That she had. “So? What’s the problem? Are you seeing someone? Someone you’ve conveniently forgotten to mention to me?” She punched his arm playfully, as she always did when he sat across her bar. She’d worked at Rough and Ready for close to five years and considered the place home. More of a home than anywhere else, actually, especially now that she’d been left effectively homeless.
Your choice. You could’ve played Rob’s games. You have before.
She winced again as she imagined the scene she’d witnessed that evening. No fucking way.
Justin laid his hand on her thigh. Even with the layers of cotton between their skin, his heat branded her flesh. “Friends don’t kiss. Not with tongue.”
His came out to rub at the dip in his lower lip she’d imagined nibbling more than once. She thought she glimpsed a flash of silver in his mouth, then dismissed it. Her thing for him, for lack of a better word, had proven to be as persistent as a sunrise, despite her efforts to pretend otherwise. He’d never given her any reason to think he felt similarly—at least during the current incarnation of their friendship—but that hadn’t shut down the fantasy machine where he was concerned.
Which was crazy. She knew what she’d get with Justin. Decent sex. He was decent, all the way around. Good, responsible, built to last.
Except he had so much more to him than the sum of those particular parts.
Justin knew how to make her laugh on her roughest days. Always had. He loved sports, college basketball in particular, and always brought her a card for every holiday. Along with being an excellent conversationalist, he was a wonderful listener.
He was just plain nice, as proven by the fact he hadn’t berated her for taking out the snowmobile when she hadn’t had a clue what she was doing. Bottom line, she really liked him. A lot.
As for his body…well, she had no complaints. If she’d hoped way back when that he’d do a little more with what he’d been given, that was a small flaw.
And besides, who was good at sex in college anyway? Even if it wasn’t usually her flavor preference, after Rob, vanilla sex sounded perfect.
She just wanted to forget everything Rob related. Hit the big ol’ Pause button and spend the evening with Justin.
Tomorrow she’d restart her life and figure out what came next.
“Especially when one of those friends happens to have a boyfriend,” he added when the silence extended. “A boyfriend she’s had for a very long time.”
Yeah, since not long after she and Justin had shared a bed senior year. She’d been so eager to experience…well, everything. And Rob had been wild, dangerous, and sexually way out of her league.
But she’d learned.
Should she tell him Rob was no longer a factor? Maybe his reluctance to push their boundaries was a good thing. She’d just ejected herself from a volatile relationship. Yes, she was single, but only for a handful of hours. If she rebounded any harder, she’d end up in the basketball record books herself.
Kylie smoothed her hands down her stomach. It was amazing how at ease she felt in Justin’s home, on his couch. She glanced down, noting the plaid boxers and faded SU T-shirt she wore underneath the very frayed comforter he’d wrapped her in. Even wearing his clothes seemed perfectly natural. Maybe sex between them would still be comfortable too.
She’d longed for sparks once. Now she just didn’t want to get burned.
“Hey,” he said, reaching for the folded newspaper resting on the coffee table. “This should cheer you up. There’s a game tonight.”
“Shit, yeah. What time is it?” She had no clue how long she’d been there. She’d drifted in and out of sleep for what felt like hours between bouts of Justin feeding her soup from a take-out container and pouring his liquid cure-all down her throat. “Did we miss it?”
“Almost two a.m.” At her squeal of distress, he patted her thigh. “Don’t worry. Would I ever contribute to you missing a game?” He picked up the remote beside the paper and aimed at the huge plasma TV on the opposite wall. “DVR’d it.”
Forgetting her injuries, she scrambled to sit up. “Did we win?”
He flashed her a grin. “I didn’t watch it. What fun would that be?”
“You’re a gem.” She frowned. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow? Day before Thanksgiving and all?”
“Nope. We had unused snow days last year, so they tacked on an extra day for the Thanksgiving holiday. Works for me. What about you? You have a shift at the bar?”
“No. I’m off till Friday.” She pulled her knees up to her chest to make more room on the couch for him, then bit her lip as her sore lower back protested. “Uh, guess I’m not ready for my usual position yet.”
“You have a usual? I do have my favorites, I’ll admit.” As if he didn’t realize she was gaping at him, he gently lifted her legs and draped them over his lap as he sat back against the cushions. “There. Okay?”
Whoa. He didn’t normally throw out innuendos. That was her job. She flung flirty comments his way while slinging drinks, and he lapped them up with a laugh without responding in kind. Part of his allure was that he seemed safe. She’d be able to handle a man like him. His needs wouldn’t be overwhelming, and she wouldn’t come up lacking when she couldn’t fill her expected role in her lover’s sexual Olympics.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Kylie huffed out a breath as he adjusted the comforter to cover them both. She’d been a little chilly, but the shiver that rippled over her skin had nothing to do with lack of body heat. Justin was so warm, his thighs muscled and hard. Almost as hard as the other part of him she’d rubbed against earlier.
That too was another aspect of him she couldn’t file away with the rest. The Justin she knew didn’t find her so arousing, especially not when she was disheveled and wet after taking a tumble into the snow.
Unless maybe she had him pegged all wrong. It had been years since college. Very long years.
“Need another drink?”
She shifted slightly. He’d donned a pair of shorts in deference to the simmering fire, and the bristly hair on his legs rubbed against the back of her calves. Why that sensation seemed so sexual, she didn’t know. “I knew it. You are trying to get me loaded.”
He eyed her speculatively as the opposing centers faced each other onscreen for the tip-off. “Actually, I’m not, but I think I’d like to see you drunk.”
“Why?”
“No inhibitions.”
She stiffened. She simply couldn’t help it. Damn, had he been peeping in the window of Rob’s place tonight? “I’m pretty uninhibited to start.”
He shrugged and let his gaze wander back to the TV, though he didn’t seem particularly interested in the game. “So you claim.”
Now wasn’t the time to argue the point. Why should he care about her inhibitions? He’d been all about straight-up missionary the one and only time they’d had sex. For God’s sake, she’d kissed him, and he’d pushed her away as if she were a magazine subscription and he wasn’t buying.
True, the situation hadn’t exactly been created for romance. But she wouldn’t have complained if passion overcame him.