Page 25 of Your Two Lips
“What if he’s trying to change?”
“He isn’t.”
Her eyes grew even stormier.
“He’s not a long-term guy. He’s barely an entire night guy,” I said.
“That’s my business, Finn. Not yours. Maybe I don’t care about long-term. Maybe I want a fun night for a change.” Hurt flashed in her eyes. Shit. I didn’t want to hurt her.
“Emily, Evan’s not the guy.”
“Then who, Finn? Who do you recommend?”
Me, I wanted to shout. God, I wanted it to be me.
She shifted her weight, looking past me for a moment while I said nothing. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, not meeting my eyes.
“Emily … we’re friends. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Friends.” She took a deep breath and met my eyes. “Yes, we are. As your friend, I am advising you to butt out. I can make my own choices. It’s just dinner. I don’t believe we were grinding on the table.”
My jaw tensed at that image. I was going to crack a tooth.
“We’re in a public place that is familiar to me,” she said. “We drove separately. Jake has been eyeballing me since we walked in. I am well covered here. I’m not going home with a man I just met regardless of how long it’s been since I had sex. Good night, Finn. I’ll see you tomorrow with my bike.” She headed back to the table.
Shit. I walked to the bar. How long had it been since she had sex? I didn’t want to care, but I did. I cared a lot. Dan slapped me on the shoulder and tucked back into his burger.
“What just happened?” I was a little dazed.
“My guess, you overstepped. Emily is making a fresh start, standing on her own.”
I stared at Dan. He shrugged. “Carrie may have mentioned a conversation with her.”
“That’s information I could have used ten minutes ago.”
He chuckled again, actually fucking chuckled like this was funny. “You care about her.”
I nodded. No sense in denying it.
“So why aren’t you asking her out?”
“She said she wants fun. Dan, I can’t do that anymore.”
“Are you prepared to watch her do that with someone else? She will Finn.” Dan pointed a look at me, his eyebrows raised in challenge.
Emily was sexy in a way she didn’t realize. A decent guy would ask her out, and I would have to watch her date him or more. That made my stomach drop like a roller coaster.
“Decide what you want from her and then ask her for it,” he said.
“Oh, walk up to her, and say, ‘hey Em, I want you to be with me and only me. I haven’t had a relationship since I was a kid, but you should trust me. I probably won’t fuck it up. Oh, and don’t break my heart because it might not recover.’ She’s going to run for the door.”
“Possibly.”
“Ugh. Why does she have to look like that, ride like that? She is a badass with a great ass. She never wears a damn bra either. Have you noticed that?” I smacked him on the shoulder as he looked back at her then grinned at me. “If I convince her to not just have fun with me and she gives me the push, or I screw it up … I don’t even want to think about it.”
“You could screw it up. But you can fix things when both people are honest about it. Don’t let the fear of fucking up stop you from trying.”
“You get that from an inspirational kitten poster?”
