This was going to be a long week, or weeks, if this was the sort of behavior she could expect from Axel. She was also sure a report was being called in to her cousin before she even finished brushing her teeth.
Nobody said life was supposed to be easy, she supposed.
“Okay, seriously—you’ve been holding out on us, and that’s so not cool!”
Ella knew the blaring spotlight was on her, and there was no way she was going to get away with saying nothing. As a very capable lawyer, she’d practiced the art of twisting words to her benefit, but there were two women in the world she could never lie to: her best friends, Maycie and Reese.
“You two showed up unannounced on my doorstep. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. There’s just nothing to tell,” Ella said, hoping she could throw them off the scent.
“Ha! A complete stud of a man is currently scaling the side of your house with his muscles rippling and his hazel eyes twinkling, and there’s nothing to tell?” Maycie said with a knowing smirk and hands on her hips.
“He’s doing a job, that’s all,” Ella told them both as she moved to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.
“Doing a job, my ass. And why is your best shirt laid out on the bed and you’re currently searching for your Kiss-Me-Now lipstick?” Reese asked, arms crossed as she leaned against the door, zeroing in on Ella with a knowing expression.
“I don’t have Kiss-Me-Now lipstick and I have some errands to run today. I didn’t pick out my so-called best shirt. I just threw some clothes on the bed to get dressed.”
“Sure, you’re just running errands, so you’re wearing shiny red lipstick and the shirt you got on spring break senior year that matches your eyes and got you kissed by that Greek god,” Maycie said.
“Fine. I think he’s cute, but I’m not interested in hooking up with the guy. My overprotective cousin Bryson sent him here to keep me safe and you know exactly how I feel about that,” Ella said as she slapped some eye shadow on her lids. She was going to look like a clown if this interrogation didn’t stop soon.
“Now we’re getting somewhere. He’s a friend of Bryson’s? I was so bummed when that man candy got married,” Maycie said with a sigh.
“You and a million other girls,” Ella said, laughing.
“Hey, all the good ones are taken when you get as old as us,” Reese said as she sat on the edge of the tub and sighed.
“It’s not like we’re going to need a cane anytime soon,” Ella reminded her. “We’re only in our mid-twenties.”
“Yeah. So if you aren’t interested in the guy, do you mind if I have a go at him?” Maycie said with a wicked twinkle in her eyes.
Maycie’s long dark hair and exotic looks meant she didn’t need any help in the man department, but the friends loved to push each other to get a reaction. Ella refused to show one.
“He’s all yours,” she said between clenched teeth. She’d rather wade around in the sewers than see that happen, but she’d also rather skinny-dip in the public pool than admit it.
“Mmm-hmm,” was Maycie’s only response.
“Hey, maybe I want him!” Reese said. Her only tell was the sparkle in her pale green eyes, which were deceptively innocent, especially with her killer curves and luscious, naturally dark pink lips.
“Why don’t you both take him for a spin? Then at least he won’t be bothering me,” Ella said as she gave up on her makeup, deciding she already looked like a circus clown. She’d have to wash it all off and start the entire process over again.
“Come on! Just give it up. You wouldn’t mind taking him out for a test drive, would you?”
“Maycie, you’re a terrible human being,” Ella said, but they knew she didn’t mean it.
“Yes, and very proud of it.”
“Just admit the truth, and it all stops,” Reese said, following Ella to her bedroom.
“Okay, I think he’s attractive. I also think he’s arrogant, dim-witted, and a pain in the ass,” Ella told them, ripping off her pajamas and throwing on the now offensive blue shirt.
“Liar,” Maycie said.
“I told you what I thought. Now can we drop the interrogation?”
“You know us better than that,” Reese reminded her.
“Yes, sadly I do,” she said with a sigh, giving up as she plopped down on the bed. “It’s just that my last relationship didn’t go well, as you both know, and this guy is . . . I don’t know . . . dangerous. Not like I’m afraid of him, but he bends the rules, skates in and out of the lines. If I ever decide to date again, I need a nice, normal, nine-to-five kind of guy.”
“Bor-ing!” Maycie retorted as she flopped back on the bed. “A guy like that certainly isn’t going to burn up the bedsheets.”
“I don’t need my sheets burned. I like them nice and cool,” Ella said sternly.
“What happened to you? One bad relationship and you’re going all nunish on us. I think you need an intervention. A good start would be to heat up your nights with Mr. Hottie out there, who is currently undressing you with his eyes through the window.”
Ella’s head whipped around and she was more than grateful to see that wasn’t true, but ticked that she’d fallen for it and actually looked.
“Shh! I don’t need him to hear this and get any ideas,” Ella warned.
“Maybe that’s exactly what you need,” Reese said as she raided the closet looking for new clothes to borrow.