Best Friends Don't Kiss(63)

“I’m not a grinch,” she retorts, and I shake my head.

“Oh, but you most certainly are. If you scowl any harder at me, I fear your gorgeous face might crack like an eggshell.”

That urges a laugh from her lips. “Fine. Okay. You’re right.”

I hand the bag of cookies to her, but before she reaches inside, she looks up at me with big, apologetic sapphire eyes.

“I’m sorry for being such a whiny baby. Do you forgive me?”

I tap my cheek. “One tiny kiss and you’re officially forgiven.”

Fully prepared for her to get grumpy with me again, I’m shocked when Ava stands up on her tippy-toes and presses a kiss to my cheek. Her lips are silk and velvet against my skin, and for the second time in the past twenty-four hours, my mind starts to wander. To places it shouldn’t.

All revolving around Ava’s perfect lips.

Completely oblivious to the inappropriate—insanely dirty—places my mind has taken me, she pulls a cookie out of the bag and takes a bite, and I have to watch silently on as her tongue sneaks out to lick melted chocolate off her bottom lip.

Fuck me.

It’s heaven. It’s hell. And it just keeps going.

Another bite. Another fucking lip lick. This time, her tongue sliding around both lips before she bites into her bottom lip when a crumb falls from the cookie and toward her white blouse.

“Whoops.” She reaches out to catch it, but she misses.

Of course, she fucking misses.

The damn crumb comes to a stop just above the hint of cleavage peeking out from her shirt. And my eyes can’t help themselves, moving down-down-down until they lock onto the soft curves of her perfect, full, perky breasts.

Fuck. What is wrong with me?

Pretty sure it’s very simple, man. You’re finally fucking realizing that you’re crazy attracted to your best friend.

Ava swipes the cookie crumb off her skin with one index finger and slides that very finger into her mouth to suck off the melted chocolate.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, is she purposely trying to make me go insane right now?

No joke. This might be the most painful thing I have ever witnessed in my life.

But I just stand there, watching Ava eat that fucking cookie and feeling like either my head or my goddamn balls are going to explode.

That is so wrong, dude. You shouldn’t be that fucking turned on by watching someone eat a cookie.

My mind is right. But my body gives zero fucks.

Finally understanding her flight reaction in emergent situations, I gently grab her by the elbow and get us moving. “Where…uh…where’s our first stop?”

“Not sure.” Ava shrugs, still finishing off that goddamn cookie. “How about Bath & Body Works?”

“Sounds fantastic.” Anything but standing around and watching you eat cookies and dropping crumbs onto your perfect tits and licking fucking chocolate off your lips. Anything but that is the best idea ever.

She looks up at me like I’ve grown two heads. “You want to go into Bath & Body Works?”

“Yep. Sounds great.”

Her face turns into a puzzle. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Feeling great,” I respond, my voice probably far too excitable, but fuck, I’m only a man. A man who apparently gets turned on by watching his best friend eat chocolate chip cookies.

She’s not buying it, the look of downright confusion is still apparent on her face, but the good news is she’s finished eating that fucking cookie that apparently was made by Satan himself and sent to earth to destroy me.

Fucking hell.

Thankfully, though, I spot something in a store window before we reach Bath & Body Works and pull us to a stop.

“What are you doing?”

“We need to go in there.” I nod toward the store, and Ava furrows her brow, reading the name of it.

“Green Thumb? That’s a plant store…”

“I know.” I grin. “Come on.”

She follows me without complaint, and within thirty seconds, I have the one item that caught my eye clutched in my hand.

Ava looks at it. Then looks at me. Then looks back at it. “Why are you holding a cactus?”

“Because this is the perfect plant for you,” I respond, smiling down at the baby green cactus. It sits in a tiny terracotta pot with a red velvet bow wrapped around the edge. “Cactuses can survive any-fucking-thing, Ace. You barely need to water them.”

“But Teddy 12 has been doing so well,” She retorts and puts a hand to her hip. “He’s been living for, like, three years straight.”

Because of me.

I am literally the only one keeping that green bastard alive.

Yeah, and since you’re going to be leaving for Houston soon, it won’t be long before Teddy 12 kicks the bucket.

The mere thought makes my chest tighten with discomfort.

Who is going to keep Ava’s plant alive when I’m gone?

Who is going to be there for her when she’s freaking out about something or when she’s upset about something or when she just needs someone to watch fucking Golden Girls with at midnight because she can’t fall asleep?

It’s nearly too much to bear, but somehow, I manage to swallow it down, all the questions, all the worries, all the discomfort about leaving Ava behind in New York, and force myself to focus on the here and now. The present. And not worry about the fact that I still haven’t told her about NASA.