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Roxie wouldn’t fool herself into thinking everything was fine and dandy now. They still had a lot of hurt to get over. Several years of constant arguing and bickering meant the trust between them was tenuous at best. But she felt hopeful about the future.
As long as this new, flirtatious element of their friendship didn’t complicate things.
She wasn’t blind; she’d always acknowledged that Joe was attractive. However, until this morning, his appearance had never stopped her in her tracks.
Her cheeks heated as memories of their kitchen encounter flashed in her mind. That face, thatbody—
“You okay, Roxie?” Quinn asked. “Your face is all red.”
She closed her eyes, and the heat spread down her neck and chest.
Kill. Me. Now.
She peeked her eyes open. Only to find Alex staring at her with a knowing smirk.
Damn.
“I’m fine.” Roxie fanned herself. “A little hot in here, isn’t it?”
“Nope,” Alex said. “Not one bit, actually.”
She glared at the woman.Brat.
“Quinn, could you get me something to drink?” Alex asked, her gaze never leaving Roxie. “My throat’s a little scratchy.”
“Sweetheart, do you actually want something to drink? Because I can just leave if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“Just leave then.” Alex grinned up at him, then pulled his head down for a kiss.
Roxie had to remind herself that gagging noises were not appropriate at a chamber of commerce dinner. But sometimes those two were just too mushy.
As Quinn left, Alex steered her to a quiet corner.
“Spill it, missy.”
She aimed for casual. Blasé, even. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The noise Alex made in response was part scoff, part snort. “Please. I’m not sure what exactly you were thinking about when you were ogling Joe a minute ago, but I know it was dirty. So, what gives?”
It was one of those rare moments in Roxie’s life when she truly had no words. She couldn’t articulate how this morning had somehow flipped a switch on inside her. One that she desperately wanted to turn back off. The fluttering stomach, the racing heart, the out-of-control nerves... It was all unexpected and unwanted. Well... unwanted-ish. Or maybe not?
Gah! Get it together, woman!
“Joe and I called a truce,” she said, stalling, racking her brain for a way out of this conversation.
“No kidding. But how, in a mere seventy-two hours, do you go from calling a truce to looking like you want to devour him?”
Holy hell, wasn’t that the question of the century? “I wasn’t—”
Alex crossed her arms over her chest, and Roxie slammed her mouth shut. The air around them grew thicker and thicker as the seconds ticked by.
“Fine,” Roxie huffed, breaking under her friend’s stare. “But it’s all his fault.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that the first sight that greeted me this morning was that jackass cooking breakfast—half naked—in the kitchen.”
Just thinking about Joe sans shirt had her heart beating a little faster.Damn. Who was she trying to fool?
