Thick Love (Thin Love, #2)(58)

“Friends?” That yellow caution light went up and I didn’t even tap my breaks. Hell, I’ve always been a “yellow light, go faster” kind of driver. “You want to be my friend, Aly?” She made a noise that could’ve have been a no, probably was a yes. Then her breath got faster and I didn’t take my hand from her face. “Just my friend?”

“Yea…”

Then I kissed my friend Aly right on the mouth, not stopping to think about it, having no control over my body as my teeth smoothed across her bottom lip. And when that small, soft tongue slipped against my lips, I released a sigh, all desperate and hungry, that I hadn’t expected. Right then, I forgot about guilt and shame and the fact that Aly was supposed to be someone I knew, not someone I wanted. I guided her face up, loving how she tasted like peppermint and felt like cotton candy.

“Friends…Ransom,” and she kissed me back like she couldn’t control herself, like someone else was making her lips work against mine. And then, just like that, Aly stopped, pulling away from me, her scarf shaking with the effort of her breathing. “Ah…modi…poupou.”

“Aly…”

She shook her head like she wouldn’t listen, like something else needed to be said and she didn’t want me interrupting. “I’m going to tell you something and don’t you damn well laugh at me.” She moved her eyes, catching my nod of agreement. “This…this whatever it is, I chalk it up to being alone for…well, a while.”

“How long is a while?”

She sliced her gaze back to me and I didn’t press.

“You’ve been without…” she sat back, her breathing slowing. “We’ve both been alone. That’s what I’m saying.” Aly turned her body, taking my hand, though she hesitated, like she wasn’t sure she should touch me at all. “I want to be your friend. I won’t deny that I…well,” one shift of her gaze and she kept her chin down, but I still caught her grin. “Your mouth makes me think the worst…best…filthy things.”

Aly treated me to that elusive smile again when my laugh broke the tension in the car. “Right back at you.”

After a moment, Aly’s face returned to normal—mouth relaxed, but unsmiling. “When I’m around you, things can be…” she shook her head as though she hoped closing her eyes would somehow bring the right word forward.

“Overwhelming?” I asked, realizing I understood where she was coming from.

“Me zanmi, wi. Overwhelming. It’s…it has to be the dance, right? I mean, the Kizomba, the flirting and us being lonely and being around your family, hell, the sexual chemistry coming off your parents alone would make anyone…” She laughed when I wrinkled my nose. “Sorry,” she said, that laughter dimming. “I just mean that this isn’t anything something you or…I…I really want to explore. I know you’re busy and with happened to you before…”

I waited for her to mention Emily. I waited for her to somehow explain what she thought my problem was. Girls did that sometimes when I asked them not to touch me, when I touched them and they couldn’t understand why I didn’t want anything more from them. I waited to see what diagnosis Aly had for me, but she only inhaled, like she needed extra breath to organize her thoughts.

“It’s all chemical. Endorphins and serotonin that our brains produce when the right stimulus is introduced to our environment.” My eyebrows came up and I blinked, astounded by her theory. “What?” she said. “I watch ‘Forensic Files’ and ‘Bones’.”

This time when I laughed, Aly joined in immediately, a little sheepish, but that smile was wide, it was beautiful and my humor faded when that damn strange déjà-vu sensation hit me again. I knew I’d seen that smile before but damn if I could place it.

“Anyway, I just…”

“I get what you’re saying.”

“You do?”

She let me take her hand, didn’t raise that guard of hers. “No kissing?”

Aly hesitated, squeezing my fingers. There was something in her expression that I couldn’t place. It seemed like doubt, indecision and disappointment, but then what the hell did I know? “I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t like it. But we can’t…”

“No, right… I get it,” I said, sighing, resigned, when I pulled my hand away. “We’ll just stick with being friends. That’s what you want. Right?”

There was something in her eyes then, a weird flick that told me she was keeping something from me and part of me wanted to know what that was. The more sensible part, though, won out for once and I let her keep her secrets.

“Exactly,” she said finally. Then the weirdest thing happened. When the noise of my teammates entering the parking lot sounded behind my car and Aly looked in the rear view mirror to watch them, that easy, relaxed expression on her face suddenly vanished. Someone had spooked her, had her turning from me, fumbling with the door latch and mumbling something about needing to catch the bus. She muttered “See you later” and fled before I even had the chance to offer her a ride.

“Ransom!” Trent shouted, banging once on the roof of my Mustang. “Was that the same hottie that was here with your kid brother?” he asked, edging his body to the side so he could watch Aly as she disappeared from the parking lot. “You hooking up?”