Page 69 of Love, Luck & Clusterf*ck

“Maybe that’s why she isn’t my type.”

I wasn’t sure I understood that. I’d seen him with different women, and I didn’t peg him as the relationship kind either.

“Then what is your type?”

“Not her.” I frowned. We were talking in riddles. He smiled and touched my hand briefly.Zing. “You were pretty quiet at work today.”

“That’s because I was working.”

“No, there was more to it. Is whatshisname still giving you shit?”

“You know his name, Stephen.”

“And he’s going to know my fist if he keeps bringing you down.”

The intensity of his blue eyes floored me. I shouldn’t like his reaction. I shouldn’t be able to feel it so strongly. Feelhimso strongly. He was looking out for me, and not a lot of people did that. But he was looking out for me for all the wrong reasons. I didn’t need protecting from my own boyfriend, especially when I’d been the one who’d screwed up.

I deserved to feel guilty, and Stephen was trying to absolve my responsibility. Even if it was misguided, it still meant something to me. Even if I didn’t want it to. And I especially didn’t want to like the electricity jolting between us, screwing me up even more.

I looked down into my drink. The drink he’d picked out for me, nailing it. In some ways, it seemed like he already knew me better than Dre did, which was pretty damn insane to even be thinking.

“Like I told you earlier, you don’t understand. If you knew what happened, you wouldn’t be taking my side.” There was still the whole issue of the alleged cheating, but I couldn’t factor that in when I didn’t have proof.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Not really.”

“Then I’m still taking your side.”

He finished off the rest of his beer while continuing to stare at me. I kept darting my eyes between him and my half-finished margarita. I heard a loud giggle that I recognized as Christa’s.

“Are you happy with him?” he asked.

“Happy with Dre? That seems a little personal.”

“No more so than you asking what type of woman I go for.” Yeah, I suppose he had a point there. “And it’s a pretty straightforward question. One I’d feel comfortable asking any one of my friends.”

He had another point. I think my initial hesitation answering him had nothing to do with the question itself or who was asking it. Or maybe it had everything to do with who was asking it.

What the hell. I took as large a gulp as my mouth could handle. Then I took another. “I suppose you could say I’m happy, but in a different way. We’re still ironing out the kinks.”

“That’s not a good answer, Perry.”

“It’s a perfectly fine answer.”

“How long have you been with him?”

“Hmm… about five years.”

“Five years. You’re joking, right?”

“Ah, no.” What was so funny about that? “We all met in high school. First Christa, then Dre.”

“Five years and you’re still ironing out kinks? How much longerdo you need?”

“Well, it was pretty damn kinky to start with, so….” I smiled. I finally did make a joke, and he couldn’t even look amused. “Dre and I always had an unconventional relationship. We were together but not really together until recently.”

“Unconventional how?”

---