“I’m joking,” I said with a huge grin, trying to pretend that I didn’t really want to rip her clothes off then and there. She chewed on her lower lip and continued to look at me uncertainly. I wanted to lean forward and take her lower lip in my mouth and suck on it. Only, I knew that wasn’t appropriate. Though, I wasn’t sure how appropriate I wanted to be. I’d been appropriate with her our whole lives, so why couldn’t I have some fun with her now? We were both adults, after all.
“Oh, okay.” She looked at me uncertainly and I worried that maybe I shouldn’t be teasing her like this. Maybe it wasn’t fair. TJ had told me once that he thought Sally had a crush on me, but I didn’t really see it. She’d never tried to hook up with me and I was pretty sure she saw me as a brother. Granted, there had been times when I’d seen her looking at me and batting her eyes, but what did that mean, really? She knew I wasn’t the sort of guy who was looking for a girlfriend, so I was sure she would take my flirting innocently. And if she happened to be down for some no-strings-attached sex, who was I to say no? I mean, if I was completely honest with myself, I had known she’d had a teenage crush on me, but that had seemed to die as soon as it had started. And maybe sometimes I’d wondered if she still liked me. And maybe sometimes I’d wondered what she was doing and if she was dating anyone, but that didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean I wanted anything from her, aside from some hot sex. And hot sex was not worth risking the friendship or the dynamic we had. And Mila would kill me if I hurt her best friend.
“Sorry, that was inappropriate. I shouldn’t have gone there.” I gave her my most apologetic smile and bowed my head. “But you know us guys, sometimes we don’t think properly.”
“That’s okay.” She nodded and gave me a small smile, her face still looking confused.
“But yeah, you can drive first,” I said to her, trying to diffuse the situation. “I’m sure that you’ll be good and if you’re not, I can show you how it’s done.”
“Uh huh.” She laughed and shook her head. “Sure you can.”
“Sure he can what?” Mila walked back into the room and looked at us curiously.
“I was saying I don’t need his help driving a car quickly,” Sally said and laughed, throwing her head back, and I watched as her long black hair moved back and forth. She looked at Mila and then she looked at me, her brown eyes gazing into mine softly for a few seconds as she laughed and I was struck at how innocent and youthful she looked. Something in me stirred as I watched her face, and I smiled back at her, unable to stop myself from sharing in her happy moment.
“Oh yeah, don’t let Cody drive.” Mila laughed and I watched as Sally looked away from me and at her, and the moment was broken. I felt a sense of loss for a few seconds and frowned. I wasn’t sure what that was about.
“I think I need to eat,” I said and rubbed my stomach. “My head is feeling funny due to lack of food.”
“I’m hungry myself,” Mila agreed and rubbed her stomach too. “What are we eating? Chinese?”
“No Chinese tonight.” Sally shook her head. “What about Indian?”
“I had Indian last night.” I shook my head. “What about Thai?”
“We had Thai last night.” Mila laughed. “What about Italian?”
“I can do Italian,” Sally said, and I grinned.
“Can you now?” I winked at her and she blushed.
“Cody!” Mila growled at me and laughed. “That was so inappropriate.”
“I’m an inappropriate guy.” I shrugged. “What can I say?”
“If you say you’re an Italian stallion, I will slap you.” Mila glared at me and I opened my mouth and winked at her.
“I’m an Italian…” I paused and looked at Sally. “Well, maybe one day you’ll find out.”
“Cody.” Sally’s face went bright red and I watched as she started fiddling with her hair. Her nails were painted a bright red and I was curious as to whether her toenails were painted the same hue—so bright and flirty.
“Yes?” I said with a wink and she just shook her head. I could see Mila and TJ looking at me and I turned to them with a huge grin, knowing I was going to have to answer some questions later if I didn’t slow it down right away. “I’m just joking, guys. Seriously, jeez.” I shook my head and pulled out my phone. “Now, let’s get going, I’ve got to make some calls to some ladies tonight.”
Chapter 3
Sally
“How did you know TJ was your soul mate?” I asked Mila, my best friend, as we waited for TJ and Cody to grab our drinks from the bar. The car racing had been fun and I’d thoroughly enjoyed teasing Cody before our races. His eyes had sparkled as we’d joked around and I’d thought that we’d really had a connection. Only then I’d noticed his eyes following a hot blonde every time she’d walked past us and my heart had sunk in jealousy. I’d tried to keep a smile on my face, instead of letting my sadness show. I mean, what sort of loser would I be if I expressed my jealousy to him? He’d think I was crazy. Men didn’t like jealous women they were in relationships with, let alone jealous women they weren’t even dating. And just because I’d thought he’d been flirting earlier didn’t mean anything. Because maybe that was just his way and it didn’t actually mean anything to him.