Page 54 of Dangerous Men
“Here,” she says, picking it up and thrusting it toward my chest. “It’s gone cold.Enjoy.”
22
SYDNEY
I’m exhaustedby the time we lock up the shop for the night. Emotionally and physically spent.
Sebastian—the asshole doctor with a tongue like a sharp knife—stays until nearly close, packing up and calmly slipping out the door without a word to either Jade or me just minutes before we lock up. I spent my day trying to avoid him, keeping to the bookstore and out of the café, not wanting to waste any more time on him.
He’s nothing at all like Alec or Ash. He’s a rude prick, and I’ll be quite happy if I never have to speak to him again.
When I’d brought him his order, I’d thought we could at least be friendly. Get to know one another. Ha. Fat chance of that, now, after the way he spoke to me. The way he looked at me, like I was something disgusting stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Like my very existence was an inconvenience to him.
Asshole.
I don’t care that Alec asked him to be here. He has no right inserting himself into my business. I don’t appreciate him keepingtabs on me. And I really don’t appreciate that, even though he’s shown me nothing but disdain, I kept finding reasons to creep close enough to spy on him. Whatever Ashton and Alec have awakened in me needs to calm down, because there’s no reason whatsoever that I should be drooling over a man who is that much of a dick.
Even if he is tall. And handsome. Smart. He has nice hands, too, and?—
I slam the cash drawer on my register a little too hard after I finish counting it for the night, furious at myself for even thinking about him, and Jade looks over her shoulder at me, frowning.
“Everything all right there, Syd?” she asks, flipping ouropensign toclosed. The store’s lock clicks as she engages it.
“I’m fine,” I lie. “It’s just… You know,” I wave my hand in the air, “men.”
Jade laughs. “Why do you think I have nothing to do with them? No one needs that sort of stress in their life.”
“A shame I’m so tragically heterosexual.” I sigh.
“That is a real shame,” Jade agrees, nodding. Then she grins, snapping her fingers. “What you need is a girls’ night. Tonight. With pizza and ice cream and estrogen and crying. That’ll clear you right up. Get all that nastymaleright out of your system!”
“That…sounds perfect, actually.” I smile at her. “My place?”
“I’ll even let you pick the movie,” Jade answers.
Two hours later,we’re upstairs in my apartment, cuddled up on my massive couch and surrounded by junk food and pizza, all while Alicia Silverstone gives an impeccableperformance as Cher in the 1995 cinematic masterpiece, Clueless.
What can I say? I’m a sucker for the classics.
“So.” Jade sets her plate of pizza aside and gives me a Cheshire Cat-style grin. “Sydney. My sweetest and most bestest friend in the whole entire world…”
“I don’t like where this is going,” I say around a mouthful of pepperoni pizza, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at her.
“It’s time to spill the beans. I want details. Lurid and smut-filled details. All of them.”
I swallow my bite of pizza, reaching for my glass of wine and not meeting her eyes as I say, “Jade, my love, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
“Nope, we’re not doing the whole demure and cutesy thing,” Jade says, waving her hand as though batting my words away. “When I left you at the charity banquet, you had not one, buttwoof the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen in my life hanging all over you. And now there’s athirdone?—”
“Do not speak to me about that man,” I interrupt, glaring at her. “He’s an asshole, and I won’t even have his name uttered in this apartment.”
“A hot asshole,” Jade corrects. And when I refuse to acknowledge the truth of that statement, she adds, “Who spent the entire day staring at you, by the way.”
“Because he’s a weird stalker,” I insist. I leave out the part where I spent most of the day staring at him, too.
Jade shakes her head with a laugh. “Never mind him, then. Forget the sexy stalker who shall remain nameless. You still owe me details, Sydney. I want to heareverything. What happened between you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome, anyway?”
On the TV, forgotten in the background, Cher huffs dramatically and insistsI totallypaused!
