What Lola Wants (Leave Your Shoes On 1)

Lola stared after him, shocked. Dismayed. Confused.

No. Those words weren’t strong enough. Nowhere near strong enough.

And now she truly couldn’t breathe. Had to fight to pull in painful slices of air.

She gripped the edge of the counter as she reeled from Alex’s announcement… and how massively it had devastated her.

For the first time in her life, Lola was wrecked.

Really and truly wrecked.

Thoroughly heartbroken.

Tears slid down her flushed cheeks as she continued to stare at the door. Willing Alex to return and say he was only kidding. That what he felt for her was as powerful as what she felt for him.

That they were fated, so of course, he’d only been pulling her leg.

But Alex didn’t come back.

And just like that… it was all over between them.

* * *

Alex spent two hours at the gym, then showered and went to the office. He worked until four, not getting a hell of a lot done because he kept thinking about Lola.

She’d wanted him to make love to her last night. Not fuck her. Make love to her. And she’d been so warm and soft and cuddly that he’d been in heaven with her in his bed. It had felt so right, so natural, that it had freaked him out.

Pete’s words of wisdom stuck in his head, and he knew continuing his involvement with Lola when he was in love and she was just in lust was nothing more than a recipe for disaster.

As it was, putting an end to the wicked fun made him completely crazed. The mere thought of never having sex with her again caused his gut to coil. And his heart? It felt as though it’d not only been ripped from his chest, but tossed alongside the road and run over by a Mack truck.

Yes, he’d been the one to end things, not her. And technically, they were just supposed to be having meaningless, scratch-an-itch sex. Not dating. Not getting tangled up in messy feelings.

But Alex was most definitely tangled up. He’d needed to unravel himself from Lola before his obsession got any worse. Before he went and did something really stupid, like tell her he was madly, desperately, irrevocably in love with her.

You did the right thing.

Was that his voice or Pete’s? And why did ending the FWB feel so fucking… wrong?

* * *

On the drive back to the condo, Alex didn’t fare any better with his decision and actually considered telling Lola that he’d suffered a moment of temporary insanity that morning and that, of course, he didn’t want to stop having sex with her.

He came through the front door, his mind burning with doubts and concerns—and thoughts of Lola in a sexy nightie and stilettos. If he was really fucking lucky, she’d attempt to seduce him back into the friends-with-benefits arrangement. And he’d let her.

Okay, so he had absolutely no willpower anymore when it came to her. Less than ten hours from the time he’d said no más, he wanted her again.

Face the glaring facts, man: You’re an addict. She’s your drug.

He dumped his gym bag on top of the washer and then returned to the kitchen.

The first thing he noticed was that the flowers were gone.

“Lo?”

He crossed to the kitchen table and rounded the island, heading toward her room.

That was when he discovered where the bouquet had gone. It was stuffed into the tall, stainless-steel trash can, the top of the floral arrangement shooting out of the can because it was so damn big.