AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He looked appalled. “No. No. That’s not what I meant.” His discomfort was back, and after all the headway they’d made tonight, Pixie didn’t like it.
“Really Doug. It’s fine. No explanations needed.”
He pinned her with a stare, reaching out and wrapping his fingers around her dormant wrist. The warmth of his hand penetrated her chilled skin and felt damned good.
“Listen to me, Pix. Your arm has nothing to do with my hesitation,” he clarified strongly. “I was only thinking… I’ve never brought a woman to my uncle’s house before, and I…don’t want my folks getting the wrong idea.”
“Oh. I get it.” And she did. Pixie kicked herself for her automatic assumption. It was amazing how her insecurities always took her to her bad arm. Now she was questioning herself. How often did she get it wrong?
Pixie comforted Doug while still marveling that maybe every strange look she received wasn’t about her disability. “I don’thave to go if it will make you uncomfortable. And if you do decide to invite me someday, we can assure your family that we’re just friends.”
Now Doug looked more pained than before.
“What?” she asked.
“That’s just the thing, Pixie. Remember? It’s going to seem strange to them, either way. I don’t have womenfriends, either.”
So he was still going with that, was he?
She raised her head, giving a stubborn set to her chin.
Pixie was calling bullshit again.
“Not true, Doug. You have me.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Doug didn’t know, in the course of one evening, how Pixie had—with her non-confrontational, calm demeanor—yanked him firmly back from the edge, straight into her gravitational-pull again. He thought he’d cut her out of his life—except to make sure, occasionally, that she was safe. But now…?Seriously? He’d more or less agreed to become her full-time, full-on buddy, which…
Ah, hell.That screwed with his brain. Andnotfor the reason that made the most sense; his hermit-like personality. It was the freakish things lurking deep in his gray matter that had him worried.
His discomfortshouldstem from letting her into his fucked-up life inanyway. But if he were honest, in the weeks since he’d last seen her, he’d missed imagining her as… Dare he even think it? He swallowed around a heavy lump in this throat and let the thought spill over into his consciousness… He’d actually fantasized about her as a romantic interest.
Gah!
Didn’t that make him one messed-up dude? He knew being great friend material was difficult. That was a given for him.But he absolutely had no business thinking about being amorous with anybody.Period.Talk about a bomb, ready to explode.
He needed to get his head off its fucked-up trajectory and focus on the chum thing only before he blew this all to hell.
“That’s great, Pixie,” he forced himself to say to her “pal” declaration. “I just hope I don’t screw things up. I have a little experience in the buddy realm with a few guy friends, but I’m not sure what…opposite sexfriends do together.”
“They play cards,” she told him definitively. “And they watch movies. They look out for each other, like you decided to do for me tonight,” she added cheekily. “They can also go for hikes, eat food, and share things about their day.” She gave him one of her knowing stares. “Don’t overthink this, Doug. Just act in a way that seems natural to you, the way you do with your aunt and uncle; with Dieter and Cisco. If you let yourself relax, I know you’ll kill it.”
That’s what he was afraid of. Killing whatever might be growing between them because he was a clueless dick. And God help him, if he stuck around—which it seemed like he was going to do—there was a chance he might let those tight buds of fantasy regarding Pixie begin to blossom somewhere in his brain, attempting to become actual flowers.
He groaned to himself.
If that frou-frou metaphor didn’t show how fucked-up he was, he didn’t know what would. He coughed and tried to center himself again.
“One more hand?” he asked, to steer his head back into a safe place.
“Sure.” She yawned. “Then I have to go to bed. I’m not used to staying up late, even on weekends. School hours always require me to be in my classroom by seven on weekdays, so my body tends to roll with that schedule.”
“I understand.” Doug replied. “I’m on the seven to three shift weekdays right now, too, which puts me exactly on the same time-table.” He didn’t attempt to hide his own yawn before he chuckled. “See? It’s contagious.”
Pixie looked down at the cards he’d shuffled and placed into her operative hand, so she could deal. “Just asking. As a friend. Where, um, will you sleep tonight?”
“In my truck.” He shrugged, not in the least bit concerned. It wouldn’t be the first time his old Ford had served as a crash-pad.
