Tempting Her Best Friend(4)

Dillon ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I don’t know. I guess to change up the end of the story for once.”

“What story?”

“You know. Boy meets girl, girl and boy agree to a no-strings thing, boy and girl have fun together…” He paused and shook his head. “But then girl wants more from boy, so boy breaks things off and lives happily ever after.”

The tight look on his face didn’t match his claim for happiness. Maybe this girl had been different, but he couldn’t admit it to himself. Her stomach felt heavy with dread. She really hoped he was over this woman but something felt off. She wanted to change the subject and invite him to Vegas—hell, she could even put the let’s-celebrate-your-single-status spin on it now—but she couldn’t convince her brain to jump the tracks back to the intended conversation.

“Are you sure that’s what you really wanted to do? Break things off I mean?” she asked, holding her breath as she waited on his answer.

Shrugging, he faced her with his normal cocky smile stretching his beautiful face, yet not really reaching his eyes. “Come on, what have I always told you? Variety is the spice of life. Besides, I can’t keep all this Alexander charm for just one woman. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“I think you just haven’t opened yourself to the idea of giving it to the right woman,” she insisted. “Don’t you want to settle down some day, share your life and grow old with someone?”

He reached down and captured her hand in his, threading his roughened fingers between hers, and her heart sped up at the contact. “Now, why would I ever want to get married when I have all that with you?” He winked.

Her heart was beating triple time now. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? Maybe getting him to Vegas and that Elvis preacher would be easier than she’d thought. “Hey, do you—”

They spoke at the same time. “Seriously, though, you know I’m against long-term relationships.”

Alyssa paused, her mouth gaping before she closed it. She pulled her hand back into her lap, not wanting him to feel it trembling. Dillon had said it a dozen times if he’d said it once, but she’d thought he meant against for now, not against forever. “Why is that again?”

He took a healthy swig of his beer before replying. “You know how my dad is, Aly. How many times has he fallen in love only to fall right back out of it?” Dillon started doing air quotes with his free hand. “Each new relationship was ‘different’ and he ‘really meant it this time.’ But he was like a kid eating a bag of M&M’s for the first time. With each new color he tried, he got excited about getting a new flavor. But once that candy coating melted off, it was still just plain old chocolate like the one before it.”

“Wow,” she said. “That analogy is really strange and yet kind of brilliant.”

Dillon smiled. “Don’t be too impressed. I was in my freshman psych class and eating a bag of M&M’s when I thought of it.” Alyssa couldn’t help but chuckle at the image of him in class, studying his chocolate as though it had the answers to life’s big questions on it. “My point is that my dad was in love with the high he felt when a relationship was new and exciting. So you see, long-term monogamy just isn’t in my DNA.”

Alyssa knew that even though his dad was a total flake when it came to monogamy, Dillon’s mother had made it a point to raise him to be honest and a gentleman. So even though he typically had a flavor-of-the-month kind of thing, he was still up front with the women and always respectful. “Come on, that’s not true. You know DNA has noth—”

He pinned her with a look so heavy she felt the weight of it press her into the couch cushions. “Hey, don’t make a big deal outta this, okay? There’s a reason they coined the phrase ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ I’m the same as my old man. The only difference is that I don’t delude myself into believing it’s anything more than the thrill of the chase and having some good times.”

“Oh.”

A voice inside her head told her to say something at least mildly intelligent, to move her body, or hell, even to simply blink.

“Besides,” he added, “we’ve got a great thing, you and me. During the week I get to hang out with my best friend—who spoils me with amazing cooking, not to mention trading the occasional load of laundry in exchange for hanging new light fixtures in her kitchen and other manly duties”—miraculously she managed to curve the edges of her mouth up when he grinned at her expectantly—“then on the weekends I have my lady-friend distractions and for the most part manage not to bother you. It’s perfect.”