Page 16 of A Wrong Bed Christmas: Ignited\Where There's Smoke

A beat of charged silence flowed between them, filling the crisp air with heat. Layton shook his head. “We’re a pair to draw to, aren’t we?”

“As in, we both have the same problem recognizing what boundaries to pay attention to?”

“Exactly,” he agreed ruefully. “I know it’s wrong to look at my buddy’s little sister the way I’m looking at you now, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember why I was supposed to keep my distance.”

A delighted flush tickled her cheeks. “And if I wasn’t your buddy’s little sister?” she prompted.

He didn’t hesitate. “Then we sure as hell wouldn’t be hanging lights right now.”

What he didn’t say was plainly in his gaze. Her breath caught. “Maybe we could pretend that I’m not your buddy’s little sister. Just for today.”

“I’m not sure that would work. Eventually Erik would find out and I really don’t want to lose a friend because, you know, I couldn’t keep my hands to myself.”

It was solid reasoning, and that he was holding back to protect the feelings of a friend meant something, but it really didn’t change the fact that she wanted him and she wasn’t sure she wanted to deny herself. “I understand and I think it’s awesome that you’re the kind of guy who cares, but there’s something about you that I can’t quite get out of my head and maybe it’s because I’m in a reckless frame of mind or maybe it’s because you’re the hottest guy I’ve seen in a along time, but right about now, I’d much rather spend my weekend making all sorts of mistakes with you than anything else. So what are we going to do about that?”

“You’re making it real hard to be good.”

“I guess what I’m saying is I’m not interested in you being good this weekend.”

“Yeah, but you’re not the only one who’s been hammered by bad decisions. I’m trying to change, too.”

Was it wrong that she couldn’t care less about his past or how he was trying to make amends? Okay, so the fact was, her heart was a little broken. Maybe she didn’t like to admit it out loud, but she could feel the jagged pieces scraping and poking and sometimes it was just hard to ignore. “Have you ever just wanted to do the exact thing you know is wrong for so many reasons and yet it felt so right?”

“Story of my damn life.”

“At least we have that in common. Erik has always been the responsible one, the one who could be counted on, whereas I was the one people always thought of as the flake. I don’t want to be that person anymore, but habits are hard to change.”

“But not impossible,” he told her. “If you want to be a different person, you have to take steps to be that different person. And that means not doing the things that you want to do the most. At least, that’s the advice I’ve been given.”

“So why do you want to change so bad?”

“There just comes a time when you realize that you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing and hope to have a good life at the end of your days. I mean, I don’t want to get all sappy, but I want a family at some point. And that’s not going to happen if I don’t stop chasing after the wrong tail.”

“You have a point,” she said, trying not to let his admission hit a soft spot, but she wasn’t accustomed to hearing men talk about the idea of settling down. “And I don’t think that’s sappy at all. I think that’s really sweet—and shocking—coming from a guy like you.”

“Shocking? How so?”

Alexis shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess I’m playing into the stereotype, but guys who look like you and are built like you are usually more interested in sowing their oats rather than putting down roots.”

He laughed. “Well, a year ago I was definitely the stereotype. For lack of a better word I was a little...free with my affections. But I realized the hard way that people were getting hurt. And that’s not the person I want to be.”

He had no way of knowing, but his statement had just tingled her ovaries as effectively as if he’d clanged a bell. “If I were more of a cynic, I’d say that was the most effective line I’ve ever heard.”

“Not a line, it’s the truth. There’s only so many times you can do the walk of shame without it affecting you.”

“Men do the walk of shame? I thought it was always the woman.”

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