Unexpected by Bailey B. 💕 Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Contemporary Romance)

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Asher Anderson is a dick.

We aren't friends, so when he seeks me out in the cafeteria on the worst day of my life, I'm suspicious. When he tells Liam Heiter that we're dating, which couldn't be further from the truth, I want to kill him.

Until I see Liam's reaction.

Liam—my best friend, the guy who crushed every hope of us officially being together—is jealous. He has never looked at me this way and I love it.

So, I play along.

Maybe watching me with someone else will make Liam suffer like I have the past four years. And maybe, just maybe, he'll come to his senses and realize we belong together.

It's not like I have any kind of feelings for Asher. At best, I tolerate him.

What's the worst that can happen?

I sit up and take the outstretched clothes. Asher turns around and faces the wall. He still has his jeans and shirt on from earlier in the night. My gaze falls to his ass, and how the denim hugs it just perfectly. Feeling brave, I ask, “You don’t want to watch?”

Asher peeks over his shoulder, a flash of purple meets my gaze before darting to my chest. “Do you want me to?”

I reach back, unclasping my bra, and let it fall to my feet. I’m not sure how much of me Asher can see, but I hope he likes this view better than the last. I shimmy out of my jeans and stand there in my matching lace panties. I crave the feel of Asher’s hands. I want him to hold me and let that fire that comes from his hands spread throughout my body. “I don’t know. Aren’t you supposed to want to see your girlfriend naked?”

He’s quiet for a long minute, then finally says, “Fake girlfriend.”

“Oh.” I'm gutted. It dawns on me that what I’m feeling is one-sided and everything that happened between Asher and me tonight was for show. I guess I can say we’ve officially crossed the line into friendship, but aren’t going any further. Friend Zoned. “Right.”

I pull Asher’s shirt over my head and slip my arms through the holes. It smells like what I assume he smells like first thing in the morning, before sweat and deodorant changes his scent, not that that's a bad fragrance. This shirt smells like fresh laundry detergent and a hint of spicy cologne. I take a second to sniff it again, then pull his gym shorts over my hips. They hang loose, so I roll the waistband a few times to keep them from falling off. “Done.”

Asher turns around. He stares at me, eyes trailing over my body, down to my toes, then up to my face again. I’ve slipped into Liam’s shirt a few times after sex. He’d always get the same goofy expression Asher has, one that says he likes what he sees. I smirk, then step backward until I feel the edge of his bed behind my knees.

“I’ll… uh,” Asher stammers as a flush of pink colors his cheeks. I bite my bottom lip to keep from grinning. I’ve never seen Asher like this before. He seems nervous, which is crazy, because I know he’s been with other women. Besides, it’s not like we’re about to have sex. He wouldn’t even look at me when I gave him the chance. “I’ll take the floor. You can have the bed.”

I scoot across the mattress, closer to the wall, then cross my legs in a sitting position. “It’s a big bed. You don’t have to sleep down there.”

Asher sighs and rubs the back of his neck. He looks pained and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. “I told you I’d keep my hands to myself tonight. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep that promise sleeping next to you.”

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Bailey B is an up and coming New Adult author. She lives in Lehigh Acres Florida with her husband, twin girls, and two fur babies. She enjoys (but doesn't get to take part in because of her crazy daughters) the simple things like Disney+ binge watching, Netflix romcoms, reading and sleeping. She reads two to three books a week and thinks if narwhal's are real animals then unicorns might be too.