Extra Hot

by Ally Crew

  Addison is right. She did help me. A lot. And I never paid her a cent and now I have lots of cents.

  Lots.

  I hit the “Stop” button on the machine and the black treadmill grinds to a slow stop. “Fine. Where and when?”

  I’m going to regret this.

  Sloan

  I’m bent over searching a plastic bin for sampling spoons when I hear a throat clear behind me. I stand up quickly and my head spins.

  “Whoa…” I shake my head. “Hey, how can I help you?”

  “I think it’s how I can help you.” The tall man with shamrock green eyes winks.

  I laugh. “Dude, you need to get a better pickup line. I have to shit to get done, so if you don’t mind…” I pause, taking in his cut jawline and that perfect dimple in his chin, but I wave him away all the same. I don’t have time to be making friends—or more—anyway, even if my body has already heated about ten degrees from his proximity.

  “No. I’m Alyx. Alyx Morgan.”

  I twist back to face him. “Alyx. Like Addison’s Alyx?” A huge weight seems to slide right off of my shoulders.

  “Yes, Addison is my sister.”

  I can’t help myself. I tackle him in a big hug. My chest presses again his hard muscles and he stiffens for just a second, but soon his hands are on my back, and I’m sighing away every worry I had.

  “She tells me you’re a miracle worker,” I say, inhaling his cologne. It’s soft and yet deep, florals sitting on a big piece of wood. Big. Hard. Wood.

  I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve been with a guy. Like never. Ever. That’s a long time when you’re twenty-four. It’s not because I didn’t want to…I want to. Bad. It’s more no one has wanted to with me.

  I’ve never been the smallest girl in the Girl Scout Troop. I was that one who needed a “special uniform” that never truly matched, but the leaders always tried to make you feel like it did. No, it wasn’t the same brown, Sandra.

  But then I found yoga in college. Or maybe yoga found me. I was walking through the open quad in the center of our apartment complex at our university and this girl out of nowhere grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a mat.

  “You can do this,” she whispered and from that moment on I was hooked. Both on yoga and on Addison Morgan as my best friend and she was and is the same today. She understands my struggles. She listens to me when I’m freaking out, which is a lot. And she even encouraged me to move to the same town as her so we could start a business.

  I forgot her brother lives here, too. I’d yet to meet him.

  And I’m still hugging him. Only because he hasn’t said anything. I might just continue. Forever.

  He clears his throat. “Um…yeah…so…”

  “Right.” I back away and awkwardly rub his arms. Whoa. Those are muscles. Thick bundles of muscles.

  The way Addison talks about her brother I’d have thought he’s a twig of a human and honestly, kind of…ordinary. This guy is everything but ordinary. He’s… fucking hot. And she says that he doesn’t have a personality. I guess I’ll have to find out if she’s told a little fib there, too.

  “So, what are we doing?” He rubs his hands together and pretends to be interested. Maybe he genuinely is, but I’d bet anything that Addison strong armed him into this. I don’t care. I desperately need the help.

  I push down all the fluttering hormones in my system and motion to the table. “Cup-O-Cake. It’s vegan cake and icing in a cup to travel.”

  “Okay.” He picks up a paper cup and a spoon, pops the clear plastic top, and digs in.

  I can’t tell by his facial reaction if he’s liking it or not. He takes another bite. Those pink lips wrapping around the spoon time and time again. And then Alyx lifts another flavor, lifts the top and plows into that one.

  “Dang. These are fantastic. And you say they’re vegan?”

  “And some are gluten free and we’ll be making some that are sugar free, but these aren’t. Gotta hook them with the sugar first.”

  He chuckles. “Wow. This is amazing. And you made these?”

  I pull more supplies from the totes. “With Addison’s brilliant ideas and help.”

  He smirks and I feel the heat of his stare deep in my stomach. “She does have some good ideas, occasionally.”

  Find out if Alyx will be missing ingredient in Sloane’s life now! ALYX