Voyeur - Lacey Alexander [38]
“How did you know she was hot?”
“Webcam.”
“You watched her on the fucking webcam?”
Braden turned to face his friend. Tufts of Tommy’s blond hair stuck out beneath his hat at different angles, framing an expression brimming with accusation. Put like that, it sounded pretty heinous.
He answered truthfully. Sort of. “I was just checking in to make sure she got there okay. You know I do that sometimes.” He left out the part about her touching herself. Not so much because he was a nice guy, but because he thought it possible Tommy and Laura could meet before this little soiree came to an end, and he was at least nice enough not to embarrass her like that. Some girls he’d known wouldn’t mind if Braden told another guy every detail of their sex, but Laura would definitely mind, and despite still wanting to draw her even further out of her conservative little shell, he could respect an unspoken desire for some privacy.
“And she was hot enough for you to get on a plane and come knocking on her door?” Tommy asked
“My door,” he clarified again, this time leaving out that he hadn’t knocked.
“Still, though, dude, you promised the girl your house and you just show up like that?”
Braden flashed him a look. “Since when did you become the morality police?” Usually, Tommy was all about good sex and would go to extreme lengths to get it.
His ski buddy shrugged in his parka. “Since I figured out I’m a jerk most of the time, I guess.”
Braden blinked. What the hell? “What are you talking about?”
Tommy sighed. “You remember Marianne?”
A pretty little ski bunny Tommy had met on the slopes at Copper Mountain last winter. When Braden had come for a month in the summer, Tommy had still been dating her, but given how quickly he typically blew through women, Braden had actually forgotten about her. “Yeah, sure.”
“I cheated on her.” Tommy kept his eyes straight ahead as he spoke.
“Oh.” He’d never condemn a friend for that, but he thought it a stupid move. As a rule, Braden didn’t cheat. Because Braden also didn’t commit. He’d figured out by the time he’d graduated from college that it wasn’t for him—he didn’t like feeling obligated to anyone, and he didn’t especially believe in monogamy. He did believe that if you chose to be monogamous, you should damn well stay that way, but he’d never put himself in that particular position. “Let me guess. She found out.”
“Yep. And it hurt her—bad.” Tommy shook his head helplessly. “I don’t even know why I did it—the other girl wasn’t even all that hot. It was almost like . . . out of habit or something. Which was idiotic.”
Braden had never heard Tommy be self-deprecating before—the guy was normally confident and carefree. He hardly knew what to make of it. “And the moral of the story is?”
“It was a huge mistake. I loved Marianne. I mean, I was really in love with her, dude.”
Braden’s jaw dropped. Like him, Tommy didn’t “fall in love.” “You? In love? With a girl?”
Tommy shrugged. “The end of an era, I know. But the point is—I fell for her, I did something dumb, and I lost her. And I regret it like hell. Happened six months ago, and I can’t seem to shake it. Haven’t looked at another woman since.”
“You’re kidding me.” Ladies’ man Tommy hadn’t looked at a woman in six months? The sky should start falling any minute now.
“I wish. Sometimes chicks try to pick me up in bars, or if I’m hanging out in a lodge at the end of a ski day, and my dick wants me to pay attention, but I just feel too shitty about what I did to Marianne.”
“And she won’t forgive you? I mean, maybe if she knew you were still missing her six months later, it would change her mind.”
Tommy gave his head a short, decisive shake. “She’s moved on. Got a new guy. Engaged and everything. Ran into her sister at the Mexican restaurant down in Edwards last week, and she told me.”
“Then she’s over you, over the hurt. Doesn’t that mean you can move on, too?”
“It should mean that, I guess. So far, though, I still feel shitty.”
Braden let out a sigh. “Who are you? I don’t even know you, man.”
Tommy