Page 21 of Friends With Benefits

He grabbed the brush from under the bathroom sink and poured some blue cleaning stuff into the toilet bowl. He was about to start scrubbing when his doorbell rang.

He tossed the brush into the toilet and headed to his front door.

Kerri stood there. She nibbled her bottom lip, her brows drawn down, shadows under her eyes. Damn, she was cute.

“Hey.” His voice came out scratchy. “What are you doing here?”

“We have to talk.”

“Yeah.” He moved aside so she could come in. “I was going to call you. As soon as I finished my work.”

Her eyes went up and down over his body. Crap. He had no shirt on and was sweating like a construction worker in July.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I was working around the house.”

She swallowed. “That’s okay. I interrupted you.”

“Thank God.” He tried to smile. “I hate cleaning toilets.”

“I know.”

“Sit down.” He followed her into the living room and sat beside her on the couch as far away from her as he could.

She smiled at him, a small, tight smile.

“Look,” he said, at the same time as she said, “Mitch—”

“You first,” he said. She shook her head.

There had never been this awkwardness between them before. Shit.

“Okay,” he said. “I just want to apologize. I shouldn’t have done that. I just lost it. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. And we’ll just pretend it never happened. Okay?”

She nodded slowly, her face relaxing a bit. “Okay. I don’t want to…I…you’re my best friend.” Her voice turned into a whisper. “I don’t want to lose your friendship.”

“You won’t,” he assured her, although he wasn’t sure at all.

“I wanted to apologize, too. I was acting like an ass, as usual. I’m just so frustrated. But it’s not your fault at all. You’ve been a great friend, helping me even though you didn’t agree. I’m just being stupid. So I’m sorry too.”

He nodded. “I thought of someone else I could introduce you too,” he said helpfully, and watched in surprise as her face clouded. “A guy I went to college with. He’s been working overseas and he’s just come back between jobs. Very interesting guy.”

She nodded, another strained smile on her face. “Sounds good. Thanks, Mitch.”

“And I need a favor from you,” he continued. “Help picking out a wedding present for Miguel and Hailey.”

She laughed. “I told you you would wait ’til the last minute. We’ll go next week.”

“Okay,” he said, exaggerating his relief. “Thanks.”

“Want any help with your toilets?”

He laughed then too. “That’s okay, you don’t have to clean my toilets.”

“Hey, what are friends for?”

“Not for that,” he said firmly, smiling.

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