Desired (Wanted 6)

My shoulders lifted, “No point. I guess I was just pointing out that you’ve been with the same girl for over a month. Is that a record?”

“Unlike you, my friend, I don’t have a revolving door with women coming and going.”

I gr

inned. Little did he know I’d put a lock on the door. Well, I didn’t . . . a beautiful, innocent-looking Heather had put a lock on it. Anytime I tried to hook up with a girl, I couldn’t. All I could see was her eyes. Her smile. Smell the perfume she had on.

It was driving me fucking crazy.

“Well, we all can’t be blessed with the tools to attract the women.”

Brad laughed and shook his head. “You can keep your tools. I think this one is the one.”

Leaning in closer, my mouth dropped slightly open. “What? The one? How in the hell could you possibly know that after a month?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a stupid grin. “I feel things with her that I’ve never felt before.”

My heart nearly stopped.

“You know, the way your chest tightens when you see her smile or the way your breath stops when she laughs.”

The way I was staring at him had to be a sign that I had no earthly clue what he was talking about.

“Brad, don’t do this to me. First Gunner falls for Ellie, then Jeff loses his damn mind over Ari, and now you’re doing this to me? You’re leaving me for ‘the one’?”

He laughed. “Jeff hasn’t lost his damn mind. He just can’t admit to himself he likes Ari and has for a while, just like you can’t admit you like Heather.”

Her name made my chest feel like it just dropped down to my stomach.

“You’re fucking crazy, dude. I don’t like Heather.”

Brad’s left brow rose, as if he was daring me to say it again.

“I. Don’t. Like. Heather.”

“So let me ask you something. Since the graduation and the other day when you saw her, when she was with Amanda and they stopped by my place, you didn’t look twice at her?”

“Of course I did. She’s beautiful and has a nice body.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. You haven’t thought about her once?”

I looked down at my uneaten hamburger. “No.” It was a mumbled response.

“What was that?”

“My hamburger is getting cold.”

“Jesus, you like her.”

I scoffed. “I do not. I want in her pants. There’s a difference.”

He shook his head. “Josh Hayes, I know you, and I’ve been around you long enough to know that if you wanted into Heather’s pants, you would have been all over her at the graduation party and when you saw her again at Jeff and Gunner’s place, and the other day at my place. Dude, you barely said two words to her.”

“She’s shy!” I replied, taking a bite of my burger.

Brad stared at me like I had just sprouted two heads.

“She’s not fucking shy. If I remember right, the other day she was the one who started talking to you. Asked how you had been, and you could hardly form a sentence! Holy shit! How did I not see this before? It’s happened!”