LEXI

“What an asshat!”

I slam the door to my apartment and find Kitty in the kitchen next to Sasha, who’s got a hunk of frosting on her finger the size of a golf ball. Sasha didn’t go into the sweets industry for the money—she’d gone in it because it’s her greatest passion in life.

The image of the two women would normally bring a smile to my face, possibly a laugh. But not even my two best girlfriends are prepared to weather this storm.

“Oh, goodness,” Sasha says, taking the frosting from her finger with one lick. “Get the wine, Kitty. Move quickly, now.”

I storm around the kitchen, muttering under my breath until Kitty pushes a glass of wine into my hand and Sasha shoves me onto a stool.

“Talk, woman,” Sasha instructs.

“Drink,” Kitty adds. “Quickly, please.”

I still my breathing with a long, delicious sip of red wine. The tendrils of it seep through me, warming my already on-fire nerves. I expel a hiss of air that sounds like a leaky balloon.

“You went into his apartment for all of ten minutes,” Kitty says. “I thought you were exchanging pizzas?”

I look down and realize that I haven’t even swapped my pizza at all. I’d ended up with the stupid meat lover’s pizza after all this while Bradley is likely eating mine, completely unfazed, in his apartment. It gives me only slight solace to know that he’s alone while I have the company of two of the very best humans on earth.

“Start from the beginning,” Sasha adds. “I’m missing part of the story.”

Kitty sighs. “I thought you’d filled her in.”

Sasha turns to Kitty. “How do you know about this?”

“Because I knew Bradley back when she called him Brad,” Kitty says. “You have yet to meet Brad.”

“Bradley,” I emphasize, “has not wanted to be friends for the last few years. Then, under duress, I made a bad decision while trapped in an elevator with him. But you already know that part.”

“Aw, honey,” Sasha says. “Were you hangry again tonight?”

I nod, solemnly. I’m well known for making horrible decisions when I haven’t eaten in awhile. The time I enrolled in local theater even though I hate all things acting? I signed the form while hangry. The time I ordered five-hundred-dollars worth of plants online, even though my thumb is blacker than the night? Also hangry.

“It’s because when I’m hungry, my brain doesn’t have enough power to function,” I tell them. “Scientific fact.”

“Sure, honey,” Sasha says. “Now, tell us what happened today.”

I fill them in on the events since the elevator once more, even though I’ve already covered this at the diner. I continue to bring them up to speed until this very minute, finishing with a huff.

“He didn’t apologize?” Kitty asks. “What a wang.”

“Seriously a wang,” Sasha agrees. “You set him up completely.”

“I know!”

“If he had apologized, what then?” Kitty asks, raising her eyebrows. “Are you ready to forget the past?”

“How do you forget three years? Yes, I understand he had a lot taken away from him in one day, but it didn’t have to include me. Or Lucas.”

“He was struggling,” Kitty says. “Boys....men act irrationally when they’re injured. Like wild animals.”

“So that’s an excuse to ignore his friends? His best friends?”

“I’m not saying it’s an excuse.” Kitty sighs, resting a hand on her hip. “Look at it this way: how would Lucas have reacted if the situation had happened to him?”

I imagine my brother going through what Bradley went through, and I’m struck by an ache in my gut. He’d be devastated. He’d probably wallow for weeks, months. I see Kitty’s point.

“He wasn’t thinking rationally,” Kitty says. “And now that he’s more clear-headed, he looks back and is probably embarrassed by it all. I guarantee he’s over there cursing himself for blowing it.”

“Fat chance,” I say. “I’m not even sure he likes me anymore.”

“Honey, he had a boner the size of the Eiffel Tower from one look at you in those pajamas.”

“He did not!” I squeak.

My face blooms red. I’ve never thought of Bradley in that capacity. At least, not lately. Even if I had thought of him in that capacity last night...in the shower, perhaps, it wasn’t like I’d actually believed the daydream.

“You were focused on the pizza, but uh, let’s just say he has...” Kitty pauses, snickers at Sasha. “Quite a wang.”

Sasha snorts into her wine glass. “I need to meet this man.”

“Congratulations,” Kitty says to me, more seriously. The twinkle in her eyes belies any real severity. “On your future sexing with Bradley. If the enthusiasm of his performance matches the size of his—”

“Heart,” Sasha interrupts coyly.

Kitty laughs. “I’m sure you’re in for a treat.”

“What makes you think I have any plans to sleep with him?”

Kitty and Sasha look at one another, then burst out laughing.

“It’s only been twenty-odd years in the making,” Kitty says. “Can you imagine the fireworks when they finally get together?”

Sasha begins to hum Love Shack under her breath, and Kitty joins in seconds later.

“Well, it’s not happening,” I interrupt over their bellowing. “I told him the date’s off.”

“You what?” Sasha asks.

“Told him the date is off.”

“So?” Kitty shrugs. “A minor hurdle. I give you two months.”

“Two months before what?” I ask.

“You’re on.” Sasha extends her hand and shakes Kitty’s. “I’ll supply you with cookies for a month if you’re right. If I’m right, I want a custom painting of Sasha’s Sweets to go on the wall.”

The girls shake on it, and I’m still busy trying to comprehend. “You can’t bet on me when I don’t even understand the bet.”

“Over—under two months until you sleep with him,” Kitty says. “I’m guessing under two months, Sasha’s guessing over. Make me proud, munchkin.”

I choke on my wine. “No. Nope, no way.”

“He’s hot, and you like him,” Sasha says. “What’s the issue?”

“I don’t like him right now!”

“He’s hurt and embarrassed,” Kitty says. “I’m not saying he shouldn’t apologize. I’m just saying this isn’t the end for the two of you.”

I’m surprised to find myself hoping she’s right. I didn’t go in there this evening with the goal to argue, or end things, or beg for an apology. There’s just so much firepower in the room when it’s the two of us that one stray spark can ignite it all.

“Talk to us, honey,” Sasha says. “What’s on your mind?”

“It’s just...”

We’re interrupted by a knock on the door, and my heart stutters.

“I’ll get it,” Sasha says, moving so quickly neither Kitty nor I can stop her. She swings the door open, leans against the frame, and as her eyes focus straight ahead, then work their way up another half a foot, I know who’s there. “Well, hello.”

“Is, ah... Lexi around?”

The deep voice is enough to stir my emotions even out of sight. Bradley Hamilton knocking on the door. This is a scenario that hasn’t happened in years.

“Go away,” I yell.

Kitty pouts. “You’re not making me look good on the bet.”

“I have your pizza,” Bradley says. “You forgot it at my place.”

I exhale. Of course. Business transaction. Simple pizza swap. I can handle this.

My friends watch as I box up the pizza and shuffle toward the door. Sasha backs away, but there’s not an ounce of privacy in the room, and my girlfriends are not abashed to publicly eavesdrop.

When I round the door, however, I’m surprised at what I find. Bradley has changed into jeans and a black t-shirt, a simple outfit that accentuates every curve of his gorgeous physique.

His arms push the shirt out nicely at his biceps, while his chest is defined against the thick material. Even his legs look great, and I’m willing to bet if he spun around, his butt would look fantastic.

Six plus feet of delicious man, and all of it wasted on one who hates me.

My eyes fall to his outstretched arms. In them, he’s got a stack of things—a sheaf of papers, a plate—my plate, the one I’d wanted returned three years ago—and half the pizza.

“Oh, duh, half. Sorry.” I shuffle back to the kitchen, quickly slice the pizza in half, and hurry back with the box and half his pizza. “Thank you.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?”

He hands his plate of pizza over my shoulder to Sasha, who stares up at him with big dreamy eyes. She takes it, then backs to the kitchen without breaking eye contact on either of us.

“Sure, talk.” I shrug. “I’m standing right here.”

“Alone.”

“Where? I have friends over.”

“Upstairs.”

“Where?”

He raises an eyebrow, and I instantly know the spot he means. We haven’t been up there in ages. I haven’t been up there in ages. The roof had lost its appeal since I’d lost the friend who’d shared it with me.

“I can’t,” I say. “I have company.”

“No, you don’t,” Kitty says. “We’re family.”

“We’ve got wine and pizza,” Sasha says. “We’ll be fine all night.”

“Have fun, kids.” Kitty moves like a panther across the room, gives me a shove out the door, then locks it behind me and yells through it. “You’ll thank me later!”

I blink up at Bradley, who can’t hide the amusement in his expression.

“Hardy har, so funny,” I say.

“I’m not laughing. I’m just thinking I’ll owe Kitty big for this one.”

“So, you wanted to talk?”

“I’m sorry.” He looks at me, his gaze piercing, and it melts something inside me. His voice is soft, and his hands fidget as he plays with the edge of the paper. “Please, let me explain.”

“The roof?”

He extends his hand and clasps mine in his. We’re like two tendrils of ivy, looped around one another. I don’t understand how it can feel so right, so familiar, when I feel like I hardly know Bradley at all.

He gives a nod toward the fire escape. “The roof.”