AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I—” I started, and my throat closed up. The sense of just how not all right my life was right now hit me in a way it somehow hadn’tbefore.
“Come in,” Seth said, guiding me with a hand on my shoulder. “Sit down. If there’s anything I can do to help, you know Iwill.”
I didn’t think he was the slightest bit prepared for the kind of help I was going to ask for. But first thingsfirst.
Everything in Seth’s apartment looked as if it’d been chosen for function or comfort over style. Nothing on the walls except a set of coat hooks in the hall and a pot rack in the kitchen. A set of weights stood in one corner. The boxy sofa and tables filled the living room’s space efficiently. The rug was the perfect beige to swallow just about anystain.
But when I sank onto one end of the sofa, I found the cushions were enjoyably cushy. I shifted my weight, settling rightin.
Seth took the other end of the sofa, turning to face me. I couldn’t help staring at his face. “When did you start wearingglasses?”
“Oh!” He took them off and set them on the coffee table next to a sports magazine he’d left open. “I just need them for reading. I guess I’m not the twin you’d expect to see in glasses,huh?”
My lips twitched upward. “I guess not. But I likethem.”
Had his neck just turned a tad red? He gestured toward the kitchen. “Do you need anything? I can get you something todrink.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s all right. Thank you. Just give me asecond.”
He watched me gather myself. His gaze skimmed briefly down my body, over the bare skin above the neck of my blouse, the curves it accentuated beneath. The skirt I’d picked was riding just a few inches up my thighs from my knees. He schooled his eyes upward a moment later, but his Adam’s apple bobbed. He’dnoticed.
But the efforts I’d gone to felt suddenly horrible. I didn’t want to try to tempt him into anything he wouldn’t have done if he were thinking clearly. I wasn’t here totrickhim. The guy sitting across from me was my friend, one of my closest friends, before anything else. He deservedhonesty.
I tugged my skirt closer to my knees. “The information you found,” I said. “I figured out what it was for. It’s… It’s hard to explain. I guess you could say my marriage was being planned as a trap. So obviously I’m not getting marriedanymore.”
Seth’s face darkened. “Your fiancé was in on thistoo?”
“He had to be. I don’t know exactly how much, or why—” I made a jerking motion with my hand. “It doesn’tmatter.”
“How are you going to handleit?”
“I still have to figure that out,” I admitted. “I think I need to get proof, maybe go back to the house and take that notebook… But that’s not why I’mhere.”
Snuff my spark, this was the hard part. Maybe I should go back to that whole seduction scheme? It suddenly sounded a whole lot simpler. I squared my shoulders, bracingmyself.
“There’s something I need to know. And to find out, I need to… er… kiss someone. Possibly do a little more than kissing too. Not too much.” Argh. That had come out even worse than I’d feared. Was there a crack in the floor I could disappear into for the next century orso?
Seth’s mouth had fallen open. He snapped it shut, but he didn’t seem to know what to say tothat.
I bit my lip. “I got the impression that maybe… you might be up for that? And I definitely wouldn’t mind—that is, I’m definitely attracted to you, so I figured it would probably—” I groaned in frustration and dropped my face into my hands. “I’m sorry,” I said, partly muffled. “This conversation went a lot more smoothly when I only had to picture it in myhead.”
Seth laughed, and I thought I heard a little of the tension leave him with that sound. Maybe honesty had been the right call afterall.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m just—I didn’t expect—Well.” He stopped and sucked in a breath. “I don’t totally understand. You can’t tell me what it is you’re trying to find out with this…experiment?”
“I don’t know if I could explain it properly.” I raised my head tentatively. “But if it works… maybe I could showyou.”
He nodded. His expression turned serious again. “Why me?” he said. “You know any of the other guys, they’d jump at theoffer.”
Would they? Maybe I did know that. Kyler hadn’t made an indication he wanted to repeat that kiss, but then, the last time I’d seen him I’d also still been engaged and committed to that partnership. And Jin seemed up for just about anything. But there was a reason I’d come here with this request and not to either ofthem.
“I’m not totally sure what I’m doing,” I said. “I know intheory, of course—believe me, I have plenty of theory—but in actual reality, not so much. I know I can trust that if I get too caught up, you’ll be looking out for me at least as much as I should be. Probably more, knowingyou.”
The intentness of Seth’s gaze sent a warm tingling over my skin. Yeah, getting carried away might be a real problem tonight. “Clothes stay on?” he suggested, his voice gone rough, and somehow that made the suggestion the sexiest thing I’d ever heard, even though it was a restriction rather than aproposition.
“That sounds like a good line to draw,” I said, suddenly breathless. I had to remember why I was doingthis.
Seth just looked at me for a moment longer. My face started to heat. He held out his hand. “Comehere?”
