Roxie hooked her thumbs in the loops of her low-riding jeans and drummed her fingers on her hipbones.“Anyone hungry?”
Food.Blech.Just the idea made Lexie queasy.She shook her head, but that made the room give another twirl.
Cam caught her elbow.“She needs to lie down.”
“So do I,” Roxie said.“She can sleep with me.”
Lexie peeked through her lashes to see Cam’s brow furrowing, but Roxie pounced faster.
“Contrary to the mouth-mating session downstairs, I know you two aren’t a couple.”Her sister pointed across the room.“The sofa is a foldout.It’s all yours, Hatchet Man.”She grabbed Lexie’s hand, not allowing any argument.“You can wear something of mine.I’d lay odds we’re the same size.”
Lexie went along mutely as she was herded into the bedroom.
Roxie turned on the bedside lamp and closed the door behind them, blocking Cam out.“I don’t know what he thinks I’m going to do,” she growled.She pulled the curtains closed before opening a dresser drawer and flipping through clothes.“Here.”She tossed a matching set of shorts and a spaghetti-strapped top onto the bed.“It’s about as sedate as I get.”
“Thank you.”Bracing one hand on the wall, Lexie lifted her foot back to grab her shoe.She teetered once, but when Roxie moved to help, she sent her a look of defiance.
“Okay.Sorry.”Her sister held up her hands.She let out a sigh and glanced at the door.“Are you really okay with Attila the Hun being here?”
Lexie bit her lip.She’d never imagined a situation where she’d be stripping with Rowe right in the next room.Or one where they’d be sleeping in the same apartment.Or one where he’d kissed her like a sailor on the first night of shore leave.
Ducking her head, she went for her other shoe.“I guess I have to be.”
“What’s his deal?”Without an ounce of shyness, Roxie kicked off her boots and unzipped her jeans.She peeled them off and dropped them on the floor.
Lexie heard the squeak of the Hide-A-Bed opening, and shivers danced down her spine.“I don’t have a clue.”
Roxie stripped her tank top over her head and turned back the bedcovers.Half-naked, she tugged a lacy nightie from under her pillow.She let it slip over her head and down her body before nailing Lexie with a look.“You didn’t tell me he was sex on a stick.”
Lexie’s head snapped up.She’d managed to get her skirt off, but the silk chemise was proving more difficult.She stopped with it pulled up halfway to expose her midriff.
“Oh, don’t give me that look.That man could melt the polar ice caps, if not for his sparkling personality.”
“He makes me nervous,” Lexie admitted.She rolled her shoulders and was relieved when the fabric lifted and she could get it over her head.
“And by nervous, you mean wet?”
The top fluttered to the floor.
“Come on, you can tell me,” Roxie pressed.“He has to have some redeeming features.”
Lexie stood in her bra and panties, her face hot.“My heart pounds whenever I hear him coming down the hallway at work,” she blurted.
“In a bad way or good?”
“I always thought bad before.”Until that kiss downstairs… And the way he’d held her so protectively from the crowd…
Roxie slipped into bed and propped herself up on her side.“You say he’s your father’s right-hand man?”
Lexie nodded as she undid her bra.It fell to the floor, and she pulled the softer nylon tank over her head.It skimmed down her body and settled close.
Roxie clicked her tongue.“Same size everywhere.”
Carefully, Lexie bent over to put on the shorts.Each time she lifted a foot, she took a moment to make sure she was steadied.Finally, she padded towards the bed.Slipping under the covers, she mirrored Roxie’s pose.
“I thought you two were going to do it right against the jukebox,” Roxie said.
Lexie fingered the pillowcase’s embroidering.“I don’t know why he did that.We’ve barely even spoken before.”
