Hidden Gems by Carrie Alexander Read Free Book Online

no more mistakes. Fooling around with Jamie could be a huge one.
    Shandi was smirking into an Ultrasuede sofa pillow. To avoid another bawdy comment, Marissa went to the linen closet and selected a pair of sheets, a blanket and an extra pillow from the jumbled contents. She came back and dropped them on her guest’s backside. Not up to Martha Stewart’s standards, but then, Marissa hadn’t sent out any engraved invitations. “At least take off your shoes.”
    Shandi lifted her feet up and toed off her Reebok sneakers. The shoes must have weighed five pounds. They hit the floor like andirons. Better weapons than the sandals, especially when inserted into an open mouth.
    Making a note of that, Marissa chirped to Harry and walked back to her bedroom. She softened her tone. “Good night, Shandi.” Then couldn’t resist. “Please don’t get makeup on my pillows.”
    She left the door open a couple of inches for the cat and crawled into bed. The Habaneros T-shirt she slept in rode up around her waist and she pulled it down, humping her hips a couple of times. The bedsprings squeaked.
    In a voice filled with deviltry, Shandi called, “Ride me, big Sheldon,” quoting from When Harry Met Sally, one of their favorite movie night chick flicks.
    “Oh, just shut up,” Marissa murmured. She was usually quicker with a comeback, but the skin on her thighs had jumped to her own touch and she was busy thinking how she would have reacted if Jamie had been waiting in bed for her. Gone on a bucking bareback ride? With her platonic pal?
    One day ago that notion would have been laughable. Now it wasn’t. And what had changed? There was her breakup, but she’d lost boyfriends before and hadn’t turned to Jamie except for brotherly comfort. Maybe she was only having an unusually adverse reaction to a bad vacation, complicated by loss of sleep.
    She’d be sane by morning.
    Instead of wanting Jamie like crazy.

    “GIVE ME BACK MY KEY,” was the first thing Marissa said the next morning when she passed through the living room to get to the galley kitchen, her eyes crusted into slits. If she didn’t take a firm stance from the start, she’d find herself giving in, one night at a time, until she had herself a new roommate.
    Her resolve was reinforced when she stumbled over the junk that had been scattered throughout the room. Shandi’s worldly possessions—basically a wardrobe, a collection of shoe boxes, one packet of important papers like tax returns and inscribed cocktail napkins and the toolbox that held an oversize makeup kit. Marissa shoved the meager belongings into one big pile. Harry danced ahead, meowing for Fancy Feast.
    Shandi muttered something unintelligible and pulled the blanket over her head.
    In the kitchen Marissa popped the top of a can of turkey giblets, filled the cat’s dish, then got the arabica dark roast coffee beans from the expanding igloo of her freezer. She made the grinder sing like a swarm of killer bees.
    Shandi got the hint and staggered to her feet, saying, “Coffee. Need coffee,” as she lurched toward the bathroom.
    “You’re going in the wrong direction.” Marissa gave the beans one more good buzz. The rich smell was waking her up too. Soon the past thirty-two hours would make sense.
    She was picking at the corners of her eyes, waiting for the coffee to brew and going over all the reasons that Jamie was no good for her as a lover even though he was nothing but good as a friend, when the doorbell rang.
    Jamie’s eye met hers in the peephole. Marissa wanted to run away back to the bedroom and execute a frantic twenty-second toilette, but Shandi was occupying the bathroom. Acting differently around Jamie would only call attention to how really different Marissa felt since The Kiss.
    She scrubbed her hands on her shirt and opened the door, glad she’d pulled on a pair of yoga pants.
    A wet nose thrust into her crotch. “Sally!” Jamie tugged at his dog’s leash. He offered an easy smile