by Nana Malone
Fox laughed and shook his head. “That would imply that I have a life beyond hockey. And as you know better than anyone else, I don’t.”
“As if I’ve never seen the groupies. But anyway, I figured you may or may not eventually have, uh, company.” Sasha flicked the lava lamp back off. She had also purchased a small plastic set of drawers that she had tucked into a corner of the room. “For your clothes,” she explained, when she saw his confusion. “When you said you had ordered a bed, you never said anything about a dresser.”
“How much did you spend on this stuff? I thought the whole point of my moving in here with you was so that you could save a bit of money,” he reminded her.
“I saved the receipts so you could reimburse me,” she grinned. “Since I have the bigger bedroom, including a massive closet, I think you should have the storage closet across the hall for your stuff. I think part of it is meant to be for coats, but I’ve got that hanging rack thing on the back of the door.” Fox looked around his new room as she moved out into the hallway.
As she turned her back to him to open the closet doors, she was aware of his gaze on her. His intense blue eyes tracked her every move, and she felt it to her core. Maybe this was a bad idea.
“I’ve got one more box of stuff down in my car,” he told her, moving toward the door. “That closet should be perfect for my hockey gear. And I promise, I have enough air freshener things to keep it from overpowering the apartment.”
“It’s all right if you don’t,” Sasha said with a smile, and she hurried past him into the kitchen and pulled something from a plastic bag. “I got a bulk pack of these plug-in things, and there’s an outlet right there by the door. Should keep the hockey boy smell under control.”
“Perfect. I’ll be right back.”
Fox leaned against the front door. He squeezed his eyes shut, but he kept seeing Sasha in those tight yoga pants. Maybe this was a mistake.
He needed to get his shit together. He’d had to deal with random chub around Sasha since he’d hit puberty, so this was a familiar struggle. Usually he let his charm and his dick do the talking. But she was his only female friend. And she was important to him. He didn’t want things to change.
Sasha developing her tits and ass when they were teenagers had caused him endless hours of torture. So many damn wet dreams. But he knew their friendship was special. Even he wasn’t dumb enough to fuck that up. But there were moments when she caught him unaware. Like he had been moments before… The curve of her ass and the subtle arching of her back… His dick throbbed in his jeans. Damn it. He needed to get this shit under control. He ran his hands through his hair.
He stepped out into the parking lot, and the wave of humid air calmed the rush in his bloodstream. He would have to be more careful and guarded than he was used to being. It was so easy to let go of himself when he was around Sasha. He’d have to remember he couldn’t let go entirely.
He would keep it together most of the time. But he couldn’t control his subconscious, so he knew there was no way around the dreams of her that occasionally crept in. The shower had been his undoing. The water soaking through that bra of hers so that her nipples stood out. The way the water streamed between her breasts, trickling down to her navel and into her wet panties— Fuck.
Nope. He pushed the memory of her hands rubbing his bare chest and abdomen from his mind. He tried to focus on how pathetic he was, sitting in his soggy underwear, close to tears. Sasha had seen him through a lot, and he didn’t want to be just another guy who couldn’t appreciate her beyond her body. He didn’t want to be another guy who was only interested in getting between her legs. No matter how interested he truly was. They were going to stay friends. He knew he was a player. Thinking of the kind of girls he’d slept with reminded him that he needed to keep his mitts off Sasha. He didn’t deserve her.
He needed to get laid. It was always easier to master the mind-over-matter thing when he’d hooked up with a girl. But most of the time, he’d been too focused on hockey to worry about his social life. He didn’t need a girlfriend though, just a quick fuck and he’d be back in control of himself. And he wouldn’t keep looking at Sasha and thinking about how soft she was to touch and why the fuck she smelled so good.
He glanced down at his dick to ascertain how noticeable his erection would be if he headed back upstairs. Ten minutes in the bathroom and he’d be all right until he could go out and get himself laid. He started running through the list of friends he could call to act as his wingman, but most of them were the guys who had pissed him off during their disastrous dinner at the restaurant.
He shook his head and lifted the box. It was heavy, and the awkward stance he had to adopt to carry it was perfect for concealing his uncooperative dick. He’d figure something out after he had done a bit of unpacking.
He had to see about the list of common courtesy rules Sasha had drawn up, but he had a feeling that bringing a girl home could be the perfect way to convey that he was serious about the two of them remaining friends and roommates but nothing more. Fox was sure he and Sasha were on the same page as far as not wanting to do anything to jeopardize their friendship.
He was unable to knock on the door with anything other than his forehead, earning him an amused eye roll from Sasha when she opened the door. His cock throbbed again as he pushed past her to dump the box of stuff in the corner of the living room.
“So, hear me out. I know me moving in here and helping with the rent and food and stuff is going to help you out with paying for school while your internship is still a for-credit thing. But your job at the restaurant…do you really get enough hours to make enough in tips to cover everything else you need financially?” he asked.
“Um…yeah, sure. I don’t hate it at the restaurant, but it’s not the kind of job I’ve dreamed of.” Sasha played along. “Not exactly a huge secret.”
“It’s just that I was thinking about this thing Echo was talking about when she came for family dinner last week. She’s working on creating and establishing her clothing brand…line…” He paused as he sorted through a stack of DVDs to put them in the empty space on the shelf with Sasha’s—there were several duplicates between the two of them, so he put his copies back into the box. “I’m not sure what the difference is?”
“Was there a point to this?” Sasha bent over to open up a box of Fox’s stuff labeled ‘bathroom.’ Her oversized tank top dipped in the front as she bent at the waist, and he could see down the front of her shirt to where her breasts swelled, rising above the dark fabric of her bra as she pulled out his bath towels and carried them to the linen closet.
“Uh…no, I mean yeah,” he cleared his throat. He snapped out of his daze before shifting into an awkward crouch by his electronics box, pulling out and sorting his games and books as well as the miscellaneous intertwined power cords.
Peeking over his shoulder to be sure she hadn’t come back into the room, he dragged in deep breaths. He could do this. Mind over matter.
“She needs models to work with, and I was thinking she might be interested in working with you. And I knew you could use the money so…what d’you think? Is it something you’d be interested in looking into?”
Sasha shook her head. “C’mon Fox, modeling? I want to be taken seriously.”
“What?”
He watched the tilt of Sasha’s head shift from leaning toward the left to leaning toward the right. Her eyes narrowed and she jutted her jaw out a bit before clenching her teeth.
“Look, I’m just thinking of what might help. I don’t even think of you that way. Like a piece of meat. I mean, I’m not even looking at you as a girl.”
She blinked. “You don’t?” Sasha asked with a note of disbelief and something else…disappointment?
Fuck. “I mean…it’s not like I don’t look at you and see that you’re gorgeous and…stuff.” His dick twitched. He turned and paced, hoping she couldn’t see just how he thought about her. “Let me try this again. Echo is lookin
g for women she can work with while she’s developing her brand. She can’t afford, and doesn’t really want, traditional fashion models. It’s an athletic line, and she was complaining about how regular models’ proportions just…aren’t right for her…aesthetic…or something like that. She needs women, not models. And she wants women who can do more than just model. She needs…how did she put it? ‘Brand ambassadors,’ that was it.”
He chanced a glance at Sasha to see if he’d successfully dug himself out of the hole he’d inadvertently stumbled into. Her brow was still furrowed with displeasure, but she no longer looked like she wanted to run his head through the drywall behind the sofa.
“Just meet with her. Call her, have lunch or something. She’ll do a way better job of explaining it than I can, I promise you that.” He assured her. “And it’s not something where you’ll be prancing around in your bra and panties as some…male fantasy. You know Echo. Do you really think that’s the kind of branding she’s going for?”
A hint of a smile played at the corners of Sasha’s mouth. “I’ll think about it. I mean, I have a schedule, and it might not fit anyway, so…it will all probably be moot. My work at the station takes priority. But we’ll see.”
“That’s the spirit. And for the record, I don’t think it will hurt your chances of getting on camera if people are already familiar with who you are and are used to seeing you. I know you’re concerned, but I don’t think something like this would undermine your career as much as you think it will.”
Fox shifted his position as he headed for the bathroom. He just needed a minute. He reached the door, but before closing it, he leaned his head into the hallway. The doorframe conveniently blocked her view. “You know. The guys who tell you how hot you are, I mean, you’re all right—” he grinned. That’s right, keep it casual “—but I think some of their compliments were strictly part of their attempts to undermine you so they’d find you less threatening. I, on the other hand, don’t find you threatening at all.”
Sasha grabbed a small pillow off the sofa and lobbed it down the hall at his head with a frustrated smirk on her face. He pulled himself into the bathroom and closed and locked the door, leaning back against it as he dragged in deep breaths. In a flash, he had the shower on and his clothes off. Once he was under the water, he began stroking himself. Remembering the way Sasha’s touch felt as she’d trailed her fingers up and down his bare back…over his shoulder with the wash cloth…her hand on his knee…then thigh…
As his release snaked through him like lightning, Fox knew he’d be taking a lot of showers.
Sasha refused to call Echo for several days. She spoke with her manager at the restaurant about her hours, trying to squeeze in as many as she could between her classes and her internship. But even with Fox helping with the rent, she still had her school expenses to pay for, and that bill… Well, there was no way she could make the payment before the deadline unless she took out another loan or found a better job.
She was so close to graduating, but she already had more student loans than she wanted, thanks to her father’s refusal to pay for any of her school expenses.
“I’m not taking the money out of your wedding fund,” he’d told her when she approached him on the subject.
“You know most parents set those things up the other way around,” she’d argued, disgusted by the conversation. “Most parents make a college fund for their kids, and then if the kid doesn’t go they put it toward things like a car or a wedding. I don’t want to get married right now or anytime soon. I’m not even seeing anyone!”
But he’d been adamant, and she was now staring at the large bill due in just a few weeks. She swallowed her pride and called Echo during a break between classes to see how much of what Fox had said was true. Sasha had her principles, but at the same time, she did have bills to pay. She trusted Echo’s judgment and was confident that whatever she had in mind would be better than taking out another loan. She could stomach making money off her looks to support herself temporarily a little better than using her looks to marry rich, like her father wanted.
“Fox told you about it?” Echo asked with evident surprise. “I didn’t think he was even paying attention.”
“Oh, yeah. He does that a lot. Gets that blank look on his face, and you’re pretty sure he’s picturing himself in the net with about fifteen guys bearing down on him. And then three days later, whatever you were talking about comes up again and he winds up repeating word-for-word what you’d said before,” Sasha laughed. “It’s creepy.”
“Oh, my God, you’re right!” Echo admitted with a laugh. “So, wait, you’re interested in working with me?”
“He said something about maybe I’d be able to work with you instead of working at the restaurant, and that you didn’t want to shell out the big bucks for professional models. I’m hoping you might be willing to hire amateurs like me…” her voice trailed off. She prayed Echo would pick up on her hints about being paid without making her beg for money aloud.
“Well, it sounds pretty perfect to me. I’m still getting used to the whole hiring people to work for me thing, and interviewing candidates for something like this is just…awkward. What do you say when you want to tell a woman no, and she’s a model?” Echo sighed. “But you’re definitely more the body type we need, and I’d be so much more comfortable working with you than some of these high-maintenance professionals.”
“Great. Just…I don’t know…send me a schedule and the kinds of things you’d need me to do for…prep or whatever. I’ll try to work my internship around whatever you need,” Sasha offered.
“Perfect. I’ve got Jen coming in to help in a few days…Tuesday, actually. Will that work for you?”
“I get out of class at eleven…” Sasha hoped that wouldn’t be too late.
“That’ll work! We can get together for lunch first and discuss things. It’s a business expense, so don’t worry, the meal will be on me. And then after that we can get you in the studio and trying things on, take some demo shots, so I can make a few tweaks before setting up a formal shoot. And we’ll discuss compensation.”
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s amazing, Echo. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I’ll see you on Tuesday.” Sasha hung up, breathing a sigh of relief. This was going to work. Having Fox around was already changing her life.
Later that night, Fox hung with Sasha at the house. When was the last time they had done this? Fox lounged back on Sasha’s couch, a giant bowl of popcorn between the two of them. He glanced over at Sasha and grinned. This was the first time he had felt normal in weeks. Since the trials.
His chest tightened every time he thought about the way he had blown it. The chance he’d had; it had slipped through his fingers like running water. It made him want to scream. He wasn’t going to think about that today, though. He was just going to enjoy veg time.
Before he knew it, a piece of popcorn bounced off his nose. “What the hell was that for?”
“That’s for ignoring me when I asked you to pass me a soda.”
He frowned. “You asked something? Sorry.”
He reached to his side for the cooler and grabbed her a Diet Pepsi. He knew how much she hated Diet Coke. Before handing it to her, he wiped the condensation from the can.
“Fox Coulter, at your service.”
Sasha glanced over. “Are you okay?”
He nodded. “Well, as much as a guy who’s about to watch a romantic comedy can be.”
“Oh, don’t pout. You lost the coin toss fair and square. I get to pick the genre.” She smirked. “Besides, I know you secretly love these.”
The slight flush crept up his neck. See, that was the problem with living with your best friend. And when your best friend was a girl. She knew those things. Those embarrassing things. Things she would happily blurt out to some date you brought by.
“I do not.”
“Oh yes you do! I still remember you tearing up a little bit at the end of Love Actually
.”
He groaned. “But that was a good movie. C’mon Sasha, he was in love with her. He was tortured. He knew he couldn’t have her, because she was his best friend’s girl.”
Sasha laughed. “See, you love these.”
“Fine,” he crossed his arms. “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
As the movie started and the ridiculously-good-looking-but-funny Hugo fumbled his way into asking out the girl of his dreams, Fox’s gaze lingered over Sasha. She sat with her knees to her chest, occasionally dipping her hand into the popcorn. He noticed the tank top and short shorts that she had thrown on when she got home. The shorts were so short that Fox was pretty sure he’d see her ass any second. Not that he was complaining in the least. Her breasts bobbled every time she moved, giving him all sorts of ideas. Torture. Pure torture.
Stop it, best friend. Remember, no more inappropriate thoughts about bestie, got it?
He held onto that thought. He turned his head back to the screen just in time to see the hero and the heroine kissing, like really kissing. It was the kind of kiss that he sometimes wondered about giving Sasha.
No. The kind of kiss you give your dates. You don’t kiss your best friend.
He was right. What the hell was wrong with him? Before he’d moved in, his thoughts about Sasha were once in a blue moon. Now they happened daily. It had to be the proximity.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Next to him, Sasha groaned. “On second thought, maybe this movie wasn’t the best idea.”
He shrugged. “It’s not so bad. I was kind of getting into it.”