Seth (Damage Control 3)

“Cass!”

“Why do you look so shocked? People do that, you know.”

They do? “In the movies only,” I decide.

“I’m sure you believe that.”

My face warms, and I try to hide it behind my cup of coffee. “I do.”

Cassie of course sees right through me. Well, you’d have to be blind not to see my blush. “He kissed you, at least?”

“Fred?”

“Fred?” She makes a face. “You still hung up on him? Guy isn’t interested, girl.”

“What are you talking about? Fred wants me.”

“Because he goes out for coffee with you? Do tell. Has he kissed you?”

“Not yet.”

“Ah-huh. My point exactly. Whereas Seth…?”

I almost choke on my coffee. I want to lie. I try. My mouth won’t cooperate. “Seth did.”

“He kissed you. I knew it.” She grins, eyes twinkling. “The boy wants you.”

“No, he doesn’t.”

But even as I say it the memory of the way he held me and kissed me, the sounds he made, the feel of his hard-on branding my hip, it rushes back and makes me throb inside.

Crap.

“He wants into your pants.”

“He’s just being a good friend.”

She lifts a sandy brow. “By kissing you?”

I open my mouth. Close it. “It’s not like that.”

“Right.”

“I don’t want Seth.”

Okay, by now my excuses sound lame even to me. So I’m attracted to Seth. He’s an attractive guy. Nothing strange about that, right? Doesn’t mean anything.

But Cassie isn’t done with me yet. “Why do you want this guy anyway? This Fred?”

“We fit. We are similar.”

“That’s what I thought about Jesse. And see how wrong I was.”

I wince at the bitterness in her voice. “Yes, you were, Cass.”

“And if you are, too?”

“The difference is, I haven’t forced myself on him.”