Best of My Love (Fool's Gold, #20)

Several other members of the group gathered around. Charlie raised his head. His ears came forward and his posture changed from relaxed to watchful. While Shelby appreciated that he wanted to protect his new pack, she wished there was a way to explain it wasn’t necessary.

She looked at Aidan, who smiled at her. “I’ll take this one,” he said, before turning to the group.

“Shelby and I are friends. We’ve agreed to hang out with each other for six months to learn how the other half thinks and behaves. Our goal is to grow as people and learn to appreciate the opposite sex so we can have better relationships in the long term.”

About a dozen pairs of eyes stared in disbelief.

“You’re just friends,” Allison repeated, sounding skeptical. “As in just friends, but you’re not seeing anyone else?”

“No dating,” Shelby told her. “It would be a distraction. This is better.”

“Than what?” Rob asked. “You’re spending time together and not getting any? For six months? Man, that’s rough.”

Amanda turned on him. “I knew it. The only reason you want to go out with a woman is to get laid. You’re a real jerk, you know that?”

“Hey, if you had something interesting to say, I’d want to listen.”

A couple of the guys groaned. The redhead’s mouth dropped open. One of the men took Rob by the arm and led him toward the door.

“You should probably get out of here while you can.”

The unfolding drama was compelling, but it wasn’t enough to keep Shelby’s attention. Instead she found herself watching Aidan. The Aidan who used to have a different woman in his bed every weekend. The Aidan who was currently not, to quote the eloquent Rob, getting any.

Her first instinct was to offer to fix the problem. You know, with her. And with that thought came tangled images that made her insides quiver. Holding Aidan, kissing Aidan, making love with him. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she couldn’t help a minidaydream on the topic.

Then she reminded herself that he was her friend and that he deserved better from her.

“What?” Aidan asked. “You’re thinking something.”

“You. Sex.”

His eyes narrowed. “We’re not having that conversation.”

“But you—”

“Nope. Not going there. Everything is fine. This is working, Shelby. We’re both different. You’re trusting me and I’m getting to know you as a person. We’re doing what we set out to do. I’m not going to mess that up.”

“But you have needs.”

“I’m fine and we are done talking about this.”

He stared at her until she nodded slowly. Fine. They wouldn’t talk about it anymore, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t think about it. Her friend had a problem and somehow she was going to have to fix it.

*

AIDAN SPENT A week waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Shelby kept her word. There weren’t any discussions of his needs, or anything else that made him uncomfortable. Which was exactly how he wanted it to be. Only every now and then he found himself wondering how she would suggest solving the problem. He could think of a couple of great ideas, all of which involved them naked.

Unfortunately thinking about the problem only made it worse. And bigger. So he suffered through several cold showers, a few stern talking-tos and another log-splitting session back at Nick’s. If this kept up much longer, his brother was going to have firewood for six winters.

The following Friday, he followed Charlie to the front door and opened it to find Shelby on his porch. The cold weather was less intense and she’d replaced her down jacket with a lighter leather coat. She had on high-heeled boots, instead of ones designed for snow, and tight jeans. A sexy package.

He told himself none of that mattered and that he should instead focus on the basket she carried.

“Come on in,” he said, taking it from her.

She relinquished the surprisingly heavy basket and stepped into the house. After hanging up her jacket, she crouched down to greet an ecstatic Charlie, then straightened.

“We’re blending,” she said with a laugh. “I like that.”

He led the way into the kitchen. “I know how to compromise.”

They were having dinner together and just talking—a girl thing. Followed by the second half of a basketball game—a guy thing.

Two months ago he would have groaned at the thought of sitting around and talking. What was the point? But now he understood the appeal. He wasn’t going to call his friends and suggest they have a boys’ night in. But every now and then it was good to talk things over. Not just problems, but what was happening in life. He liked Shelby’s perspective on everything from the latest festival to who was pregnant or dating.

Shelby picked up Charlie and hugged him. “How’s my best guy?” The little bichon licked her chin and gave a happy yip.

While they greeted each other, Aidan emptied the basket of a casserole and four tall dessert glasses filled with what looked like parfait. Because dinner with Shelby always meant amazing dessert.

“What did you bring?” he asked.