Hidden Gems

“Then I’m fumigating for cockroaches.”

“Spring-cleaning,” Marissa said, sure she’d trumped him since she hadn’t spring-cleaned since forever.

“Nuclear bomb testing.”

She opened her mouth. Nothing came out. Damn. “Come in for coffee,” she said, leaving the door open and going back to the kitchen. “But this doesn’t mean you win.”

“Don’t fight over me now.” Shandi had come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. Her mop of wild curls dripped down her back. “You can split me like my parents did.” She gave Jamie’s golden retriever a pat. “Daddy, will you buy me a pony?”

He put up his hands, the leash twisting around his wrist. “Sorry. I don’t have room for either of you. But if I get a choice, I’d rather muck out after the pony.”

“Sheesh. I didn’t even ask yet.” Shandi dropped onto the couch, pouting. “You two are giving me a complex.”

“That’ll be the day,” Marissa said from the kitchen doorway. Shandi was a creature of airy confidence. She worked off and on as a freelance makeup artist, which meant that she was either flush with funds or flat broke. The state of her finances never bothered her. She lived her life on whims and luck, both good and bad. Unfortunately her morals tended to be as flexible as her address.

“I have a job all next week,” Shandi announced. “I’m doing makeup for an episode of ‘Law & Order.’ And I met a guy last night who’s an art director at an ad agency. He loved my book.”

“Good. You’ll be able to pay for a new room.”

“Something really swank. But in the meantime…” Shandi made big eyes at them, looking wan without her makeup.

“No,” Marissa and Jamie said in unison. They eyed each other, sending signals. The only way to stand firm was to make a run for it.

Jamie turned to go. “I have to walk the beast before her bladder bursts. Want to—”

“Yes, I’ll come.” Marissa grabbed her keys out of the straw purse and Shandi’s shoes off the floor. She flew out the door, right behind Jamie. “Lock up when you go,” she called over her shoulder before slamming the door.

She stabbed her feet into the one-size-too-small shoes. Jamie took her arm. “Let’s hurry before she follows us.”

“This is so undignified,” Marissa said as they hit the street. “We’d better not come across anyone I know. I haven’t taken a shower. I’m not even wearing a bra.”

His gaze skipped to her boobs. “Um, nice.”

“‘Um, nice’?” She crossed her arms, then uncrossed them. “Since when?”

“Nice isn’t flattering?”

“No, it’s— I meant, since when did you notice?”

“I’ve always noticed when you’re not wearing a bra.”

“Oh.” She counted back in her head and figured that must be about a couple hundred occasions, adding in all their lazy Sundays when she didn’t get out of her pajamas till noon. Going without a bra wasn’t something she spent a lot of time contemplating. She was small on top and liked it that way.

So did Jamie? Wow.

They moved off down the street, heading toward George’s, the large-dog run at Washington Square Park. Her heart was beating like a bongo drum. “How come you never said anything?”

Jamie took a long time answering. “How would you have reacted if I’d mentioned that you look sexy with a little jiggle and perkiness under your shirt? Or if I’d confessed that I steal looks through the gap every time you miss a button?”

Marissa bit the inside of her cheek. “I might have been more careful.”

She should feel mortified. Or at least insulted. But the knowledge that he’d been looking at her that way, noticing her body and maybe lusting after her hard-core, was not as weird as she’d once have expected. Ever since The Kiss—

No, her feelings had started even before that. Ever since she’d met him at the airport, there was a difference between them.

A difference that made heat crawl through her veins every time she thought about him touching her.

“I’m teasing,” Jamie said in a flat voice, his gaze pinned to the dog’s flopping ears.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

She sensed he was only trying to placate her. “Why don’t I believe you?”

He grinned sheepishly, looking a little more like the boy next door who kept her safe instead of off center. “Because when it comes to ogling the naughty bits of naked women, guys will always lie if they think they can get away with it.”

“I didn’t used to think of you as that kind of guy.”

“Then what am I? A eunuch?”

“Of course not! I know you’re, well, virile. In fact, you’re very attractive. Just not—”

“Just not attractive to you?” They’d slowed. His level, brooding stare was unnerving. But hot. Her cheeks flared. Forget the boy next door. He was giving off heavy-duty, man-in-your-bed vibes.

The old Jamie would have cracked a joke to distract them, but this one wasn’t backing down. He said, without a trace of embarrassment, “That’s not what your mouth was telling me last night.”

She gulped. “I wondered how long it’d take for us to go there.” She glanced around at the street, busy with the morning’s comings and goings. The dog walkers were out in full force: slender gay men matched with their greyhounds, high-heeled women toting pocket pooches, family guys leashed to a selection of setters and retrievers. “Huh. Not long. We haven’t even made it off the block.”

Jamie let Sally pull him forward to the corner, the dog’s nose quivering as she scented the bursting spring foliage at the park. “You want to pretend it didn’t happen?”

“I want us not to change. Not to make one kiss—”

Jamie’s new triple-X adult eyes knifed at her.

“Okay, a few kisses. Hot ones, even.” She took a steadying breath and started again. “Not to make a few hot kisses into some big drama that wrecks our friendship.”

“Like I said, you want to forget it happened.” Suddenly he sounded sad. Marissa’s stomach flipped. “Might as well forget what I said about your breasts, too.”

“Whatever. Really, it’s no big deal if you snuck a few peeks.” She looked down the neck hole of her T-shirt. “Breasts are breasts, unless they’re Pamela Anderson’s. So what if you’ve seen mine. I’m not shy.”

Jamie made a motion as if he intended to get another look, and she grabbed at the loose fabric, stretching the shirt taut across her front. Her nipples pressed sharp little points against the thin cotton.

The crosswalk light switched. The other pedestrians moved off quickly. Jamie didn’t budge an inch. Sally whimpered, tugging at the leash.

“Okay,” Marissa said. “You made your point. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle. But I’m not ready to deal with this.” She made a motion to reach for his hand, then pulled back. “Please, let’s go along as usual for a few days. I just got home. I’m wearing Shandi’s shoes.”

She put a hand up to flip back her hair and her fingers got stuck on a snarl. She never went out in such a state of disarray. Even going to the gym required a certain look with a coordinated outfit and her hair in a braided knot. “I’m all out of sorts.”