Read Moments in Time 02 - Moment Of Truth for Free Online Page A

thinking—Wendy. She’d missed the last ferry and wasn’t coming out until the next morning. Dex and Maggie appeared to be making no effort to get out of the water. Was she on top of him? Were her legs wrapped around his waist? Wait—was that a kiss? Oh fuck.
    “Dammit, Dex,” Tanner whispered, running both hands through his hair.
    “Shit. Are you going to say something to Wendy?”
    “I don’t know.” He sighed. “I don’t think so. The last time something like this happened and I told her, she pulled a shoot-the- messenger routine and didn’t talk to me for six months.”
    “Did she not want to know?”
    “No, I think in the long run she did, but at the time it was easier to be mad at me than at the guy. I don’t know. Women are weird that way.”
    “So you’re not going to say anything?”
    “I’ll keep an eye on it. But for now, no.”
    “I suppose that means you don’t want me to say anything either?”
    “I can’t tell you what to do, but I can warn you that she’ll get really pissed off at you and may not even believe you.”
    “But would it stop her from getting hurt? That’s all I want.”
    “Agreed. Maybe Dex and Maggie are just friends who are a little too touchy-feely. That could be all that’s going on.”
    Peals of Maggie’s laughter sounded as Dex tossed her into a wave and dove in after her. They came up kissing again. It looked more than “touchy-feely” to me when they wound up on the sand together, still attached at the mouth.
    “You don’t think Wendy will feel really stupid if we don’t say anything and she finds out?” Maybe I was projecting. I’d feel like an asshole if Tanner were hooking up with some guy and I was the last to know of all my friends. I didn’t even want to imagine how bad that would make me feel. I didn’t want that for Wendy.
    “I know you want to play knight in shining armor here, but I’m asking you not to. I don’t know exactly what their friends-with-benefits rules are for the summer. Let’s not make trouble where there may not be any, okay?”
    “Okay.” Benefit of the doubt. I could do that. Although my doubts got stronger with each rolling wave.
    They were still kissing. You might roughhouse with your friend or wrestle around, but kissing was a step beyond that. I hoped it was just the power of Tanner’s drinks making their judgment a little shaky. By morning, when they were both sober, they’d have to see that even an FWB thing wouldn’t work while they were housemates. Not with Wendy visiting every weekend and everyone under the same roof.
    Warm arms wound around me, behind my back, up to my neck.
    Tanner’s lips hovered in front of mine. “Let’s say we forget about them.
    We can go the long way back, through the tall grass, behind the dunes.”
    He kissed me, soft at first, then deeper. I forgot there was anyone else in the world, let alone on the same beach.
    When Tanner pulled back, the grin on his face had my full attention, except for the part of me that was focused a bit lower. “It’s very quiet back there. Super private. We could look at the stars.”
    I knew stargazing wasn’t his top priority. And I was hard from the mere suggestion that we sneak off together. Hell, yeah. Dunes, tall grass, sand in all the wrong places? Sounded perfect to me.

Chapter Ten
    I’D NEVER thought about the fact that I hadn’t lived with any woman other than my mother, until I moved into a house inhabited by three of them. At first I’d thought it was mostly a difference of more attention to decor and way more products in the bathroom, but the longer I lived in the house, the more I realized it was everything. The TV shows recorded on the DVR, the types of snacks in the kitchen, and the magazines. I’d never seen so many magazines. Fashion. Beauty. Gossip. I didn’t realize people even still read magazines.
    Part of the suck factor of Tanner working at Oz while I worked at Dorothy’s was that our shifts didn’t match up. Even