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Dex had to grin, easily seeing the attraction that would have for Zoe. She never had been the ass-kissing, ladder-climbing type. But given her history, he’d think a little security would be a good thing.
“Don’t you worry about the future?” he mused. “You know, job security, retirement, group health discounts?”
He waited for her blithe brush-off. Zoe? Worry about health insurance?
“A little,” she said quietly, her gaze sliding away from his as though she was admitting an ugly secret. “Mostly I love working for myself. But sometimes I worry about the future.”
“Have you ever thought about a…well…not a normal job,” he said with a grin, “but something with a little wider safety net?”
She gave a jerky shrug and got up to wander the room, as if just talking about a real job made her itchy.
“I had an offer recently,” she admitted quietly as she poked at the magazines his mom kept fanned out on the side table. “Great company, lots of wiggle room.”
“But?”
“But it’s a long-term commitment. They’d be counting on me, I’d be stuck with them. What if…” She trailed off, then shrugged. With a grin, she tugged one of the magazines out of the stack and held it up. “No big. How trippy is this? Since when is your mom a video-game buff?”
Dex stared blankly at the manga-ish cartooned magazine in her hand. What was that doing here? He squinted, noting it was the first to feature one of his games, the debut of SweetCheeks, so to speak. He hadn’t realized his mom had bought the issue, let alone saved it. Pride, confusion and worry that Zoe would connect the dots urged him to jump out of his seat and grab it away from her.
Not too subtle, so he did the next best thing. He distracted her. “Better than skin magazines.”
She laughed, then riffled through the rest of the stack. “Good point. No skin here.” Then she shot him a naughty look. “Your grandma didn’t say you were big on visual help when she detailed our sex life.”
“I’m a very visual person,” he assured her. Then, even knowing he was asking for trouble, he let his gaze wander over her body. Knowing what lay beneath her loose sweater and hiphugging jeans only added to the desire in his stare.
Her breath hitched, making her breasts shift intriguingly beneath the black fabric. His eyes narrowed, his dick stirred. She licked her lips and Dex gave an almost-silent groan.
Zoe tapped her fingers on her hip for a few seconds, then obviously making up her mind, she came back to the couch and sat. Only this time, she didn’t leave any space between them. One knee curled under her, she leaned closer.
“What kind of visuals turn you on?” she asked, her tone husky, her eyes hesitant.
In those dark depths, Dex could see the risk that worried him, too. The fear of ruining a memory, of stepping over a line.
“I’m not big on mass seduction,” he admitted. “Magazines, skin flicks, they don’t mean anything.”
“What about personal seduction?”
“When it’s done right…”
“I’m always right,” she teased. A tiny, wicked grin flirted with the corners of her mouth.
His own mouth watered to taste her again. His heart beat so loudly, it played a cacophony in his head. His dick swelled painfully.
He wanted her so badly. He had to taste her again.
With that in mind, he leaned close. Inches from her mouth, he saw her eyes lose that sleepy seductive look and go wide in horror.
“This is a bad idea,” she said abruptly, pulling back. She looked as if she was controlling her urge to run from the room.
Hurt quickly followed by anger punched through Dex’s belly. What? Was she only attracted to him if he wore a mask? Going with the anger, Dex wanted to pound on the couch in frustration.
“I don’t…” She swallowed, closed her eyes and looked as though she was trying to find the words. Dex’s anger turned down from boil to simmer as he watched her struggle.
“We’re friends,” she said, opening her eyes to meet his. A sweet sort of misery lurked in those green depths. “I don’t call many people friend, Dex. And you’re the best I’ve ever had. I don’t want to risk that.”
Friends. Dex was torn between howling like an angry wolf and beating his head against the fireplace bricks.
“Are you saying you’re not attracted to me?” he asked baldly.
Her laugh was a gurgle of pained amusement. Zoe gave a rueful shake of her head and told him, “I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t want to climb all over you and do wild things to your body.”
Dex grinned and shifted toward her. She held up her hand.
