Page 39 of Work It Out
IceIcingBaby.com
With many frosting recipes, success or failure comes down to one factor: temperature.
Rayah opened her office door to find Blaine lounging in her chair, his feet on her desk. She closed the door behind her. Leaning her back against the wall, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the floor. “How much did you lose?”
“Fifty bucks. Said you’d never sleep with him. Guess that was wishful thinking.”
The sad way he muttered the last hit her like a fist to the gut, but she refused to look at him. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if she saw pity or condemnation in his eyes. “Hope you didn’t pay the weasel yet. Unless the bet was about actual sleep. That’s all we did.” Mostly. “No sex, just sleep.”
God, this was awkward.
“Seriously?”
She snorted. “Shocker, right? I mean, I know sex is all a guy like that could possibly want from a girl like me, but…”
Blaine shot to his feet. “Damn it, Ray. That wasn’t what I meant. That guy—”
“Nope.” She pushed away from the wall and stared down all six and a half feet of him. “You and I are not talking about this. Ever. I only told you because Pierce is on my shit list, too, and I refuse to let him get rich off a misunderstanding.”
She opened the door to walk away, but he caught her by the upper arm. “What’s that supposed to mean, ‘You and I aren’t talking about this’? We talk about everything.”
“No, we don’t.” She laughed but the edges were ugly. “You hold back all of the hard stuff because you think I’m too weak to handle it.”
“I never—”
“And truthfully, I don’t tell you everything, either.” He jerked back like she’d burned him, but this discussion was long overdue. “You made me feel protected at a time when I thought I’d never feel safe again. I’ll never be able to repay you for that, but I also think protecting me reminded you of your strength when you were at your weakest. I’ll always be grateful we were there for each other. But we’ve failed each other, too.”
He hadn’t looked half as shocked when she’d punched him yesterday. She stared into the eyes she knew so well and wondered how she’d ignored it for so long. “You still think I need saving, don’t you? You were always going to think I needed saving. To be fair, part of me thought so, too. But I saved my damn self a long time ago.”
She placed a hand on his forearm, thankful he didn’t shrink away. “And you need someone as strong as you are, someone you know you can lean on when things are hard, someone who can finally make you see what I’ve never been able to convince you of: you don’t have to be invincible. You have so much more to offer than being ‘cannon fodder.’ Whether it’s a bomb you didn’t see coming or a miscarriage you couldn’t stop or just the passage of time, the day will come again when your muscles won’t be enough. But this heart…” She placed her hand on his chest. “This heart will always move mountains. It’s not enough for me to know that, though. You have to believe it for yourself.”
Blaine’s eyes closed and he pressed her palm harder against his chest. “Damn it, Ray-Ray.”
“I don’t want this to hurt you,” she whispered.
“You’re the one who’s going to get hurt. Can’t you see that? He’ll use you while he’s here, then he’ll leave and never look back.”
“I know.” She rubbed her earlobe between her thumb and forefinger. “And that’s okay. If I get to feel like the person he says he sees when he looks at me, even for a little while…” She squared her shoulders and met his stare again. “I’ve picked up my pieces before, and I’ll do it again. But at least I’ll know I was brave enough to try.”
“I’m sure that’ll be a big comfort when you get your heart broken.” With that Blaine dropped her hand and brushed past her, leaving her alone in her office, wondering if she really had lost her best friend this time.
…
Rayah was still in her office two hours later when yet another knock sounded on her door. She’d run off each of her employees at least once since her third blow-up with her best friend in two days. This time, however, it was Jake who popped his head through the narrow opening. “Is it safe?”
She frowned. “Is what safe?”
“Rumor is, you’re having a rough morning.”
She tossed her pen to the desktop. “Which one of the scaredy-cats sent you to butter me up?”
“Oh, all of them.” He came in and shut the door behind him. “Yeah, they’re cowering at the end of the hall, waiting to see if I make it out alive. Of course, I prefer to think of myself as more of a cupcake whisperer than a butterer. Unless it’s buttercream frosting.” He flopped down into one of the chairs across from her desk, and his eyes glazed over. “A chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting. Oooh, or a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting.” He refocused on her. “What were we talking about?”
She laughed for the first time since they’d left her house that morning. “I believe it was something about the flavor of my icing.”
Jake’s eyes heated and he crooked one long finger at her. Maybe she should’ve fought him on principle, but she didn’t want to. She rounded the desk in record time, then squealed when he yanked her onto his lap. “You’re all sweaty!”
“I’ll make it up to you.” Jake’s mouth came down on hers, and she forgot all about heartbreaking arguments and sweaty clothes.
