“But it does,” I say, turning to look down at her where she stands next to me.
“Don’t do that.” She reaches out and pushes the elevator button again, like that might make it arrive sooner.
“Don’t do what?” As if I don’t know what she means.
“Don’t treat our friendship any differently than any other friendship.”
I shouldn’t be trying to make space for her in my life. I shouldn’t be thinking about her nonstop. I shouldn’t be craving her company. But I do.
Pursuing her might be my most reckless idea yet—it could lose me my agent, and piss off my GM—but somehow I’m no longer sure I care.
We step into the elevator when the doors open, and as soon as we’ve tapped the numbers for our floors and the doors close, I admit, “I don’t really have any female friends, so I’m not sure how to act.”
“You havenofemale friends?”
I shrug. “Not really.” How do I admit that every woman in my life is either dating or married to one of my friends, or trying to sleep with me?
“Sounds like a big red flag to me,” she tilts her chin up like she’s challenging me to prove her wrong. But she’s not wrong, necessarily.
I step closer, forcing her to tilt her head back to look up at me. “I think red might be a great color on you.”
“Stop pursuing me, Aidan.” She’s so close that her breath warms my face.
“Stop giving me reasons to, Morgan.”
Her chest heaves with a surprised gasp. “I most definitely have not given you reasons.”
But we both know that’s not true. Our bodies have an inexplicable pull toward each other, even though we both know this is a bad idea.
“So the way you were just looking at me, leaning in like you wanted me to kiss you... that’s how you look at all yourfriends?”
Her breathing is heavy, and she doesn’t step away. I’d like to say the sexy off-the-shoulder sweater she wore tonight is what’s been driving me crazy, but that’s not it. It’s the way I can’t see her freckles through her makeup, and every time I try to remember what they look like, visions of us together in Bermuda flash through my mind. Hell, those memories arealwaysin my mind, driving me crazy.
“You know,” I say, when she doesn’t respond, “we have a great track record in hotels. We could keep our streak going.”
She crosses her arms and shakes her head as she steps back. “I don’t know how to do the whole casual thing...”
“The thing is... the more you do it, the easier it becomes.”
“Don’t use my words against me, Aidan.”
“Hey, we could be on the same team here,” I say. “We have amazing chemistry, and you could use some practice keeping things casual. I volunteer as tribute.”
My suggestion isn’t just reckless, it’s downright stupid. I could lose my agent and my career because of this woman. It’s the exact path I promised myself I’d never travel again.
“Such a noble sacrifice,” she says with an eye roll, right as the elevator dings our arrival at her floor.
“Friends with benefits would allow us to still have our friendshipandreap the benefits,” I blurt out as the doors open. It’s the desperate need to be around her that makes me suggest this,notthe fact that it’s a good idea. In fact, friends with benefits is probably the worst idea I’ve ever had.
At least I can rely on her being logical about this and rejecting me, so I can get back on the path where I’m focusing on nothing but hockey this season.
My breath hitches when she freezes, one foot in the hallway. The fact that she doesn’t turn and roll her eyes over her shoulder as she walks away has me panicking a bit.
Finally, she glances over her shoulder at me then and huffs out a small laugh. “You know what, I’ll think about it.”
My head falls back against the wall of the elevator the minute she’s out of sight, and as the doors close, I groan out, “Fuuuuuuuck.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
