“He didn’t have to set me up. There’s a guy at the gym who’s been asking me out. Corey will be my date.”

Her face breaks into a slow, devious smile. “Oh, Murphy, now I really do wish I was going. I’ll bet there will be so much sexual tension between you two that you could cut it with a knife.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I tell her. I see Ellie getting impatient and asking for a snack, so I get a pouch of goldfish out of the diaper bag and hand it to her. “I’m telling you, Lexi, he doesn’t see me that way.”

“And I’m telling you I’ve known my brother a lot longer than you have. Trust me. He wants you.” She tugs on my arm to get us walking again. “Now, come on, we have to find you a killer outfit to wear. One that will send him over the edge. There’s nothing like a little jealousy to get a guy to admit his feelings.”

I roll my eyes, but I let her drag me to five shops anyway. After all, if what she said is true, if there is even a sliver of hope that he wants to be more than friends, I want to look my very best.

~ ~ ~

Lexi was wrong. Caden has spent more time staring at my date than he’s spent staring at me. And Caden was right the other day when he said he’s like my protective older brother. He keeps asking Corey questions about his job (he works in security), his apartment (third-floor walkup in Midtown), and his family (two sisters and a brother). It sounds like a job interview. He’s vetting the guy for me.

I feel kind of sorry for his date, Maggie, as she’s getting ignored. I don’t miss how Maggie keeps trying to hold hands with Caden, but he brushes her away.

From the little information I’ve learned about her, I know she works in the fashion industry and is the best friend of Sawyer’s date, Angela.

Oh, and I’ve learned she’s a slut. Or at the very least, she’s exactly the kind of woman Caden wants to avoid. She keeps dropping names of famous people she’s managed to date. I guess she thinks that will impress us. But the only person at the table who seems impressed is Angela. Probably because she’s doing the same thing. In fact, they mentioned dating the same guy and I wonder if they had some kind of twisted threesome. The two girls do seem very close.

In the past, had I met someone in the fashion industry, I might mention that I was a model. You never know who might be able to get your foot in the door. Oddly, though, I purposefully keep my lips sealed about my former profession—if you can even call it that. I only had a few modeling jobs for second-rate magazines that barely paid me enough to cover the rent.

I realize I haven’t thought about modeling lately. Not since I moved in with Trick. I’m kind of in love with my new job. It’s low stress. It more than pays the rent. And I get along well with all my bosses and co-workers. I’m even beginning to think this might lead to an actual career for me. With all the new responsibilities they have entrusted to me, I feel there is plenty of room to grow. After all, I work for one of the biggest, most exclusive gyms in the city. How did I get so lucky?

I reach up and touch my scar and then look over to catch Caden watching me. He winks at me and smiles. Then Corey puts his arm around the back of my chair and rests his hand on my bare shoulder, caressing my flesh with slow circles from his thumb.

Caden’s smile disappears as his eyes hone in on the movement of Corey’s hand. Then Caden gets up abruptly and excuses himself to the men’s room. I can’t help but smile. It was the first sign of jealousy I’ve ever seen from him. Maybe it’s the first sign of hope I see for us.

Corey mistakes my smile for being happy that he’s touching me. I don’t shrug his arm away. I don’t see any harm in letting him leave it there. But it’s not like I’m planning to go home with him. Even if I weren’t lusting after Caden, I still wouldn’t go home with Corey. And maybe it makes me a bad person to use him as a pawn to try and reveal Caden’s true feelings—if there are any. I swear, however, this was not my intention when I invited Corey to be my date. But that was then and this is now.

“Do you think Caden fell in?” Sawyer says, after Caden doesn’t come back to the table.

“Maybe he climbed out the window,” Angela jokes, nudging her friend.

Maggie laughs. “He’d be missing out if he did,” she says. “I have big plans for us later.” She makes an obscene gesture with her hands, giggling with her friend. “Big plans.”

My back stiffens.

“Are you okay?” Corey asks.

You mean other than picturing little Miss Slutty underneath the man I want?

“I’m fine. I just need to hit the ladies’ room.”

I run into Caden in the back hallway. He’s sitting down on a bench outside the bathrooms. He’s slumped over looking at the floor, his forearms on his knees. I sit next to him. I think Angela was right. He’s hiding from Maggie.

“Maggie’s a bit much, huh?” I ask.

“To say the least,” he says. “How about Corey? You two seem to be getting along.”

I shrug. “He’s nice I guess.”

He looks up at me, pinning me to the wall with his stare. “You going to see him again?”

“I’m only on a date with him because you asked me to tag along. Remember?”

“So, you aren’t going to see him again? Are you going to go home with him?”

My jaw drops. “Of course I’m not going home with him, Caden. You know me better than that.”

He lets out a deep, relieved sigh. “Good. He’s not right for you anyway.”

I bite my lip, trying to keep from smiling. Maybe Lexi was right.

“What about you?” I ask. “It sounds like Maggie has big plans for you later.” I shake my head, once again, picturing the two of them together. “And in case you’re wondering, those were her exact words.”

“Jesus, really?” He looks right and left down the hallway. “Can we climb out the window or something?”

I laugh probably more than I should.

“What? I’m serious. Don’t think I haven’t done it before,” he says. “Well, I haven’t actually climbed out a window. But I have used a back door. Sawyer will understand. Hell, he will probably thank me for it. Maybe he’ll take both of them home.”

“Oh, my gosh. I was thinking the same thing.”

“So, can we bolt?”

I shake my head. “I won’t do that to Corey. He really is a nice guy, Caden. He doesn’t deserve that. I was the one who invited him.”

“You’re right. You’re a better person than I am, Murphy Brown.”

I stand up and hold out my hand. “Come on, let’s head back. It’s getting late and we only have to stick it out for another hour.”

When he grabs my hand, something happens. I’m not sure what, but it might have something to do with music and birds flying and clouds under my feet. The touch we share is electrified. Intense. Scary.

He must feel it too, because the way he’s looking at me right now, it’s the way you get looked at before your first kiss. Before you get picked up and carried over the threshold. Before you lose your heart to someone forever.

Our hands part and the moment dies. But before we rejoin the others, he calls me back. “Murphy, that’s one hell of a dress. You look … incredible isn’t even a strong enough word.”

“Thanks,” I say, blushing. “You’re not half bad yourself.”

He winks at me again and I melt inside.

Please, God, let Lexi be right.

Chapter Twenty-seven

Caden

I’m on my third episode of late-night Murphy Brown reruns. I glance at my phone to check the time and wonder if Murphy is also watching them. I hope she is. In fact, I might go so far as to bet on it. Maybe it’s become our thing. And anyway, I had to do something to take my mind off tonight.

It was torture watching that guy put his hands all over Murphy earlier. Okay, so maybe his hands weren’t all over her. But the way he touched her shoulder; the way he put his hand on the small of her back when we entered the restaurant; the way he would lean close every time he talked to her—I’ve never in my life wanted to be another person so badly.

And I’ve never been so relieved than when she told me she wasn’t going to go home with him. But what happens if he asks her out again? What happens when the next guy comes along? There is no way in hell I’ll be able to watch her do that again. And I only know one way to keep it from happening.

The problem is—she’s my friend, maybe even my best friend. I don’t want to ruin what we have. I’ve never had so much fun with a girl who isn’t my sister. Hell, I’ve never had so much fun with anyone.

She’s all I’ve thought about since I took her to Central Park on Thursday. If I’m being honest, I thought about her long before then. I guess I’ve been denying it for a while.

But it goes to reason that she might not even want me. She’s given me no indication that she wants a relationship. No indication that she’s interested in me beyond the friendship we have. In fact, she’s flat-out said she’s taking a break from dating.

But that touch we shared tonight. And the way she was looking at me when we shared it. That’s not the way you look at your friend. That look got me hard. That look had me thinking about long walks and shared holidays. Christ, that look had me thinking about white dresses and black tuxedos.

What is happening to me?

I pull out my phone and scroll through my pictures. I look at the picture of Murph and me sitting in the stands at the Yankees game. I smile at the picture I took of her last Sunday when she was laughing with Lexi. I stare at the photo I snapped of her wearing my gear.

It’s the last one that brings my dick to life for the second time tonight. I don’t fight it this time. I reach my hand into my sweat pants, stroking myself as those brilliant blue eyes of hers stare at me from behind my facemask. I watch her and think of the incredible dress she was wearing tonight. I’ve never seen her look so alluring. Her long, wavy hair was down around her shoulders, covering her bare neck that I longed to grip with my hands so I could pull her to me.