Damage Control (6 page)

What did she feel for him, anyway? She had yet to take the time to analyze these new emotions. The situation got even more complicated because she and Brian had been so close before they'd gone to bed together. She couldn't help but feel a few threads of attachment to the guy.
Remember the friendship. Just keep him out of your bed.

The lust in his eyes as he stared at her warmed her from the inside out. Talk about a major case of easier-said-than-done.

“Do you really believe what you're telling me, or are you trying to convince yourself of something you're not sure of?”

She swallowed hard. As always, he'd managed to nail the problem. Not that she'd fill him in on that little detail. “You don't agree?”

“I'll have to, won't I?”

Oh, God. Don't do this, Brian. I'm not the right woman for you.
“Think about it. We've been so close for more than five years now. Why ruin that? Who knows how long this…other thing between us will last?”

“I guess I'm just a better risk taker than you. Okay. I get it. You want to go back to being friends, I'm cool with that.” He picked up his menu and opened it, letting her know he was done talking about that particular subject. Fine with her. She would have preferred he didn't bring it up in the first place.

His leg brushed hers under the narrow table, sending a jolt through her whole body. She would have thought it was an accident if he hadn't done it again a few seconds later. What the hell was he trying to pull here? Had he not just agreed they should stay friends? She snapped her gaze to his. “What are you doing?”

“Sorry. It was an accident.” His smile told her it was anything but.

“Yeah, right,” she muttered, shaking her head and trying to concentrate on her own menu. Focus didn't come easily, since he made her lose her place whenever he touched her. And he kept right on touching her, pretending it was no big deal.

“What? Are you doubting me?” He laughed, and she was glad the old Brian was back. The man she considered the best friend she'd ever had. The person closest to her in the whole world. Her work schedule didn't allow for her to build close friendships, so to lose Brian would be to lose her anchor. Her lifeline.

She nudged his knee under the table and raised her eyebrows at him. “Of course I'm doubting you. Would you expect anything different?”

The waitress came by to take their orders then, so she never got an answer to her question. Brian just shook his head and threw her a look so familiar she had to grin. Though his touch still seemed a little too intimate at least he was willing to listen to her wishes instead of blatantly ignoring them.

 

 

 

As if the situation hadn't been bad enough to begin with. Now he had to keep his hands off her, too?

Brian nearly groaned at the prospect. Yeah, this was going to be a piece of cake
. Not.
She'd tensed right up when he'd brought up seeing each other. Hadn't relaxed until he'd pretended he wanted to be friends. Now she looked lighter, happier, like a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders
. Shit.
If that wasn't a blow to a guy's ego, he didn't know what was. She didn't want him again, and he had a feeling there was a lot more to her reasons than she was letting on. She must have hated what happened between them.

How was that even possible? She'd come, hadn't she? If not, she was damned good at faking it. He'd never had any complaints about his performance before. If she hadn't been so responsive, he would have thought she was the one with the issues.

Unless she'd faked those responses, too.

He managed small talk until after the waitress brought them their meals, then he couldn't take the suspense anymore. Not knowing what she really thought was becoming too much of a distraction. He cleared his throat to get Andrea's attention. “Was it really that bad?”

Andrea glanced up from her salad, a frown on her face, but it soon dropped away and she burst out laughing. “I can't believe you even asked me that. You were right there with me, weren't you? What is it with you men, anyway? No, it wasn't
that bad
.”

Okay, it was a start. Not glowing praise, but he could work with it. “But it wasn't great.”

She shook her head. Ran her hand through her hair in a gesture he recognized as nervous. “Brian, it was amazing. Incredible. Just because it can't happen again doesn't mean I don't want it to.”

Her face flushed a bright pink and she glanced down, letting him know she hadn't meant to say as much as she had. He opened his mouth, ready with an I-told-you-so retort, but then changed his mind and clamped his jaw shut again. She was skittish enough already. No sense scaring her away. A surefire way to get her running in the wrong direction would be to rush her. He still didn't know what he wanted out of this. How could he expect her to know? She was the one who had serious commitment phobia.

Hold on.
Her words registered and his thought processes came to a screaming halt. Had she just said he was amazing? Now that was more like it.

Instead of telling her what he really thought about her hesitance, he forced a grin. “Cool. Hey, are you busy tonight? I thought we could get a pizza and rent a movie.”

Her flush drained from her face, leaving her ghostly pale. She stilled her hand, her fork halfway to her mouth. “I can't. I have to work. There's talk that Mark Putnam is retiring and there'll be a partnership up for grabs.”

Under the table, he clenched his hands into fists. Her statement pissed him off for two reasons. If she thought she was going to push him out of her life, the stubborn woman had another think coming. He wasn't going away anytime soon. And the idea of her going for that partnership worried him. Jealousy wasn't the issue. He had no interest in it for himself, but he didn't want to see Andrea work herself into an early grave like her father had. A heart attack in his forties. Not a pleasant thought.

With the way Andrea was going, she'd be headed down that road soon. Her stress level was always so high, and thanks to those damned lists she made to organize her time, she had every moment of every day scheduled. Not that Brian was a slacker. He could—and did—work his ass off with the best of them. He just understood how important it was to leave the job at the office. Andrea had yet to figure that out, and he had a feeling she never would, unless someone showed her what she'd been missing.

“A couple hours of your time. That's all I ask.”

“No, really. I can't. Thanks, though. I'll definitely take a rain check.”

She wouldn't. They both knew it. Already she was trying to distance herself from him, like she had on Saturday morning. He'd walked away then, fuming at her sudden dismissal. Here she was, sending him packing again like he was the hired help and she'd grown tired of him.

What she didn't know was this time, he didn't plan to let her.

He wasn't sure yet, but maybe she was the one. Only time would tell—but not if Andrea wouldn't even give them a chance. He loved her as a friend. Could he love her as something more? He intended to find out, even if it took seducing her body first, and then her mind.

 

 

 

The chime of the doorbell, three times in rapid succession, yanked Andrea from her train of thought. She mumbled a curse and set her laptop aside. There were only two people who would bug her when she had a boatload of work to do. Brian and the bride from hell. At this point, she couldn't figure out which one she wanted to see less.

When she opened the door to find Brian standing there with a pizza box in his hand, she started to tell him to go away, but then she got a whiff of the pizza and changed her mind. Her stomach growled, giving her away. Pizza was one of the few indulgences she allowed herself, and damn him, he knew it.

She raised her eyebrows. “Extra pepperoni?”

“Is there any other way to eat a pizza?” His smile made something deep inside her flutter. She pressed her hand to her stomach to quell her reaction.

Despite her misgivings—and despite knowing she should grab the pizza and slam the door in the jerk's face—she stepped back and let him into the apartment. She was so weak. She hadn't told him to stay away because she had work to do, though in truth, she did. She'd asked him not to come over because she didn't trust herself around him anymore. It killed her to admit it, but tonight, when she was exhausted and stressed, all he would have to do was crook one finger and she'd probably embarrass herself by falling at his feet.

It didn't help that he had the nerve to show up looking damned sexy, dressed in a tight white T-shirt and a pair of well-worn black jeans. The stubble on his face and mussed hair suggested he'd just climbed out of bed, but she knew better. He'd probably been to the gym, and the hair was messy from towel drying it after his shower. Whatever the reason for it, the effect worked. As soon as he turned his back, she licked her lips.

Brian walked into the kitchen, set the box down, and started rummaging through the cabinets like he owned the place. His comfort in her home had never bothered her before, and it shouldn't now. For some reason, a bit of anxiety settled into her gut. She had to bite back the urge to tell him to leave her stuff alone. What was wrong with her? This was Brian. Her friend. The one person she could tell all her secrets to. So what if he'd seen her naked?

If only that was the whole problem. She could get past that. What she couldn't seem to move beyond was the way she'd begged him to take her to bed. It had taken a couple bottles of wine to show her how lonely and needy she'd become. She hadn't had anything stronger than water to drink tonight, and already she could feel her resistance slipping. Would one more night really be such a terrible thing?

Yes.
Couldn't happen. One more night with him in her bed might be her undoing.

“Hey,” Brian said softly. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and glanced up at him. Concern etched his face, his eyebrows knitted into a frown. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I'm fine. Just tired.” Still catching up after the weekend that had blown her world as she'd known it apart. Even now, she still wanted him. Whenever she saw him, her panties got wet. Now, with him standing so close, bearing a gift in her favorite form of takeout, it was all she could do not to rip his clothes off and have her wicked way with him right there on her kitchen floor.

And here she'd thought slipping back into friendship would be doable. She should have known it would be downright impossible.

Her face warming, she turned away, walking toward the fridge to grab a couple cans of diet cola. She avoided Brian's gaze until they'd settled down on the couch in front of the TV and she'd picked up the remote from the glass-topped coffee table.

“Excuse me?” Brian asked, his tone light and teasing. He held out his hand, wriggling his fingers the way he always did when they watched TV. It had started years earlier, when he'd learned how indecisive she was when trying to choose something to watch.

Andrea slapped the remote against his palm, laughing at the mock seriousness on his face. Of course, he was only half-joking. He was a guy, and therefore possessed the inborn need to hold the remote at all times when the television was on. “What is it with men and the stupid remote? Is it that hard to let a woman take control of the television?”

“It's a security issue.” He flipped through the channels before finally settling on a local newscast. Decision made, he stuck the remote between his thigh and the arm of the couch, out of her reach unless she wanted to climb over him to get it. “If we have control of the remote, everything is right with the world.”

She rolled her eyes. If only everything in life were so simple. So basic. As if a little silver box covered in buttons could be the answer to everyone's problems.

She took a bite of her pizza and closed her eyes for a brief second at the incredible flavor of it. Spicy, cheesy, and so greasy she could have blotted it with a napkin before eating. No food could ever be more perfect than this, and she knew what she was talking about. She was the queen of take-out, even if most of the time she ordered something a little more health-conscious. Though she knew how to cook and had a pretty decent collection of recipes, her schedule didn't often allow her the luxury anymore. Plus, living alone, she just didn't see it as sensible to cook a huge meal for one person.

After washing the bite down with a swig of cola, she set the can on the coffee table with a thump. “There are bigger problems with the world around you than who holds the remote control.”

“Yeah, but this is an issue I can fix immediately.” The intensity in his gaze hit her right where it counted and made her gulp. One corner of his mouth rose in a ghost of a half-smile. “The other issue, the bigger one…well, that's sort of out of my hands. At the moment.”

The last three words made her heart pound.
At the moment.
Was he planning to do something about their situation? And more importantly, why did she suddenly hope he was?

Because she was…interested. She could deny it all she wanted, but the truth smacked her in the face anyway. When she'd told him she wanted to go back to being just friends, she'd lied to both of them. Exploring this new development in their relationship held a lot of appeal. As Claire had told her time and again, sex for the sake of sex was never a bad thing. The emotional connection she had with Brian would make it so much better.

They might not be able to announce it to the world, but they could be discreet. He seemed agreeable. More than willing, if the heat in his gaze meant anything. All she had to do was say the word.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She was a sad, weak woman to want him as much as she did. What would be the harm in taking him back to bed? Absolutely none. Claire was right. Andrea deserved this.