Page 15 of Seduced By You

Kadon lobbed a glower at me. “Funny.”

“I like to think so. Seriously, though, I mean it. If I met a guy, and he couldn’t handle the fact that my best friend was also a guy, then he isn’t the one for me.”

“You say that now. But things change.” He sounded wistful.

“Are you speaking from experience?” I’d often wondered if Kadon had suffered heartbreak in the past. He hardly dated, and I’d never heard him mention ex-girlfriends.

“Nah. But I know what guys are like. We’re territorial bastards who don’t like anyone with a dick coming too close to our woman. I’m resigned to losing you one day, though I hope it’s not yet.”

I could have sworn his voice cracked.

“Never.” I put my hand over his on the steering wheel. “I mean it, Kadon. You saved me. You gave me a purpose, a job, even if I don’t see it as a long-term career. You are my first-ever best friend, and you’ll be my best friend until I take my final breath. And if the guys I meet can’t hack that, well then… I’ll stay a spinster and breed lots of Dashes.”

He laughed, the forlorn droop to his shoulders vanishing, if it had been there at all. I could have misread his despondency.

“First,spinsteris the worst word ever created.Bacheloretteis far better.”

“I’ll give you that one. But worse thanmoist? Really? Orsquirt? Orflaccid?”

He laughed harder. “Stop. Please. I’m trying to drive here.”

“You started it.”

“No,youstarted it withspinster.”

“Oh, yeah.” I rubbed my forehead. “There’s a lot going on.”

“You’re crazy.”

“True. Anyway, you said ‘first.’ What’s second?”

“Please don’t breed lots of Dashes. If you do that, it’s the end of the world as we know it.”

I nodded. “True story.”

Our banter-fest had yanked me from all the inward reflection I’d gotten lost in, and by the time he parked behind Boutique Noémie, I’d brushed off my self-pity and was ready to shop.

Look out, Benedict Oberon, because I’m about to show you what you threw away.

Twat.

Chapter6

Kadon

Practicing or salivating?

Noémie the boutique owner,greeted Lee like the long-lost daughter she thought she’d never see again. Exclamations, hugs, twin-cheek kisses—real ones, not pursed lips kissing thin air. I stood off to the side while the two women spoke rapid French, too fast for me. I could hold my own when speaking to the locals—just—but this level of excitement was far beyond my language capabilities.

I waited for the melee to die down, then introduced myself as Lee’s friend. It surprised me that the wordfrienddidn’t stick in my throat. I hadn’t a clue how I’d kept my composure on the drive over here when Lee had said I’d be her best friend until her dying breath. I didn’t want to be her fucking friend, goddammit. I didn’t want her telling another guy that she and I came as a package. I wanted tobethe other guy. The only guy.Herguy. The Package.

Never gonna happen.

“So you are ’ere to give zee male point of view, oui?”

“It appears so.” I caught Lee’s impish grin and narrowed my eyes. “Let’s just say Lee coerced me into it.”

“What utter tosh,” Lee exclaimed. “You couldn’t get in the car fast enough.”

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