Page 12 of Love and Leashes
Jensen
“What d’you think, bud? Blue or grey?” I hold up two shirts. Oliver keeps on snoring. “You’re so helpful.” I drop the blue shirt on the bed. “Or maybe I’m just the idiot who’s asking his dog for fashion advice.”
“Hey, J? Can you, uh, help me with something?” Kelly’s voice is muffled by the door, but Oliver still lifts his head and looks toward it.
“Oh. Sure.Heryou listen to,” I mutter, leaving my shirt half-buttoned as I go to open the door. “Of course, what’s —”
Holy. Shit.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen Kelly dressed in anything other than leggings, jeans, or shorts. I’vedefinitelynever seen her in a dress that is hitting her curves in all the right places. It does some weird twisty-knot-wrap thing in the front, accentuating her body perfectly. But the part that is really getting to me is where the folds of fabric part over her legs, letting just enough of her thigh peek through.
Now all I can think of is pinning her against the wall and sliding my hand underneath that dark green silky fabric to see what’s beneath it.
“Jensen?” Her hesitant voice jolts me out of the fog of lust swirling in my head.
“Right. Sorry. Umm.” I lick my suddenly dry lips. “What did you need me to do?” Fucking hell, why is my voice cracking like a highschooler going through puberty?
“The zipper, J, I already said so. Are you feeling okay?”
Great, now Kelly’s looking at me like I’m crazy, which maybe I am for having these thoughts about her. I shake my head.
“Yeah, of course.”
She turns around, and I try to control the tremor in my hands as I slide the zipper up the line of her back. Jesus Christ. Her skin is right there, looking soft, tanned, and inviting. When my fingers brush against her neck, she visibly shivers. And my dick takes notice.
But then something bumps into the two of us, and Kelly lets out a little shriek, breaking the spell. “Jesus, Ollie, your nose is cold!”
I take a step back into my room and turn slightly to try and hide the situation in my pants. “Okay. So I’ll be ready in a few. Could you let Ollie outside?” I close my bedroom door before she can answer and lean my forehead against it with a mental groan. This visceral reaction to Kelly is nothing new, but it’s unexpected at the moment, and I’m definitely not sure how to handle it. Especially when I have no clue where she stands on things.
Thingsbeing, us.
The mature course of action would be to have a reasonable, rational, adult conversation about it. But that scares the shit out of me. I’ve recently had my marriage fall apart, and I’m not super keen on having my best friendship also fall apart because I try to push us into something that she doesn’t want. And I’m not exactly looking for another dose of rejection. Divorce was bad enough, thank you kindly.
Just like that, my mood sours. Thoughts of my ex and the cold, loveless relationship we had at the end always does this to me. And that’s definitely not the energy I want to have tonight. Kelly deserves better.
“This is just dinner between friends,” I mutter to myself as I do one final check in the mirror. Grey shirt was a good choice. Good to go, I grab my keys off the dresser and head to the kitchen to find Kelly. She’s just feeding Oliver when I get there, and I shamelessly watch her as she stands, only downgrading my look from an outright ogle to just a friendly glance when she turns to face me.
“Ready to go?” she asks brightly. Any awkwardness I thought might be there after the zipper situation is gone.
“Yup, all set.” I stuff my hands in my pockets, unable to stop staring. “You look beautiful, Kell.”
A blush steals across her cheeks as her pink-tinted lips curl up. “Thanks. You clean up pretty nice yourself.”
After a minute of just standing there, smiling at each other like fools, we lock up and walk to my car, where I go to her side and open the door.
“You’ve never done that before,” Kelly comments, an impressed look on her face.
“I’ve never taken you on a pretend date before.”
Her throaty chuckle as she slides into the car hits me hard. I quickly make my way to the driver’s side, and soon we’re driving the short distance to Insignia, the steakhouse she suggested.
“I found a couple of apartments over on the south side of town I wanted to check out. Interested in coming with me?” I ask after a few minutes of easy silence.
“Well, duh, who else is going to make sure you don’t end up in some disgusting pit of an apartment?”
“I do have standards, Kell,” I reply drily.
“I know you do.” She shrugs and my eyes catch the delicate slope of her shoulders. Goddamn, that dress should be illegal. “But a second opinion is never a bad thing.”
