Page 24 of A Wrong Bed Christmas: Ignited\Where There's Smoke

“You let her off easy,” Alexis said, remembering her own showdown with Riker. She was embarrassed to admit she’d gone a little loco. “I keyed Riker’s truck. Actually, I carved cheater into the hood. It’s going to cost him a bundle to fix that.”

Layton whistled low. “Damn, girl, you went after the man’s truck? That’s cold.”

“No, what was cold was catching him jerking off in the middle of the night on his webcam to my former sorority sister. He thought I was asleep and I caught him with his pants down. Literally. Actually, it turned my stomach. I couldn’t believe he would do something so low. But after that, I discovered that wasn’t the first, and probably wouldn’t be the last, time he cheated on me, so I bailed.”

“After leaving him a lovely parting gift,” he supplied helpfully, and Alexis nodded. “Sounds appropriate.”

“I thought it was.”

He chuckled and they shared a quiet moment together. It was weird to share something so incredibly painful with a virtual stranger and yet feel relieved to let it go. Not even Erik knew the full details. At the time, Alexis had been too embarrassed to share the nitty-gritty, choosing instead to say Riker had cheated and leave it at that.

“So, after Julianne, you jumped into the dating pool?”

“Yeah, probably too soon. A buddy told me the best way to get over a woman was to find another one right away. I wasn’t sure that was the best advice, but I was hurting and desperate to feel better, so I went on a dating spree that mostly turned into a blur of sexual mishaps, one-night stands and unfortunate mistakes that I knew I had to stop or else I’d never stand a chance of respecting myself again.”

Compassion softened her voice as she said, “You know, I get it...the need to feel good after hurting so bad. I went the slutty route for a little while, but when I realized that it wasn’t making me feel better I invested in a good vibrator and stopped chasing dicks.”

“What kind of vibrator?”

She pushed at his shoulder with mock indignation. “You never ask a lady about her toys. That’s private.”

“Is it bad that I would give my right nut to watch you pleasure yourself?”

Now she gasped for real and the blush heating her cheeks could warm a small country, but the fact that he wanted to watch her turned her on in a big way. “Are you a voyeur?” she ventured, curious.

“With you, I think I’d be anything you wanted me to be.”

“Stop it,” she said, his openness tickling her. “You’re making me blush and you’re playing me like a fiddle.”

“I don’t know what it is about you, but everything I’ve said is true. You’re different, Alexis. I don’t know why and, trust me, I wish I could figure it out so I could put the kibosh on it. I get it, we are complicating everything, but I can’t seem to stop and I don’t want to. You turn my crank in the hottest way, and that’s saying a lot.”

What could she say in the face of such brutal honesty? It was a breath of fresh air after everything she’d been through with Riker. He was a born liar. The words that’d popped from his mouth were always peppered with half truths, a fact she’d only discovered after she’d been thoroughly humiliated. “Julianne was an idiot,” she murmured, shooting him a quick look. “If she didn’t see what a good guy you are... She was blind.”

“Same goes for Riker. I can’t imagine letting someone like you go.”

“What is happening between us? This can’t be natural, right?”

“We have insane sexual chemistry,” he agreed, equally mystified. “I wonder what would’ve happened if we’d met before we both were burned.”

“I wouldn’t have been attracted to you.”

He did a double take. “Come again?”

She soothed his ego. “It’s not you. It’s me. Honestly, what attracted me to Riker was his bad-boy attitude and the fact that he drove a motorcycle. I wouldn’t have been attracted to you because you have a good job and you’re a decent guy.”

Layton relaxed and laughed. “Yeah, well, I know I would’ve looked twice your way. You have the kind of breasts I dream about.”

Alexis giggled, loving how free he was with compliments. “Did Julianne have big boobs, too?”

“Yeah, but I gotta say, and I’m not just saying this because we hooked up, but your breasts...damn...they’re so awesome.”

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