“Oh, and what is it I really want?”
“Duh, your boss to stick his-”
“Never mind!” Lexi shrieked. “You’re not going to be helpful, I can see that.”
“What do you hate more?” Sam took another bite of cheese and chewed noisily. “The fact that he wants to bone you or the fact that you want him to?”
“I don’t want him to do anything to me!” Lexi balled her hands into fists at her sides. “I don’t want to tell my parents about this. They’d go insane worrying. They’d call me every five minutes. I’ll tell my sister after the fact. No one else knows we’re going. At least, I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea. It- it might look bad.”
“Yeah. It certainly does,” Sam cackled. “Bad in a really sexy kind of way. I’m jealous. My ovaries are on fire just thinking about it. I don’t know a single woman who wouldn’t give, like, a kidney or something to sleep with your boss. Or even just to go down-”
“Stop!” Lexi actually stamped her foot. She lunged at Sam, grabbing the block of cheese. “Give me that!” She thumped it down on the countertop, ripped out a knife and cut off a few slices. She handed them over to Sam, who had the grace to look a little chagrined.
“Just saying. Would it be the worst thing in the world? He’s soooo hot. And underneath that layer of asshole frosty, he’s probably a delicious cake. Red velvet or something exotic.”
“I can’t believe you.”
“And I can’t believe you.” Sam popped a slice of cheese into her mouth and chewed on it like she was tasting something else. “You have this amazing opportunity. Not to use him or anything. I didn’t mean that before. I was just being a jerk. Really though, I know you, Lexi. You’ve had a hard-on for this guy for years. That’s why none of your relationships work out. You fell for him early and hard and you’ve been kidding yourself ever since. You’ve made this thing up in your own mind about him being such a jerk. You grasp onto whatever ammunition you have to hate him. It’s not going to work forever. You’re eventually going to run out of reasons or realize he’s human. You’re so far into lust or- or- I don’t even know, that it’s insane. You’re the only one who can’t see it. Just go. Go and have fun. Get it over with if you have to but do it already. I’ve been waiting years for the juicy details. Years.”
Lexi stood there in her kitchen, completely stunned. Sam went on happily munching cheese like she hadn’t just uttered such an earth-shattering statement. Lexi could literally feel the ground shifting beneath her feet like the apartment had just opened up and the gaping sinkhole was about to swallow both her- and the will she’d just madly pounded out on some online will site- down into the gaping void.
“Sorry to break the news to you, babe. I didn’t think it actually was news. I thought you were just trying to throw me and everyone else off the scent because you didn’t want to talk about it.” Sam popped the last bit of cheese into her mouth. For once- maybe the first time in her life- she looked legit uncomfortable. “I think I’ve said enough.” She closed the short distance between them and wrapped Lexi up in a tight hug. Sam smelled like her usual self. Expensive lily perfume with just a hint of vanilla and orange blossom. Her arms felt good. Familiar. Arms she could trust no matter how much Sam liked to bug her. That was just Sam being Sam. When she pulled back, she smiled sympathetically at Lexi, as though she really didn’t envy her at all. “Good luck. Enjoy your trip if you can. And give the poor guy a chance. You might be pleasantly surprised.”
“Take that will with you!” Lexi ground out under her breath when Sam released her.
Her best friend just shook her head and stalked off to the door, throwing a wave over her shoulder. She left the brick of a will sitting on the kitchen table and the discarded block of cheese still on the countertop.
Lexi let out an uncharacteristic string of expletives as she reached for the cheese. She was hoping Sam could have talked her out of going on the trip. Confirmed that it was the worst idea. Helped her plot some kind of excuse to get out of it. Help her fake her own death… okay, that was a little extreme, even for them and they’d been known to pull some stupid pranks over the years.
She cut a few more pieces off and chewed slowly, trying to focus on the cheesy goodness. It didn’t work. She might have been eating cheese, but all she could taste was Curtis’ lips. His kiss. His tongue. Sam was right. She was hopeless. She was hopeless, and her ship had a gaping hole in the hull, and she was going down, sinking slowly, heading straight for the bottom.