But I knew better than anyone.
Guys didn’t just change. I mean, I’d never tried, but the thing about Blake? She was sweet, innocent, and what if I ruined her? What if I told her I wanted to commit, jumped in with both feet, only to cheat on her?
“I swear”—I gulped, hating every word I was saying—“I’ll help you with David. And then . . . I’m hoping we can still be friends.”
Her face fell. “Friends.”
“Funny how words that are supposed to make people happy kind of make you want to punch a tree like Chuck Norris.”
Blake burst out laughing. “Yeah, well . . .”
It wasn’t awkward. If I had to describe the moment—me still dripping-wet with coffee, Blake holding a pillow to keep my mouth from assaulting hers—I’d say it was sad.
That’s what I felt.
Sad.
Because I liked her.
Clearing my throat, I held out my hand. “Friends?”
She dropped the pillow, took a few steps, closing the distance between us, and shook my hand. “Friends.”
“Good.” I dropped her hand, flexed my fingers, gave myself an internal pep talk where her boobs weren’t the main attraction, and stared her down. “Then let’s get to work.”
“Didn’t you say you had class?”
“Skipping. We’re going to basically bump into David all day long, and make him want to kill himself. You up for that?”
She nodded, but it wasn’t an excited nod—more like she didn’t know what else to do.
“You still want David, right?”
Dear God, please say no.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Blake answered. “David’s . . . a good guy. He’s the guy you marry, you know? The guy you take home. He’s always been there for my family, and he’s—”
“Safe,” I finished for her, hating the word almost as much as I hated the word “friends.”
Blake made a face. “Do you think that’s wrong?”
Hell, yes. It was almost as bad as settling. But it wasn’t my place to tell her that. Plenty of girls liked safe, only to fall in love with the comfort it brought later. Safe wasn’t settling, but it sure as hell looked like it. Especially the way that Blake’s shoulders suddenly slouched.
“Blake.” I gripped her arms and pulled her forward. “Snap out of it. You’re sexy as hell, know how to kiss so well that I’m pretty sure I’ll never forget the way your mouth tastes, and you’re sweet.” I rolled my eyes. “Stop making that face. Sweet is good. You’re the perfect balance of sexy and sweet. Think of your personality as catnip.”
“Does that make David a cat?”
“Yeah.” And I was a tiger, damn it.
“Okay . . . also, I never thought you’d ever call me sweet, especially with our first meeting not going so well.”
I laughed. “But now we’re friends, so you no longer want to gouge my eyes out.”
The daggers she shot at me with her eyes told me to piss off. Obviously she didn’t agree.
She held up a hand. “Only half the time. When you’re asking me to play nurse and patient, or when you tell me to get naked, or when you grab my boobs without permission, or kiss me just because you have issues keeping your hand out of the cookie jar.”
“Is that so wrong?”
“According to the contract . . .”
I rubbed my hands together. “I’m changing the subject now. Go put something on that screams sexy, and we’ll get going.”
Blake glanced down at her baggy black sweats and tight blue tank top. “What’s wrong with this?”
My eyebrows shot up. “What’s wrong?” I circled her, then slapped her ass and gripped it so hard she let out a little yelp. “There it is. Sorry. Couldn’t find it underneath all that heavy black material.”
Grumbling, she stomped away, then paused at the stairway and very slowly turned back to give me a coy gaze.
“Dude, hurry up,” I said.
Her sweats dropped to her ankles.
Revealing ass cheeks with a string of fabric pressed between them.
Sweet glorious Lord.
“Not funny,” I growled. “I will seriously own your ass if you do that again, and I don’t mean that in an ‘oh, I’ll just tackle you and spank you’ way. I will breach my contract as many times as I can within a twenty-four-hour period. Now, if you’re game for that, then by all means keep stripping. But if you can’t hang with the big boys, I suggest you march that cute ass up the stairs, put on some clothes—ones that hide the white thong—and get back down here within five minutes. I still have to change, and you ruined our coffee.” I hoped I still had something clean left at Gabi’s house.
Her smile fell, and suddenly she was dashing up the stairs like the fires of hell were licking at her heels. Which, technically they were, since my tongue had fallen out of my mouth and a puddle of drool was pooling at my feet.
I took a deep breath, trying to soothe myself.