Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
With that, my friend disappeared to play another set, leaving Lacey and me both laughing. I couldn’t help but notice her lips again. “You have a great smile,” I told her.
Lacey pushed hair behind her ear. “Thank you. And you have beautiful eyes.”
“Look at us,” I said. “Are we flirting?”
“I think we are!”
“This sounds like cause for celebration. Another shot of tequila?”
“Definitely.”
A few hours later, it was just the two of us left at the bar. Holden was home with his family, and Lacey’s friends had happily left her behind. We were both pretty drunk, so I hailed a cab, figuring I’d make it a two-stop ride home. To my surprise, Lacey lived only a block away from me. So when we stopped at her place, I got out to make sure she got in safely and would walk home from there.
At her apartment door, Lacey dropped her keys. We both reached for them at the same time and bumped heads. Lacey wobbled, so I grabbed her to keep her from falling, and she somehow wound up wrapped in my arms. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes, her hands pressed against my chest.
“Oooh…you feel good,” she whispered. “I haven’t had sex in a year.”
It had been three months for me, but I definitely missed the feeling of a woman in my arms. “That’s a long-ass time.”
She bit her bottom lip and fluttered her lashes. “Too long. Do you want to come in? Maybe we can help each other forget?”
I was tempted. Sort of.
Lacey wrapped her arms around my neck. “I know neither of us is emotionally available. But it doesn’t have to be more than it is. I like you. You’re hot. I miss the physical part of a relationship.”
I wanted to want to, so damn badly. But I couldn’t. It would feel like I was cheating on Alex. Which was absolutely ridiculous, because in order to cheat, you have to be in a relationship, and I hadn’t even spoken to Alex in three months. For all I knew, she’d met someone and moved on. Yet I couldn’t do it. Besides, even if there were no Alex, Lacey and I had had a lot of tequila. The last thing this nice lady needed was regrets on top of the other shit she was already carrying. But I didn’t want to make her feel bad, make her feel rejection again. So I needed to handle the situation delicately.
I lifted Lacey’s hand and brought it to my lips. “You are gorgeous. And funny and smart. And your ex is a goddamned dumbass. But you’ve also had too much to drink. So as tempting as the invitation is, I’m going to head home.”
She pouted. “But I don’t want a gentleman right now. I want someone to do bad things to me.”
I groaned and kissed the top of her head. “You’re killing me.”
Lacey dug her phone out of her pocket. “Give me your number at least. Maybe we can try this again when we’re sober?”
I smiled. “You got it.”
***
Holden knocked the next morning. When I opened the door, he looked over my shoulder and grinned. “Bad time?”
I opened the door wide and stepped aside for him to enter. “I’m alone, jackass. I also knew you’d be down here today. I’m surprised it took this long. You can’t help yourself when it comes to gossip.”
“Well, you owe me a shitload of it. All you’ve done the last few months is mope around this place.” He plopped down on my couch. “So…Lacey was nice. Cute, too.”
I sighed. “You want some coffee?”
“Coffee? Dude, it’s eleven o’clock. I’ve already had three cups, fixed Mrs. Denton’s sink, changed two diapers, and sang a lullaby to my princess.”
I refilled my mug. “Hope likes it when you sing to her?”
Holden smirked. “I meant I sang for my wife. Me singing Lala a lullaby is her version of Viagra. She gets turned on when I croon.”
I shook my head. My buddy’s wife was also our best friend’s little sister. Even though they were married and had a kid, I still felt protective of her. “That’s Lala you’re talking about, dickhead. I don’t want to know.”
He stretched his arms across the back of the couch. “So what happened with Lacey?”
“She invited me inside at her place.”
“Nice.”
“Not really.” I frowned. “I couldn’t do it.”
“Why not?”
I sighed. “I couldn’t do it to Alex.”
Holden’s eyebrows pulled tight. “You guys are talking again?”
“No. But that doesn’t make me feel any less for her.”
He smiled. “I know the feeling, man. Remember when Lala showed up in town? She was engaged to that dude, yet I couldn’t be with another woman. It was the longest dry spell of my life.”
“Yeah, but you and Lala always had something going on. In your hearts, you knew it was meant to happen. I’m holding out for a lost cause.”