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Maybe it was the desperation. Maybe it was my spiking blood pressure, the blood roaring to my head that made me think twice. But all I knew was that Cassie was offering some kind of life preserver. And it was nice.
If you get too close, she could hurt you too.
But before I could latch onto that thought, Cassie smiled at me. "Look, I'm here if you want to talk about it. I think you and I could be friends. And one of these days, you might need someone besides Jensen for advice and stuff."
Cassie had a point. And for the first time, I liked the idea of having another friend. Because right about now, I needed all the support I could get.
Chapter7
JENSEN
“I don't get it.Explain to me why I need to buy clothes?”
I tapped Alex on the nose. She really was adorable. “I think you look awesome. No matter how you’re dressed.” Even now, with her hair up in a sloppy bun, long-sleeved tee that at first glance was clean, and baggy boyfriend jeans, she was cute. Stunning really, bare of any makeup, and this was how I liked her. But on closer inspection, there was some paint in her hair.Andon her jeans.Andalso on the hem of the camisole that was sticking out from under the long-sleeved tee. And of course there was paint on her nails. But well, I was used to that by now.
"Honey, you've got paint all over you."
Her eyes went wide. “I do not. I cleaned up well this time.” I subtly pointed out the jeans and the camisole. And she cursed. “Dammit. I swear, I put on clean clothes. I don't know what happens. Between being naked to getting dressed in the confines of my bedroom to out the door, something goes very wrong. Every time.”
Oh shit, the moment the word made it past her lips, my brain offered all kinds of visuals about how she would look naked. My favorite was Alex in bed, her dark hair fanning out over the pillow, paint in all sorts of strategic places that I wanted to kiss. What the hell was that? I shook my head. This wasAlex. Why did I want to kiss her? I knew better.
She was the best part of my life. We were friends. Except for that one kiss, I'd never gone there with her. Ever. And I never would. I was not looking to screw that up. Except… Naked Alex wouldn't go away. And this time the paint was replaced by chocolate.Damn.
"Okay, fine, I guess I need to get some new clothes.”
“Honestly, Alex, you always look great to me. Paint and all. But you don't know my family. Martin, his parents. All except Grandma Lucy. They're a bunch of vipers.”
She shrugged. "It's okay. Between you and Cassie, I'm getting some truth that I wasn't ready for over the last couple of days.”
“What did Cassie have to say?”
Alex's brows furrowed, and she took a moment too long to answer the question. “Just that I'm by myself a lot and it wouldn't hurt to havemorethan just one friend.”
“You have more than one friend. You have lots of friends. We were hanging out with a group of them at my house the other night.”
She shook her head. “They wereyourfriends. I go along for the ride because I get to kick it with you, so I tolerate other people.”
"You're crazy. Everyone likes you."
I laughed even as I shook my head. She might think she was a loner type, but people naturally gravitated toward her. She could be serious, or silly, or just thought provoking. She was so layered. And not just about art. As long as I'd known her, she’d been obsessed with music of all kinds, except country, she liked to say. And books. They were an escape, she said. But the painting… the painting was life.
She shrugged again. “Yeah, but you know that saying; just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you."
I laughed. "So you're okay with doing this?"
"I can be easy, just as long as you're not trying to replace my entire wardrobe. If it's just a couple of things, then no big deal."
“That's the spirit.” I took her hand, and the zing of electricity coursed up my arm as I flexed my hand around hers.
Dude, get it together. This is Alex.
More and more lately whenever I was around her, the current was too much to contain. It was also getting hard to ignore. I seriously considered cutting down on our hanging out sessions. Problem was I liked being around her too much. "Let's go shopping."
"Fine. Alex Winters reporting for torture."
After an hour and a half, my feet hurt, and the more dresses that Alex tried on and came out to show me, the more irritable I got. Not because she looked bad in any of them. Quite the contrary. That was the problem. She modeled dresses that showed a little more skin than I was used to seeing from her. Because she was painting all the time, she kept her wardrobe simple, usually leggings, tank tops, T-shirts. Occasionally she'd toss on a sundress, but nothing like what she'd been trying on at the upscale boutique I'd taken her to. Everything was short and form fitting, or cleavage showing, or had a slit up to there that nearly showed all the lady parts. Damn, those were my favorite parts. I didn’t want the world to see them. She came out in another red number, the vermilion red complimenting her café au lait skin and dark eyes. My mouth watered.
With cutouts at the sides, it showed just the right amount of skin too. And it was cocktail length. Her legs were a mile long.
