourself together, woman,” she exclaimed through a laugh.
I pressed my hands to my forehead. “I know I’m normally not like this. The old me would have been all in, but there’s pressure this time. There are expectations to live up to, to be like I was before.”
Her face softened. “Babe.”
“I know, it’s fucking stupid!” The exclamation coincided with Banks breezing in.
“So’s your face.”
A shocked pause of epic proportions halted time. One where I gaped at him, jaw slack and eyes wide, and he stared back mimicking my expression.
“Banks! What the fuck?” Simone snapped, breaking the bubble.
He held up his hands and broke into a fit of laughter. “I’m sorry. For a moment, I was thrown back to being a kid around my brothers. I’m so sorry, Kase,” he repeated, through a hearty laugh.
I feigned outrage. “You can’t apologize while laughing your ass off!”
Simone groaned. “I’m so sorry about my boyfriend. He’s a little much sometimes.”
Jeez, that was an understatement. “Sometimes!”
“Hey, I’m just keepin’ it spicy,” he declared.
“There’s spice, then there’s too much spice,” I drawled.
He flipped me off while laughing again, then breezed into the kitchen scullery.
Simone shook her head. “Don’t listen to him, you’re sexy as always.”
I glanced down at my light denim jacket and dark blue sundress while nervously smoothing my hands across my breasts and stomach. “It doesn’t fit like it used to…”
A pfft came from Simone. “It fits like a glove, Kase, and not in a bad way. In a hot damn you sexy momma kind of way.”
While meant sincerely, the momma part hit home without warning. Another sweeping wave of insecurity had me biting into my lower lip.
“Gah, this shouldn’t be this hard. It’s practically not even a date.”
Banks appeared from the kitchen while chewing. “It’s definitely a date. And here—” He thrust a paper bag at me. “—I found you something to wear over your face.”
“Banks!” Simone yelled in outrage.
This time, I threw my head back and laughed, then snatched the bag from his hands. “You think this will improve it?”
I shook it open and lowered it over my head, then danced while waving both my middle fingers in Banks’s direction.
Laughing and being so carefree with the two people I could fully be myself around liberated me. Our combined hilarity rose a notch as I turned sideways and put all my effort into twerking like my livelihood depended on it.
A secondary wave of laughter rose as I started to become out of breath. I slapped a hand down on the cool marble countertop, then dramatically removed my headdress.
Horror hit me like a ton of bricks. No… worse. I’d never been so mortified in my entire life. While Banks and Simone laughed so hard they doubled at the waist, I froze to the spot and couldn’t tear my eyes off Reed, casually leaning against the other end of the kitchen island.
He smirked a smirk that had me dying inside. “Hey, darlin’.”