Page 10 of Love and Leashes
I slam the door of Kelly’s house shut, causing Oliver to lift his head from her lap with a woof. Kelly watches me, wide-eyed, as I stomp into the kitchen, open the fridge, and spy the item I am in desperate need of right now. I tromp back into the living room and drop down onto the couch beside her before opening the container of cookies, jamming one in my mouth without even bothering to see what flavour it is. A second cookie follows, with Kelly just blinking at me innocently, before I finally speak. “I just spent an hour listening to a woman drone on and on about her hobby of knitting small hats for her Chihuahua. Whose name was Chrishell, might I add.You know, like the woman on Selling Sunset.”I pitch my voice as high and annoying as it can go for that last part.”I didn’t even stay for dessert, and you know I think dessert is the most important part of a meal.” I jab my finger at her face, where I can see she’s not very successfully holding back a laugh. “This is all your fault.”
“Why is it my fault?” my supposed best friend says in mock outrage.
“I wasn’t ready to date again. And then you had to go and put some insane profile on a dating site and force me to go out with complete strangers. Crazy strangers at that! And I haven’t dated in over a fucking decade. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”
“You just need practice. And since I’m such a great friend —”
I interrupt with a wave of my third cookie. “And since this is all your fault —”
“Whatever.” Her eyes roll back into her head. “Since I’m such a great friend, I’ll help you. We’ll go on a fake date and practice your wooing skills.”
“I don’t have any wooing skills.”
She shoves me, not hard, but enough for me to narrow my eyes at her. “Pfft, I don’t believe that for a second. Gimme a smoulder.”
On purpose, I give her a look that is definitely not a smoulder.
“Huh. Okay. We’ll work on that.”
She’s serious. For fuck’s sake, she actually wants to work on my dating skills? Out of nowhere, I’m seized with a sudden desire to kiss her. But I don’t know if I want to do it out of frustration, desire, or both.
Both. Definitely both.
“Fucking hell, Kelly, this is ridiculous,” I groan, trying to forget the mental image of kissing her. It’s not exactly a good time for that, seeing as she’s trying to help me be a better date forother women.
“No, it isn’t. You, me, tomorrow night, Insignia Steak House on the pier. You can wine and dine me.”
“But no sixty-nine, I’m guessing.” The teasing words escape my mouth before my brain can even catch up to the fact that I’m flirting with her. With Kelly. My best friend, the woman I’ve wanted since high school but never been able to have.
I fully expect her to smack me, or roll her eyes, or get up and walk away, but she doesn’t. She blushes.
And the sight of her cheeks going pink for me? Well, that just makes me feel all kinds of crazy things I probably shouldn’t be feeling for a woman who clearly thinks of me as nothing more than a friend.
“Yeah, no. None of that.” Her voice wavers.
She’s so close, I could touch her easily. A hand resting on her bare leg, an innocent foot massage, a hug goodnight. All within perfectly acceptable boundaries of friendship, and all things I’ve done in the past without a second thought, even with my unrequited attraction to her.
So, why now does it feel so scandalous, yet so fucking alluring, to think about doing those things to her?
“Right. Okay, so then I guess, tomorrow.” The words come out hoarse and halting, and I clear my throat. “Tomorrow we’ll go out.”
“On a practice date.”
“Yeah. A practice…date.”
Fucking hell, I’m so screwed.
Chapter seven
Kelly
Let me let you in on a secret. Attempting to sleep is impossible after your best friend, whom you’ve recently discovered you’re very attracted to, makes a joking comment about sixty-nine. I lost count of how many times I flipped over, flipped my pillow over, or untangled my sheets from all the damn flipping over.
It’s a good thing Jensen’s room is at the end of the hall, and there’s a bathroom between us, because there was no way I was getting any rest without taking care of things. God bless quiet sex toys. But the real danger came the moment I, well, came, and my mouth started to say his name. Thankfully, I grabbed the pillow beside me to smother my face in time. A quiet vibe he might not hear, but me calling out his name in the throes of release…yeah, I don’t feel like risking that.
Luckily, he was still asleep when I left for work today. I didn’t even hear Oliver snuffle at his bedroom door to be let out, so like a total coward, I crept out silently and escaped to the sanctity of the bakery. Yes, I realize he could easily find me here, but I don’t think he will.
God, I hope he doesn’t. If there was ever a terrible day for him to meet Mila, it’s the day after whatever last night was. I could have sworn Jensen was going to do something, say something, after his ridiculous sixty-nine comment, but he didn’t. Not really. Still, there was something in the air between us that I had never noticed before. But just in case I was being a sentimental, emotional weirdo, I pretended to be oblivious to it and to the energy crackling between us, and made my excuses to head to bed shortly after. I heard him get up, let Ollie out, and then go to bed himself. When his footsteps hesitated outside my bedroom door, I won’t lie. I held my breath until he carried on down the hall.
