“Alright.” He dropped the topic and slid his hands back into his pockets.
“I’m not looking for anything serious anyway.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that earlier.” When I’d confessed that my heart was still broken. He looked toward the street as we continued to wait for the girls to finish in the bathroom inside the bar.
I didn’t know what else to say to him, so I just stood there, thinking about Sicily, the woman I was completely compatible with. Ever since I started working again, she’d become one of the closest people in my life. I hadn’t really noticed it until now, when I took her out to meet my sister and her…dude. Whatever the fuck he was.
The girls came out, joining us in the freezing cold. Daisy slid her arm through Mason’s and came close to him, her breath coming out like smoke with the night sky as a backdrop. “My ass is frozen solid. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“I’ll warm it up for you.” His arm circled her waist, and he pulled her close.
She looked totally smitten by the comment.
I liked that he was himself around me, but I also didn’t like it at the same time.
Sicily was bundled up in her coat, her arms crossed over her chest as she shivered. “It’s not just my ass that’s frozen.” Her teeth even started to chatter.
I stripped off my jacket.
When she saw what I was doing, she shook her head. “Dex, really, I don’t need—”
I bundled it around her, even though it was a couple sizes too big, but she immediately stopped shaking. “I run hot anyway.” I turned back to my sister to say goodbye. “Well, I’ll see you later, then.”
“Let’s not do the whole goodbye thing because I’m fucking cold.” She moved to the sidewalk and whistled loudly to attract a cab. She got one quickly then turned to Mason. “Babe, come on.”
He ignored her and extended his hand to Sicily. “Nice to meet you.”
“Yeah, you too.”
He came to me next, and when he shook my hand, he leaned in close. “In case you haven’t noticed…she wants you.” Then he walked off and joined my sister at the curb. She scooted into the cab first, and then he joined her. The cab pulled away.
Sicily turned to me. “It looks like you two buried the hatchet.”
Once the headlights were gone, I turned my gaze back to her, standing with my hands in my pockets. I looked at her bundled up in my coat, her cheeks pale like the snow on the ground and her eyes bright like the stars we couldn’t see right now. “Yeah, I guess he’s alright.”
“That’s great.” She tightened her arms over her chest to trap the body heat from my coat against her. “Well, I think that went well…for the most part. Thanks for inviting me.” She started to remove the jacket.
My hand moved to her shoulder. “Keep it on.” I nodded toward the street and stepped to the curb to grab us a cab.
She came with me, holding on to that coat like it was her favorite blanket.
When the cab pulled over, I opened the door for her.
“Are you sure you don’t want it back?”
“You can give it to me after I walk you to your apartment.”
Her eyes lit up at the offer, like I was Prince Charming. “Dex, you don’t have to do that—”
“It’s late, and the only reason you’re out is because of me. Come on, get in.”
She slid into the seat, and I joined her. The cab surrounded us with warmth, but it also surrounded us with the scents of all the other passengers who had sat in these same seats, and it smelled like the worst part of the city.
When we arrived at her apartment, I walked her to the front door, and once she got it unlocked, she stepped inside and shed the coat she’d become so attached to. Her petite figure was revealed once again, her hourglass frame in the tight cardigan with the buttons that went down the deep V in her top. She was in black jeans that were skintight and black boots, her curled hair falling around her shoulders when all the layers of warmth were gone.
Yeah, she was definitely attractive.
I noticed it the first time I looked at her.
Damn, she was fine.
I didn’t realize it so much at the beginning of the night because I was flustered about the situation, but now it was impossible not to notice. If we were sitting in the same bar, I’d definitely be the most charming man on the planet to get her back to my place so she could sit on my face.
But…she wasn’t doing that.
She was my assistant.
My friend.
That was it.
I scrubbed my jawline and the coarse hair that had grown in since this morning. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”