Page 16 of It's Complicated

I could feel heat radiating off his skin. “Are you getting hot?” Being squished into the stall together, on top of all the pulling and yanking and cutting, was making me sweat. It had to be so much worse for him being encased in skintight polyester.

He nodded. “A bit.”

Snapping the blade closed, I slipped the knife away. “Just let me rip these open. That should help.”

“Yeah, okay.” He huffed out a little sigh. “I’m so getting you back for this.”

“I deserve it.” I shot him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would be like this.”

He smiled. “All good, Z. I know that.”

Tearing my eyes from his, I gripped one of the thicker straps I’d sliced. “Hold still.”

It took way more effort than I’d admit to tear the strips, and we were both sweating and a little out of breath by the time I ripped the last one open.

Jamie’s expression went blissful as he drew in a big breath, holding it with his chest puffed out for a few seconds.

The brush of his pecs against mine sent a zing through me as a memory of Jamie with that same expression during our dreaded threesome flashed in my mind’s eye.

Awareness crackled in my consciousness as the world sort of tunneled again, the edges of my vision fading until all I could see was Jamie and the look of utter bliss on his face.

Loudly, he blew out the breath, his whole body relaxing as he did. The scrape of his chest against mine had the same effect as being touched with a live wire. My breathing hitched, my heart raced, and all my higher reasoning shut down.

As he exhaled, Jamie leaned forward, his face inching closer to mine.

Without thinking, without even knowing what I was doing, I closed the distance between us and kissed him.

Alarm bells went off in my head the second our lips connected, all my faculties coming back to me in the same instant I realized what I’d done. What I was still doing.

What the fuck?

I jerked away at the same moment his eyes flew open. He froze, his face a mask of shock, then jumped back as well.

“Sorry,” I croaked.

What the hell was wrong with me? Why had my instinct been to kiss my best friend? I wasn’t into guys, and this wasJamie. What the fuck had possessed me to kiss him?

Jamie stared at me, his eyes wide and his lips parted in surprise. He shook his head like he was forcing himself back into reality. “It’s fine.” He smiled, but it was wobbly and forced. “Got a little too excited about being able to breathe and didn’t notice how close I was getting.”

“It wasn’t you?—”

“It’s fine,” he repeated. “Accidents happen, right?”

I knew I should tell him the truth, that I’d kissed him and it had nothing to do with him getting too close or not paying attention, but something in his eyes was off. They were pleading, like he wanted me to agree with him, even if it wasn’t true.

“Right.” Clearing my throat, I tugged his t-shirt free from my waistband and handed it to him. “Another crazy story, right?”

“Right.” He grabbed the shirt and flipped it around in his hands to find the bottom. “It’s always something with us.”

His tone was strange, and his movements were jerky, like he wasn’t fully in control of himself but was trying to seem unaffected by what had just happened.

I cut my gaze away from him and stared at the wall.

It was pointless to avert my eyes now, especially since we were still toe-to-toe and I’d just spent ten minutes staring at his cutout-covered torso, but I needed a second to get my head back in order.

First I’d gotten jealous when Jamie had been talking to that chick at the bar, then I’d kissed him without even thinking about it.

Was this leftover from last weekend? Was I still so out of sorts that it was making me act like a nutbar tonight?

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