Page 112 of Making Choices

At her mention of the pool, I exchange a smile with Slash. We ended up in that pool fully clothed last weekend, courtesy of Nadia being her normal unpredictable self. His answering grin tells me that he’s remembering the same thing I am.

Payback has yet to be obtained—we need to wait for her to drop her guard before we try.

“It’s hardly a McMansion,” I tell her. “Slash designed every inch himself.”

“Oooo, every inch,” she teases. Folding her hands under her chin, Nadia bats her eyelashes. “Tell me more.”

“I don’t know how you manage to turn everything into a sexual innuendo.”

“It’s a talent,” she quips. Linking her arm through mine, Nadia leads me to the elevator. As we wait for the steel box to rattle its way to our floor, she leans in close. “Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about Slash’s inches before?”

“I haven’t.” My denial is out of my mouth before I realise she’s trying to stir me up. I push her into the elevator once the doors have opened. “Seriously. You’re hopeless. Not everything is about sex. Some of us are capable of being friends with the opposite sex.”

When I look to Slash for back up, he looks at the floor.

“Tell her,” I command as we head down to the parking garage.

“Tell her what?” Slash drawls. His gaze takes on a shit-stirring glint. “We both know you’ve thought about my inches. You’re only human, after all.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I shove Nadia’s shoulder when she starts laughing, then poke Slash in the chest. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“I am,” he protests.

“Doesn’t sound like it.” I snort and roll my eyes. The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open with a ping. I take one step to storm off before Slash catches me around the waist and slings me over his shoulder. With a shriek, I tell him, “Put me down.”

“Nah,” he retorts. “Not until you admit you’ve thought about my inches.”

“Never.”

Nadia slaps me on the arse, then dances out of my reach when I swat at her. “Tell the truth... admit you’ve thought about Slash’s inches.”

I remain silent.

Although I’ve seen most of the men in the Shamrocks naked more than once, I can honestly answer that I’ve never thought about any of them like that. I wasn’t even attracted to Alex in that way. My reality is pathetic, especially in light of everything that’s happened between us, but Zeke is the only man I’ve thought about sexually.

Until now...

While Slash jiggles me on his shoulder as he carries me to his Range Rover, I can’t stop the multiple times I’ve seen him naked from flashing into my head. Over and over, it’s a cornucopia of porn-esque images. At the compound. At the house I lived in with Zeke. At the home we now share. Dark nights after too much to drink. Accidental collisions in the laundry because one of us forgot to bring their clean clothes back to their room. Bleary eyed, early morning stumbles into the kitchen for something to drink.

I could identify Slash’s naked body in a line up.

Almost as easily as I could pick out Zeke’s.

“You two are beyond juvenile,” I declare once Slash has planted my backside in the passenger seat. He wanders over to talk to Isaiah, the prospect chosen to tail us today, and I twist in my seat to glare at Nadia. “You’re a bad influence.”

She giggles. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you never answered the question.”

“Oh, shut up.” I flounce back into my seat and glare at the concrete wall in front of us. “I should find a new best friend.”

“Yeah. Yeah,” she quips. “Like you’d find anyone better.”

“I could.”

“Could not.”

“It’d be easy.”

I glare at her over my shoulder. She crosses her eyes and pokes her tongue out. We burst into laughter and remain laughing as Slash climbs into the driver’s seat. He takes one look at us, then shakes his head.

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