Page 16 of Love Unbound
Jodi shook her head slowly, a blush tingeing her cheeks again. “No, I’m free after work tonight.”
Lifting one corner of his lips in a quick smile, he murmured, “Can I talk you into having a drink with me?”
“I could be persuaded,” Jodi murmured back coyly.
Another grin split his face. “Awesome. Pick you up around say, eight?”
“She’ll be ready!” they heard from the back. Jodi laughed and he loved the sound of it.
“See you then,” Jodi said around her laughter. She was blushing again.
“See you then,” he parroted with a smile, and without athought ducked his head to press a quick kiss to her cheek, his lips brushing the corner of hers. His breath stilled, as did hers. Lingering for a heartbeat longer, he slowly raised his head, his eyes searching hers. Her lips were parted slightly, and he could feel the soft puffs of her breath hitting him. Barely breathing, he whispered, “Bye, Jodi.”
She nodded, and he stepped away, reaching for the door handle. Letting himself out onto the sunlit sidewalk, he took a deep, steadying breath as he walked toward his truck.
As he opened the truck door and slid in behind the wheel, his cell phone started to buzz. Fishing it out of his pocket, he glanced at the name on the screen before answering.
“Hi.”
“Did you ask her yet?” was the first thing he heard.
Free chuckled as he started the truck and pulled away from the curb. “No, not yet.”
Colorful expletives blessed his ear and he laughed again.
Roxsanna Roberts was the closest thing he had to a best friend in Texas. They had met his first week back seven years ago, when he’d stumbled into the young woman in a heavily drunken stupor. He and his cousin Kasey had gone out for a wild night of drinking and debauchery, which ended with Kasey thrown in jail for pissing on the corner of the sheriff’s building, and Free in Roxy’s bed. That night had been a strange start to an even stranger relationship between him and the fiery redhead. Best-friends-with-benefits, or so Kasey had dubbed them. Free often occupied Roxy’s bed and vice versa, but it was purely physical. She had known from the start that his heart was closed off, and she was okay with that. He had not been in a serious relationship since he’d left Michigan. He had dated superficially and was notoriously known for having commitment issues. Roxy was the only woman he’d spent more than a few weeks with, but there was an understanding between them. When it came to thebedroom, it was just sex. Their friendship had nothing to do with what happened between them, and they both liked it that way.
Whenever Roxy started dating someone new, their physical relationship halted, but their friendship always stayed the same. She had met and began dating a guy named Neal about a year ago, but when he had turned physically abusive several months ago, she had ended the relationship. With nowhere to go, she had moved in with Free as his roommate. Roxy had needed time after the end of her relationship, and the two of them had a mutual understanding that for the time being, that aspect of their friendship was on an indefinite hiatus.
She had been there the morning Shawn had called to ask him to come home for the wedding, and he knew she had sensed the shift in him immediately. His thoughts had gone straight to Jodi, and he ached from missing her, even after so many years away. He had never come out and told her about Jodi, but somehow, the damn redhead knew. It had been Roxy that had convinced him to come home, telling him to ‘Stop being a pussy and just tell her you love her already’.
Still muttering a string of curses at him, she finally sighed heavily and snapped, “Have you even seen her yet?”
Free sighed, turning the truck with one hand on the wheel in the direction of Shane’s house. “Yes, Red.”
“Well? What happened?” she snapped impatiently. Chuckling, he could just imagine her fiery hair bristling with frustration at him.
“We’ve just talked,” he said quietly.
He could practically hear her roll her eyes. “Have you kissed her yet?”
“No,” Free said and grimaced, because he knew the tirade that would be coming.
“Quit being a gentleman and just kiss the crap out of her already,” Roxy snapped.
Free sighed in frustration, running his other hand through his hair before placing it back on the wheel. “It’s not that easy, Red.”
“I never said it was going to be easy. But you need to shit or get off the pot. Either do something about it, or let her move on,” Roxy muttered stonily. “She’s not going to wait forever, Free.”
One of the things Free both loved and hated about his best friend was that she was not a bull shitter. Free was instantly and irrefutably uncomfortable with the idea of Jodi being with someone else, and jealousy ripped through him like an un-caged monster.
“I’ll get back to you on that,” Free muttered. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye!” he heard her call as he hung up the phone and tossed it into the passenger seat beside him. Raking his hair back with tense fingers, he cursed the hours that stood between him and seeing Jodi again.
Chapter 10
Jodi looked at the clock on the wall in the bathroom when she heard a hard knock on her front door. Free was early! It was only quarter after seven!
