“Of course you are,” he said, accompanied by a soft laugh.
“We eat lunch together all the time.” I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to tell him, but I did. “It’s nice that we both work here in town. We get to see each other a lot.”
“That’s nice,” he said halfheartedly, taking a step toward me. He crossed his suntanned arms over his chest and I couldn’t help but look at just how toned and muscular they were. The shirt he was wearing was just like every other shirt he had, or at least like the few that I’d seen on him since he came back to town. Tight in all the right places, and apparently made out of some sort of hell spun fabric that made even unavailable women lose their wits. The urge to trace my fingers across the tattoos and veins running across his forearms teased my thoughts.
“It’s really nice that we get to see each other all the time,” I mumbled, trying to pull my eye from his skin.
“So you said,” he replied. He had the same mischievous look in his eye that could have gotten me in trouble when we were younger. One look from him and I was sneaking out of my house after my parents had gone to bed or cutting class to make out in the janitor’s closet. We’d never actually been caught doing anything wrong, and I had to admit the thrill of the possibility, the sneaking around, had been exhilarating. He inched a little bit closer to me and I held my breath and waited for his next move.
“Having a boyfriend that lives in the same town makes life so much easier.”
“I can imagine that it makes things... convenient.”
“It does,” I breathed out as he let his tongue lick the corner of his lips.
“I kind of prefer unpredictability though. Easy has never really been my thing.”
“I... I...” I tried to form some sort of thought, but constructing a sentence was impossible with him standing so close.
“Not knowing where or when you are going to bump into someone seems like much more fun. Like this. This is fun, right?” He bit down on his bottom lip and I damn near dropped my phone on the sidewalk. “Why so nervous, Shutterbug?”
“I’m not nervous,” I scoffed. Easy has never really been my thing. Well, no shit, Sherlock. This is exactly why I’d suggested we stay away from each other before stupidly deciding we could be friends. I was a glutton for punishment. Or at least a fool who enjoyed toying with temptation.
I refused to let myself get carried away. The thrill of our youth was gone. We were adults and we needed to behave as such. The longer he stood there in front of me, all passive aggressively sexy, the faster I built up my tolerance to his seduction. Us being friends was never going to happen, especially if he kept this up. I felt my stance stiffen and I looked him straight in the eye. I gritted my teeth as I pulled my phone out of my back pocket, and checked the screen to see if Beau was close to being here.
“I was just pointing out that my boyfriend will be here. Any second.”
“Something you don’t want him to see?” Reid reached his hands up and rested his hands against the end of the overhang I was standing under. His body stretched out in front of me once again caught my attention. There was no denying that he was attractive, and judging by the wicked grin on his face he was well aware of it.
“Why would I mind if he saw me having a conversation with a friend?”
“Oh that’s right.” He dropped his arms to his side. “We’re friends.”
“We are—” I started to say.
“For now,” he said under his breath.
“Don’t get any ideas, Travers. You’re lucky I’m even giving you a chance to be my friend.”
“You’re right,” he conceded easily. Almost too easily. “Friends is good with me.”
“Good.”
“Great.” He said, but I could hear the mocking tone of his voice. “As your friend, I have to ask,” he took in a breath, “was there really no one else you could date in this town? I mean... Beau?”