“You doing okay?” he asked, his touch scalding me even through my shirt. His eyes, that familiar shade of brown, searched my own, and I forced myself not to notice the ropy muscles of his tattooed forearm or the breadth of his powerful shoulders.
Just a friend,I reminded myself.Get it together.
“I’ve been better, but I could be worse.” I backed off and led him to the kitchen, where the dark chocolate pralines were arranged on the counter. “For you. They need a little while longer to set properly. I’ll put them in a box when you leave so you can take them with you.”
Alec flashed me a rare grin and popped one into his mouth, closing his eyes and moaning his appreciation. My libido perked up.
Down, girl.
“I brought your car back,” he said, opening his eyes again.
“How’d you manage that?”
“I grabbed the key while I was here last night and my teammates helped.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. I didn’t want them knowing what had happened, but I did appreciate their assistance. “Make sure to thank them for me.”
“I will. Did your mom call?”
“She did.”
“Did talking to her help?”
“Maybe a little.” Unfortunately, a conversation with my mother couldn’t turn back time and cure the underlying problem, so there was only so much that talking about it could solve.
I glanced at the wedding invitation on the door, remembering her words about not seeing Thad again.
Alec followed my gaze. “Oh, shit. You’ll have to see Coral at the wedding, won’t you?”
I drew in a deep breath and let it out all at once. “Thad too. Apparently, she’s taking him as her date.”
“What the fuck?” he growled.
His reaction made me feel a little better. Like it wasn’t unreasonable to be pissed off at them.
Okay, so perhaps Coral and Thad were dating now, but even so, it seemed a little cruel to take him somewhere she knew I’d be.
“I’m thinking about pulling out,” I admitted.
His dark brows knitted together. “That’s not right. You shouldn’t have to miss out on your beach vacation because of them. You haven’t done anything wrong.”
I shrugged and leaned against the counter. “It’s just easiest.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. “Fuck that. I know you’ve been looking forward to it. How’s this? I’ll come with you. It’s my bye week. That way, you don’t have to deal with them on your own.”
“Don’t be silly. I know you mean well, but if I take my friend as my date, it will only make me look more pathetic, as if I’m not strong enough to face them on my own.”
He gazed at me levelly and my cheeks heated as I recalled that I had, essentially, just admitted that I couldn’t bear the thought of dealing with them alone. Still, it was one thing to confess the truth to him. It was another entirely for Thad and Coral to know that.
He ran one of his massive hands over his buzz cut. “Then we’ll say we’re in love.”
I snorted.
“What?” he demanded. “Everyone knows we’re close. It’s not that big of a leap, is it?”
“It’s precisely because we’ve been friends for so long that it wouldn’t be believable,” I protested, anxiety knotting my insides at just the thought of how we might be ridiculed. “No one would believe that we suddenly woke up one day and decided to date after being strictly platonic friends for over a decade.”
“Friends try dating all the time.” The stubborn set of his chin indicated that he didn’t intend to cede the point.
