Page 15 of Flashback
“Um, yeah, I think you’re missing one required element to that proposal.”
“A penis?”
“No!” Mazey laughed. “A ring!”
“Oh. Right.”
“And a penis.”
“You’re not into . . . ?”
“Are you?”
“Ah, no. Sadly. If I was, I might not be suffering from a serious dry spell of sexy times. There’s a shortage of available men in my life.”
“You didn’t hit on Rylan when he started?”
Shit. Why did she ask that? It was none of her business if her friend had hooked up with the man. Mazey knew Alyssa preferred her sex string free, so it seemed obvious she’d have gone after Rylan. He oozed sex like a stripper with her legs wrapped around a pole.
She glanced at Alyssa to gauge her response to Mazey’s big mouth. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t ask even though she’d been thinking about it for over a week. “Never mind. Not my business.”
Alyssa eyed her. “You interested in that?”
“What?”
“Ry.”
“No. No, I just wondered, that’s all. You said there were no available men, but he’s available, right?”
Nodding, Alyssa hummed.
“Anyway, help me get these pies into that box there, and we can head out.”
“No.”
“What?” She looked over. “I thought you offered to help?”
“I mean no, I have not hit on Ry. There’s no interest on either side.”
“Really? But he’s hot as fuck.”
Alyssa smirked. “Is he now?”
“Well, yeah, you have to admit that, interest or not.” Mazey couldn’t understand why some woman hadn’t snapped him up and taken him off the market before now. Not only was he good looking but he was a gentleman too. Kind and friendly and genuinely interested in what you were saying.
“I think someone has an interest, but it isn’t me.”
“No. Nope. No way, no how. I’m not interested in any man. They’re too much trouble. They lie and cheat and try to control you.”
“Hmm . . .” Alyssa lifted a pie plate. “Well, yeah, some men are like that, but I don’t think Ry falls in that category. I’ve been working with him for six months, and with the way our group socializes I think I would have picked up on any flaws the man might have.”
“He does seem like a nice guy. Not that I’m interested in adding a man to my new life here in Sunnyville.”
“I think someone is protesting a little too much,” Alyssa said with a chuckle. “How are we putting all of these in here?”
Mazey pulled out a couple of plastic covers she had for splatter-proof microwaving and placed one over the first pie. “Now, we put the next one in and repeat.”
“Oh, clever. Are you sure you won’t marry me? You’re like the ultimate wife. I could do with one of those now that I’m in the middle of the teen years from hell.” Alyssa scowled at the apple pie in her hands. “The girl is in trouble up to her eyeballs, and yet she still pushes every button I have like she doesn’t care how much I come down on her head.”
