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Alex left, braving nature and driving to the small bar in Old Town Scottsdale. He slid onto a stool with thoughts of a sexy blonde stripping down to nothing in his guest bathroom.
Pete Murray cracked the tap on Alex’s favorite amber brew and set the pint in front of him.
“You look like hell.”
“Thanks,” Alex grumbled. But he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror behind the bar and had to admit that his friend was right. His dark hair was windblown from the storm, but the dire look on his face was all Blondie’s doing. He combed his fingers through the damp strands, loosened his tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt. Tried to appear less rocked to the core of his being.
“What gives?” Pete asked.
“Lola’s back in town.”
“Oh, shit.” He laughed—an empathetic one. “No kidding?”
They’d all grown up together. Pete had been in on the ice-blocking expedition.
“She’s staying with me until her new apartment is ready.”
Pete’s light-brown eyes popped. “No one ever stays with you—not even your parents when they come in from Florida. They might put something on the wrong shelf in your refrigerator and throw off the whole food-group balance. Or forget to return a stool at the breakfast bar to its proper forty-five-degree angle. Knowing Lo, she’ll do it on purpose just to get a rise out of you.”
Alex glared at him.
“Oh, that’s right,” his friend taunted. “She does that without even trying.”
“Asshole.” Alex smirked.
Okay, so his secret obsession wasn’t 100 percent secret. Pete had lusted after Lola for a while, too. He’d been smart enough to get over it.
“And by the way,” Alex said, “my parents prefer the Four Seasons.”
“Whatever. Face facts, man. Lo’s had a rack to rival Pamela Anderson’s since she turned seventeen. So we know they’re real. And all that blonde hair and those long legs and that mind-blowing body… Dude, she’s been a nonstop hard-on since junior year.”
Twenty-four-seven, he reminded himself. Why the hell
had he agreed to let her stay? Didn’t those Viagra commercials on TV specifically state to seek medical attention if an erection lasted longer than four hours?
He shook his head dejectedly. Might as well put 9-1-1 on speed dial.
Pete leaned in close and said, “Your balls aren’t going to be blue, buddy. They’re gonna be purple.” He let out a hearty chuckle. Then he went about his business, mixing drinks while Alex downed his beer to cool off.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just his hormones involved in this suddenly sticky situation. Alex’s heart had been claimed long ago.
Damn. What had he gotten himself into?
A week of Lola Vonn under his roof…
How would he ever survive?
Chapter Two
Lola poured a glass of merlot and settled on a stool at the breakfast bar. She attempted to review her notes on the Web campaign she’d pitched, but her mind wandered. To Alex. He’d been so cute, all flustered when she’d barreled through his front door.
Actually, she had to amend that sentiment. Alex had been cute as a kid in his adorably geeky way, glasses and all. As an adult, and really having come into his own of late, he was devastatingly handsome.
Sans glasses, thanks to surgery? Amazing change! She’d never seen his eyes without thick lenses covering them—they were stunning, all vibrantly green, and strikingly pale against his newly acquired tan. Like gorgeous, cut peridots. Thoroughly mesmerizing.
And all pumped up, physically? She’d felt the strength in his arms, the power in his legs. He was solidly built and a commanding six-foot-three—always something she’d admired about him. Lola tended to dwarf men when wearing her high heels, since she crested five-eight without them on. Alex’s height didn’t make her feel like an Amazon.
As she thought of him, Maxi’s words about friends with benefits crossed her mind, but Lola mentally shrugged them off. They might make a decent-looking couple—and she would concede, if only to herself, that he’d bowled her over when she’d gotten a good look at him earlier—but Alex was much too meticulous about everything in his life.
