ROAD TRIP WITH MY BOYFRIEND’S BEST FRIEND 9

ALESSIA’S POV

We settled into a heavy silence after. We were both still on the grass, naked and staring up at the sky.

He cleared his throat. “That was some good sex.”

I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. “Hmm.”

The word came out thin, like it had to squeeze past the embarrassment sitting in my chest. It came out small and noncommittal.

It felt safer than saying anything else.

Jace shifted beside me.

I could feel the tension in him now, the easy confidence from before replaced with something cautious. Like he was afraid one wrong word would shatter whatever fragile calm we were clinging to.

“We should probably—” he started, then stopped. “I mean… we should get dressed.”

“Yeah,” I said quickly. “That’s probably a good idea.”

But neither of us moved.

“Ladies first,” he said.

I sighed.

We moved at the same time, then awkwardly stalled, the both of us pretending to be very interested in literally anything else. Everything except what we’d just done.

I focused on the lake a