Not Just a Friend by Laura Jardine Read Free Book Online Page A

a way, I guess I am. I go out every week without needing to hire a babysitter. I check out men without feeling guilty. But still. I want something that she has and I don’t, despite being a decade older.”
    Maya was harder on the outside than she’d been in high school. She was like the chocolate truffles he got for Christmas every year from his father and stepmother, with the hard outer layer and the soft center.
    Now Liam felt like a cliché. In love with his female friend and too much of a wimp to do anything about it. Thinking of stupid similes. Or was that a metaphor? Again, English had never been his strength.
    But it was sensible to wait. That’s what he’d been telling himself. Though, he admitted, part of the reason he hadn’t said anything yet was because it scared the shit out of him. Even though he wasn’t the shy boy he used to be, there was something about Maya that made him revert to uncool-teenager mode.
    How much would waiting longer really accomplish, though?
    Screw the show-don’t-tell crap. She already knew who he was. He would conquer his nerves and do it next weekend. Valentine’s Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to admit his feelings for her. And he wouldn’t do it anonymously this time.
    But for now, he tried reverting to friend-who-doesn’t-have-a-crush-on-you mode.
    “Well,” he said, “you’re trying to change the parts of your life that you don’t like.”
    “Yeah.” She snorted. “By going on a date with a guy who makes microwave-and-rotten-chicken art.”
    “You didn’t know that.”
    She had a gulp of beer. “Of course, when one meets a financial analyst, one does not assume he’ll leave his job within the next week to become a pretentious douchebag of an artist.”
    “I doubt that’ll happen to you again.”
    “Probably not. But it makes me wonder what else my dating life has in store for me.”
    Well, he had some ideas there.
    He looked around the bar and noticed a man in the back corner staring in their direction. Suddenly feeling possessive, he put his arm around Maya and kissed her cheek.
    “What was that for?” she asked.
    “There’s a guy checking you out. He looks like a jerk, so I wanted to discourage him.”
    Maya followed his gaze. “Yeah, he does. Mind you, I have a lot of trouble picking out the good guys. It might work out better if I date the guys who look like assholes to me.”
    “But would you really want to go out with someone who you think looks like an asshole?”
    “Good point.”
    She smiled faintly, and something in him clenched.
    How had it taken him so long to realize how he felt?
    * * * *
    It must be because they were tipsy. That’s what Maya blamed it on.
    After stumbling out of the bar, they found themselves in the alley behind it. Kissing. She was against the brick wall of the building, and his hands were on the wall on either side of her head. Was Liam the one who’d got them here, or had she started it? She didn’t think it was her, but she wasn’t sure. Everything was a little hazy.
    That wasn’t all because of the alcohol; part of it was because of the kiss.
    Only their lips were touching. Nothing else. Something about that was particularly thrilling. And they were in an alley.
    She felt naughty, and she liked that.
    That’s why she’d dated bad boys when she was younger. But apparently she could feel this way with a sweet high school math teacher as well. Who would have thought?
    His mouth closed over hers again and again, the angle changing slightly each time. And every time, he tasted different. This time it was beer; the next it was salt. Then ketchup—they’d ordered duck fat fries. Then strawberry jam.
    Strawberry jam? She was losing it. She was really losing it. That’s what this kiss was doing to her.
    She kept kissing him, not wanting to break contact.
    It was a chilly day in early February, the temperature well below freezing. They were both wearing down jackets and toques and gloves. Icy snow crunched