Page 60 of Cloudy With a Chance of Bad Decisions

There.

That was accurate, wasn’t it?

Hard to please. Hard to be around. Hard on me. Hard-handed. Hard-headed.

“Not that you should care. But…”

“I care.” Alex picked up speed, the roads barren of anyone but us. “Of courseI care. I’m not heartless. You seem like a good guy. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that Brendon—” God it felt weird to hear Alex say his name, “sucked enough that you’ll never give another man a chance again.”

He was poking fun. But not in a mean way. Simply pointing out how silly my statement had been. I supposed it did seem rather…depressing.

“You know what the best revenge is after a bad breakup?” Alex continued, taking the exit that would lead us southwest toward Hocking Hills.

“What?”

I knew where this was going, but…didn’t stop it.

“Being blissfully, happily in love with someone else.”

I snorted, rolling my eyes. Again, Alex was nothing if not predictable. “Not posting pictures with handsy men online?”

“That too—” Alex laughed. “But, seriously,” he added. “Look. I’m not trying to manipulate you into accepting my offer—and also, to be totally honest, as someone who is still hung up on whatmyshitty ex did, I am far from qualified to give advice—but don’t you think cutting off all possibility of happiness with someone else would be exactly the kind of thing an ass like Brendon would want you to do? He’d want you miserable. The texts he sends you make that pretty clear.”

Oh.

Fuck.

“I guess I never thought of it that way.”

“Food for thought,” Alex replied.

We were quiet for a few tense minutes as I processed what he’d said.

“I’m still not having sex with you,” I teased, because again, it was jarring having him be so nice to me. Alex was the kind of man that kept you on your toes.

“Sex is optional!” Alex chuckled. “Buuuut…for the sake of my promise to be honest, I feel it imperative I inform you that what I’ve got downstairs would be on par with your tastes.”

“Jesus.”

“Size queen.”

“I really will strangle you.”

“I’m driving.” Alex said, like operating the vehicle gave him immunity. “Mutually assured destruction.”

I glared at him, but there wasn’t any real heat to it. “Are we at a truce now?” I asked because I was curious. “You apologized. I accepted. You helped me. I went along with you on a thousand and a half errands.”

“I want to say no,” Alex replied. “Because if I say yes that means we can’t fight anymore.”

“Something is wrong with you.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it too!” Alex’s head tossed back as he chuckled. A dark lock bounced on his forehead as his grin turned wicked, sending a frisson of heat down my spine. Before he could open his mouth and say something flirty, I cut him off.

“So, not a truce. But…maybe sometimes we can be this too.”

“Amicable.” Alex bobbed his head. “Two guys who find their families’ meddling endearing but obnoxious.”

“Too true.”

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