An automatic blush lit her cheeks. “I passed by him the other day. I had to go back into work to fix something Frank screwed up.”
“Come on. You like him—Xavier, I mean. He’s amazing.” Katie stopped by their cars and put a hand on her hip, her tone aggressive when she said, “If you aren’t going to make a move, I might.”
“What?”
“Look, dating is hard. Xavier’s handsome, smart, built like one of theSpartacusguys, and he’s funny. He doesn’t livewith his parents, has a job—I think—and have I mentioned he’s built?” Katie grinned. “The little green monster in your soul is glaring at me even though you’re trying to pretend you don’t care.”
“I don’t care.”
“You are such a liar.”
Justine gritted her teeth. “Not lying.”
“Pants on fire, liar,” Katie taunted.
“Seriously, go ahead. Ask him out.”
“Fine. I will.” Katie gave her a smug look. “Race you back.”
Then the blasted woman got in her car and drove away. As Justine quickly followed, she kept thinking Katie must have been joking. Did she mean to ask Xavier out now? Seriously?
But Xavier was hers!
Well, not for real, but in Justine’s fantasies, she and Xavier were living in a house surrounded by a white picket fence with three kids and a fourth on the way. They never argued, and Justine had her own business that was making more than her father and sisters ever would. Xavier lived for nothing but sex, spending quality time together, and cooking all their meals. It was a perfect world in Justine’s tiny mind.
And Katie was going to ruin it all. Justine couldn’t handle her best friend dating Xavier. Though ridiculous, because she had no claim on the man and could make no decisions regarding Katie’s love life, the pair of them dating felt sowrong.
Once parked and rushing to beat Katie to the apartment’s front entrance, she threw her body against the doors, her arms outspread, blocking the entrance.
“What the heck are you doing?” Katie laughed. “Are you seriously body-blocking me from going in?” Because Katie had the codes to enter.
“It’s not funny. You can’t ask him out.” Justine felt like a fool but had no idea how to proceed.
“Why not? You don’t want him.”
“Maybe I do.”
“Ah-ha!” Katie poked her in the chest. “Then make a move.”
“I can’t,” she all but wailed. “He’s the first decent friend I’ve had since meeting you. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“Finally, the truth.” Katie pulled her into a hug. “I was messing with you, Justine. I would never poach on your man.”
“He’s not my man,” she muttered against Katie’s shoulder.
“Not yet. But if you don’t do something about that, some other smart cookie’s going to grab onto him. Not me. Like I said, I don’t poach. But you have to see how amazing he is, right? He likedSpartacus.”
Justine gave a reluctant laugh as she pulled back. “LikingSpartacusshould not be the reason you like someone.”
“It’s not, but it is a cool dating litmus test. He’s not so full of himself he can’t appreciate other strong, hot men. So he’s not homophobic, he’s sex positive, and he knows it’s more important how to use his equipment than how big his equipment is. Although, I gotta say, his pants outlined some very, very nice looking gear.”
They totally had. “Katie.”
“Go home, get some sleep, and I’ll meet up with you on Sunday, okay? We’ll do that movie I want to see.”
“The one with hot guys?”
“And magic. Yes.” They hugged. Katie left, and after grabbing her things from her car and locking up, Justine went inside.
