Winning my Best Friend's Girl - Piper Rayne Page 0,18
I could give it a try, but I can’t string someone along when my mind is one hundred percent on Stella. It’s not fair to anyone. “I’m not who people think I am. Just an FYI.”
She laughs. “It’s okay. I’m not looking for anything serious either. I figure we can have some fun.” Her eyes widen as if she’s just thought of something. “Hey, I snagged a spot at that house. Did you?”
I shake my head.
“No worries. I can bring you up as my guest. You know how you were talking about speed riding? I found out we can do it up there. My brother has a friend who did it and…”
I drown her out because yes, I want to ride down a mountain on my skis with a parachute, but Samantha is wrong. She’s not a friends-with-benefits girl. No girl ever is. They say they’re okay with it at first, but slowly it turns into wanting more dinners and less sex, then before I can stop the snowball from rolling down the hill uncontrollably, she’s talking about feelings and the future and crap.
“Yeah, I’m not going up there,” I say to stop her line of thinking.
Her gaze shifts to the door then back to me. “Because of Stella Harrison?”
I sip my beer as a distraction. “What?”
“Someone said they overheard that you guys knew one another in high school.”
“We did.”
“And is she the reason why you went cold as a dead fish on me?” She slurps her drink down to nothing.
“Samantha, we went out once.”
“Yeah, and I thought we had a good time, but as soon as Stella came into town, something changed. Did you guys date?”
I roll my eyes. How did my life in Lake Starlight follow me to Anchorage? Oh yeah, because Stella is here now.
I don’t even have a chance to answer before Samantha nods toward the door. “Oh look, here she comes with Lou.”
I glance over my shoulder and my gaze locks with Stella’s. Fuck. This is the last thing I want right now. She raises her hand halfway in the air. Lou nods to me, looking as uncomfortable as I am over the fact that neither of us mentioned we both planned a date after we were on shift together.
“Should we invite them to sit with us?” she asks, and I get the distinct impression this is a test.
“No.” I sip my beer, my eyes straying to the television once more.
“Maybe you could use me to make her jealous?”
I narrow my eyes at Samantha. I’d love to take the time to lecture her about her self-worth but… actually, no. I am going to tell her, so she demands more of the next guy.
“Samantha, you’re a great girl. We’re so much alike, I think we’d be better friends than lovers. The fact that you want to speed ride with me says we’d have a blast doing crazy shit together, but I’m not emotionally available. Stella and I never dated, but I’m hung up on her. And that’s not fair to you. Never ever volunteer to make someone jealous by using yourself as the pawn. You’re worth more than that and you’re going to make some guy a lucky bastard. Maybe I could’ve been that guy if someone didn’t steal my heart years ago. I’m sorry, but like I said, this isn’t gonna work.” I slide off the stool, throwing some money onto the bar and grabbing my jacket.
“Wait.” Samantha puts her hand on mine. “No one has ever said such nice things to me. I get it.” She glances at Stella and Lou. “And I won’t tell anyone. Truth is, I just had a horrible breakup and I want to forget him, but maybe we can be in misery together?” She pats the bar top. “Sit down. Enjoy your beer.”
“I don’t lead women on,” I say, still unsure if I should stay or not.
“Relax, Romeo. I might be good at petting your ego, but I’m not really into trying to convert a guy who has a hard-on for someone else.”
I laugh, hang my jacket on the back of the chair, and slide back onto the bar stool. “So just friends?”
“Friends.” She smiles and waves down the waitress. “I’ll have the Philly cheesesteak wrap, the truffle fries, and a beer?”
I laugh as the waitress looks to me for an order.
“Now that I won’t be sleeping with you tonight, I’m going to eat my feelings,” Samantha says.
“Nice. You could’ve done that anyway.” I order hot wings and carrots