Page 25 of Friends With Benefits

As the door closed behind her, he sank back into his chair and closed his eyes. Damn. He had a really bad feeling about this. And these bad feelings seemed to be happening more and more often. The adrenaline rush he used to get from arguing, from pitting his intelligence and skill against a challenging adversary, and winning, wasn’t there very often any more.

He needed a drink. He glanced at his watch. Almost time to meet Kerri and Liam. Not that that was going to be a real fun time, but at least there was alcohol involved.

***

Kerri ordered a margarita and looked across the table at Liam. He wasn’t gorgeous but he had a tough, kind of world-weary air about him. She didn’t remember him at all from college, although he said he recalled her.

“So, Mitch said you’ve been working in the Middle East.” She dipped her straw in and out of her drink. Liam smiled faintly. “That must have been a life-altering experience.”

“Yeah.” The corners of his mouth dipped down. “Most definitely.”

He talked about some of the places he’d been and the things he’d covered—fascinating, if a little depressing. The world was really a mess in some ways.

“So why’d you come back?”

“I need some normalcy in my life. I think I just burned out. So I’m doing some freelance work for now. Staying at my parents’.”

Hmm. A thirty-one-year-old guy living at home. Probably just temporary until he figured out what to do next. She hoped.

“You should come to one of my yoga classes,” she told him. “You might find it helps. The goal of yoga is to unify mind, body and spirit, to create a balance in the body, open and purify the energy centers. It might improve your health, emotional well-being, mental clarity…your joy in living.”

He just looked at her for a long moment. She smiled. Mitch hated all that spiritual stuff, but what the heck, maybe it would help this guy who had clearly seen a lot of suffering.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “Maybe I should try that.”

Mitch rolled his eyes but Kerri ignored him. She smiled again. “Here’s my card. You can call me or the studio to find out class times. We just moved into a great new space.”

He took the card and smiled back at her.

“Time for me to go.” Mitch pushed his chair back abruptly. He’d been awfully quiet during the whole conversation.

“Where are you off to?” Kerri asked, not minding that he was going. She’d felt strangely self-conscious while he was sitting there watching her. And hehadbeen watching her. His eyes had barely left her the entire time.

“Meeting up with the guys at Good Sports to watch the game.”

“Okay, have fun.”

“You two aren’t…together, are you?” Liam asked after Mitch had left.

“Oh, no! No, we’re just friends. We’ve been friends for years.”

“Ah. Then it would be okay if I asked you out sometime?”

Kerri grinned. “It would be more than okay. I would like that.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, but my sister and I are hosting a big grand opening party for the new spa tomorrow night.”

“How about Sunday night? We could have dinner. Do you like seafood?”

“I love seafood. That sounds great. You have my number.” She nodded at the card on the table, then glanced at her watch. “I guess I should get going. I’m meeting some friends in a little while and I still need to go home and change.”

She got out her purse, but Liam held up a hand. “Let me get it,” he said. “Although, I think Mitch left enough money to cover everything.”

Trust Mitch. He was always generous with his money. Good thing he had lots. She didn’t know how much he made exactly but she knew it was a lot. She shrugged and held out her hand to Liam.

“Nice seeing you again. We’ll talk next week.”

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