Page 35 of Sensuous

I nearly fall over at hearing that. “No! I didn’t sleep with him. And who do you think we’re talking about?”

Finally awake, she twists her face into a scowl. “Alex March. Isn’t that who you went to see tonight after you left the bar? So you didn’t sleep with him?”

“No, I didn’t sleep with him. I went there to apologize for being so mean. What made you think I was going to have sex with him tonight, and doesn’t that bother you? You did like him at Club X.”

“First of all, I liked Stefan March, the owner. Not that Alex and Cade don’t have a great look too, but I prefer the OG. Second, and more importantly, why didn’t you sleep with him? You obviously are crazy about him.”

Sadie takes another sip of water and acts like what she just said could possibly be true. She must still be groggy to say that.

“I am not crazy about him. That’s nuts.”

Leveling her stare full of judgment on my face, she rolls her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Then why is it you haven’t talked about anyone else on that show but him? Why is it for this entire week, all I’ve heard about is Alex March. Alex is this. Alex is that. I’ve known for days. How is it you didn’t get the memo?”

I sit back on the floor and shake my head. “No. That’s not true. Until tonight, I hated him.”

“Yeah, yeah. What is it they say? There’s a fine line between love and hate. So if you didn’t sleep with him, why are you waking me up in the middle of the night on a day I have to get up for work at seven?”

“Because I kissed him.”

My best friend looks at me for a few seconds and then shrugs. “You make it sound like it was all you and he didn’t kiss you back.”

I look down at the floor covered in old brown carpet to avoid her gaze as I say, “Well, he sort of didn’t.”

“What? I don’t understand. Kissing isn’t one of those things you do by yourself, Kat.”

“I was standing at his front door getting ready to leave after we’d had a nice talk and gotten a lot of things out in the open.I don’t know what came over me, but he was standing there in only a pair of shorts and looking incredible…”

All of a sudden, I stop my train of thought and look up at her. “He’s got a banging body and tattoos on his chest and shoulders and down his one arm. I don’t remember which arm. I was sort of shocked that he looked so incredible without a shirt on.”

“So you stood there in his apartment with that gorgeous man wearing no shirt and looking that good and all you did was kiss him and he didn’t kiss you back?” Sadie asks in a tone of utter shock.

“You know how I am. I don’t like to make the first move. But he was standing there with me at his front door when I was getting ready to leave, and he looked so good that something snapped in my brain and I leaned in and kissed him. I think he must have been stunned because he didn’t kiss me back for a few seconds, but then he did and God it was good!”

Her eyes get wide, and she waits to hear more, but there isn’t any more. Well, other than the part about me running down his hallway to the elevator and being too afraid to turn back to look at him.

“And what happened next? Don’t leave me hanging here. You woke me up, so spill it. I know you didn’t have sex, but something else must have happened, right?”

I shake my head as shame washes over me. I’m a grown woman of twenty-five, and I need to wake up my roommate after merely kissing a guy. Jesus, I am lame. Lame and mean. Not a great combination. No wonder he didn’t lift me into his arms and carry me off to bed after I kissed him.

“Nothing else? You kissed him and then what? Bolted out the door?” Sadie asks, saying those words like they’re the last thing in the world that could happen.

But that’s precisely what happened.

“I left and rushed to the elevator to get away. God, I’m so lame!” I cry and then cover my face with my hands.

Like the terrific friend she is, Sadie gently pats me on the shoulder and says the exact words she knows I need to hear right now. “You aren’t lame. You’re just old-fashioned. You like the guy to make the first move. So, if we’re being honest, you did something really trailblazing for you tonight. You kissed him, not vice versa. That’s definitely not lame, honey.”

Slowly, I let my hands fall away from my face and look up at her. “I’m not lame? I feel pretty lame. I had a gorgeous man already half naked for me and all I did was talk and kiss him. You would have rocked his world in bed already.”

A smile lifts the corners of her mouth, and Sadie lets out a tiny giggle. “I would have, but that’s me. You’re you, and that’s all you can be. So you bolted after kissing him like Cinderella leaving the ball as the clock strikes midnight. She left a glass slipper behind. Did you leave anything with him?”

That makes me smile. Sadie always has a way of making me see the bright side of life. “No, but he knows where to find me. I’ll be seeing him in less than eight hours this morning.”

“Well, now that you officially don’t hate him, you two can get together.”

Reaching out, I take her hand in mine. “Are you sure you aren’t angry? I’d hate it if you hated me.”

She rolls her eyes but smiles. “I don’t hate you. I didn’t have a real interest in him. I told you. I liked his uncle’s vibe. It’s too bad he’s married. He and I could have had a good time. I could explore all my daddy issues with him.”

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