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“He started spewing some stupid crap about you wanting to be with me, but he’s an idiot. I told him, it’s him you want. And he has wanted you since he first saw you.” A flash goes through his eyes, a dark bolt of lightning. “So it’s all set.”
“Set for what?” I push against his chest and take a step back. What a mess. “Got to go.”
I all but run to Donna’s office, slamming the door shut behind me and leaning back against it, like in a bad horror flick.
Can I be just friends with these two boys? Can I ignore the way my body reacts to them, the way I get wet from their scent, from the heat of their bodies? Can I forget what I really want from them and convince myself to take what I can?
“Candy.” Donna is staring at me as I pant and huff, sweat trickling down my neck. “What in the world is going on? Is Godzilla after you? Should we hide under the desk?”
“We totally should,” I agree, because I’ve heard that miracles do happen. “And pray that I won’t make a fool of myself and tell the boys the truth.”
***
“Just tell them,” Donna insists as I leave her office, after checking the way outside to make sure no fantasy boyfriend is lurking.
“Oh, sure. Didn’t you notice how they won’t do a thing to hurt their friendship? Now I’m going to casually ask them to… no. I’ll lose them both.”
“You don’t have them now, Candy.”
She has a point. “I could be friends with—”
“It won’t work. You want them too much.”
Again, point. “I can’t work with Jethro if I do more than I—”
“You invited him to take the job.”
I whirl on her. “Will you stop being right for one second?” I wag my finger at her. “I fucked up, okay? I never thought he’d apply for the job. Never thought you’d take him. Never thought Joel would keep coming with coffee and kisses. Never thought Jethro would want anything from me.”
“In short, you never gave this a single thought.”
Shit. “I just… never thought this could happen for real. I mean, them and me? Ridiculous.”
“Yep.”
“Thank you.” I glare at her. “Jealous much?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” She does that tongue-flicking thing again, and I’d laugh if I wasn’t so tense. “I mean, look at those guys. Totally, one hundred percent eye-candy. Nice, too. Nicer than I thought they’d be.”
Yeah. She’s right again.
Damn.
***
The next day tests my resolve and the boundaries of my sanity.
They’re both shaky.
The reason is Jethro, who’s sorting through our newest arrivals. I watch in a sort of trance as he bends over and lifts stacks of books, muscles shifting and bunching in his ass, his legs, his arms…
My face is growing warm. Heat spills down my belly, pooling between my legs. His dark hair curls a little at the back of his pale neck. He has a smudge on his cheek, and the ink on his arms flashes as he moves.
When he lifts the books onto a shelf, another black tattoo, on his lower back this time, peeks from under his T-shirt along with a strip of pale, firm flesh.
Man, who says summers in Wisconsin can’t be hot?
I fan myself as I try to remember what I was supposed to be doing. How can I, with him hunching down on his heels and then straightening with more books in his arms, with his dark pants hugging his muscular thighs, so tall and slender and handsome, I can’t even.
