“So, I can’t try and seduce you? We can’t really see if this would work in any other capacity other than friends?”
Syd frowned. The tip of her little pink tongue darted out between her soft lips to moisten them and he nearly groaned out loud. Jesus, she really was trying to kill him. And so far, she’d been absolutely successful.
“I…”
“That’s not part of the bargain. We can’t figure anything out that way.”
“That’s not fair. I’m not a whore.”
“Never said you were. This isn’t about that. This is about you and me figuring out if that night meant anything at all. If it might mean anything in the future. If you were just drunk texting or if some part of you wants this. I want you to give it a real shot or the deal’s off. I’ll march out there right now and feed those reporters a sob story that will break hearts around the world. You’ll forever be known as Heartbreaker Syd. Or Dream Crusher Sydney. Or-”
“Stop! Alright! God!” Sydney pushed to her feet, her eyes blazing with the force of her anger and her indomitable spirit.
Jesse was privately relieved. He didn’t want to see her sitting on the floor like a kicked puppy, a crushed up, mangled up version of the Sydney he knew and loved. Yes. Loved. The Sydney he didn’t really even know but was pretty dang sure that he still loved.
Thankfully, she faced him, dry eyed.
“But it has to happen naturally. I don’t want to be forced or feel obligated. That’s not going to get us anywhere. And like- no- no actual… I think we can both tell from whatever develops. It doesn’t have to go all the way.”
“Yeah.” Jesse nodded.
All the painful knots stitched up in his chest loosened just a little. She wasn’t giving him much, but he could sure as hell work with what he had. A little was better than nothing at all. He stuck out his hand and Syd stared at it like it was some kind of lethal animal coming for her. Not a snake. Something worse, something that liked to toy with its prey before it devoured it.
“We have a deal then?”
Syd stared at his hand for a moment longer before she took a step forward, spat in her palm, and waited. God, it was so like the old days, the days of them being grubby kids that ran wild through town, made up games in the mud in her mom’s garden, played dangerous games on his trampoline, pranked their friends and his know it all older brother, kids who didn’t listen to a word that anyone told them, who set their own schedule, who built forts and played outside from dawn until dusk, who got eaten alive by bugs, who rode their bikes terrorizing the neighborhood with hockey cards and clothes pins in the spokes, that for a minute it winded him.
Forced the air right out of his lungs. She gutted him with that palm outstretched, spit glistening in the center.
He brought his hand to his mouth, spat on it, and slapped it to hers just like he’d done a million times before.
It didn’t matter that ten years had passed.
It felt like they were right back to being where they’d started. Or at least, in a spot where he had his confidant, his friend, his partner in crime, his buddy, his crush, his entire world back. Syd was just back and that was all that mattered.
This time, he was going to do everything in his power to stop her from leaving.
CHAPTER 10
Sydney
She couldn’t think straight hungover, tired, her brain aching along with the rest of her body. She felt grimy and sweaty from the long, impossibly crazy day, and worse, she’d just dug herself into an even deeper hole.
All she could think to do was ask for a shower.
Jesse granted it, and even promised her a fresh change of clothes after.
Sydney took her time in the shower. It was of course, ultra-luxurious, part of a huge bathroom that was bigger than her whole apartment. The entire thing was tiled from top to bottom with beige colored stone, but the shower had some kind of pebbly looking rock that while rough and natural looking, probably cost a fortune. The sinks were copper, all three of them, set into a vanity of amber hued granite that had streaks of white, brown, and gold cutting through it. Even the toilet looked fancy, some low riding, water saving device.
The shower was basically enclosed into two tiled columns, strangely open, but the floor swirled downwards in the middle, and she realized, when she cranked the spray on at one side, then the other, just because she’d never been in a shower with dual showerheads before, she realized that the spray never reached the outer edges of the shower, to wet the rest of the bathroom.