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Kate almost spewed lettuce across the table. “You wench. How long have you been sitting on this?”
Laughing, Kristina took a bite of salad, and then said, “I met the guy last night.” She recounted the story and described Ethan in vivid detail.
“Mmm. He sounds delish,” Kate said.
“Yeah, he is,” Kristina said.
Kate’s gaze narrowed. “So why don’t you seem more excited?”
“No, no. I am,” she said, knowing before Kate even said anything that she wasn’t going to believe her.
“Kris, I love ya and all, but I’ve seen you excited. And this ain’t it.”
Kristina’s shoulders fell as she debated exactly what to say.
“Oh, no. I smell Noah Cortez on this story,” Kate said, pointing at her with her fork.
“Yeah,” Kristina said. “Okay, here’s the short version of the story. Noah and I made out twice in the past week, both times accidentally, and then when Ethan asked me out, Noah flipped out. But that was after he insisted we go back to being just friends.” She busied herself with a big bite of salad.
“How do you make out accidentally?” Kate asked, gaze narrowed.
On a sigh, Kristina launched into the longer version with all the gory details.
“Do you want to be more than just friends?” Kate finally asked.
Kristina set down her slice of pizza. “I don’t know. On the one hand, I do, because no one has ever made me feel like Noah does. On the other hand, he’s my oldest friend, and all the weirdness this week proves that we could really hurt our friendship if we tried for more and it didn’t work out. That scares me. A lot. Not to mention that he’s pulled back every time.”
“But he’s also the one who initiated both times. Right?” Kate asked. Kristina nodded. “And he freaked out over your date. Clearly, he wants you. He just hasn’t decided that he can have you.”
“Maybe,” Kristina said.
“Tell me this. Did you accept the date to make him jealous?”
“No,” Kristina said immediately. “I did think of Noah when I was talking to Ethan, but only about the fact that since Noah wanted to remain friends, it wouldn’t hurt to go out with Ethan. It never occurred to me that Noah would react so badly, because he’d been the one putting on the brakes.”
They ate in silence for a long moment.
“Here’s the thing,” Kate finally said. “The reality is, you guys have already gone there whether you want to admit it or not. It’s gonna be hard to take the sexy times out of your relationship now that they’ve already been there. You know I was always skeptical that you two could be so platonic.”
Kristina sat back in her chair. “I know, but we were. Truly.”
“So what changed?”
“He did,” Kristina said without hesitation. “All his injuries, having to retire from the Corps. I get the feeling Noah’s hurting a lot more than he’s letting on. Given all that, maybe I’m the only one he feels like he can be himself around? I don’t know.”
“What about you?” Kate asked. “Have you changed, in regards to him?”
Kristina gave the question some thought, because she really hadn’t asked that of herself before now.
Finally, she said, “I didn’t think I had. But maybe…his pushing me away all these months, after being gone so long, made me want to be around him even more. And, physically, he’s also changed a lot over the past few years—and it made me look at him more as a man and not just my best friend.”
“You’ve changed too, you know,” Kate said. “Physically, I mean. When we first met in college, you always covered your body up with oversized clothes. Now you’re more confident. You wear things that flatter and show off your curves. Confidence is sexy. He’s probably reacting to that, too.”
Had she changed so much? Kristina hadn’t thought so, but she couldn’t deny that there was some truth to Kate’s observation. “I guess so,” she said. “I realized something else, too. I don’t think I’ve been giving the guys I date a fair shot—”
“You don’t. You compare them all to Noah.” Kate raised her glass and took a drink.
Kristina nearly swallowed her tongue. “What? How did you…why do you…”
