Between Friends (Friends with Benefits) Read Online Free PDF Page A

throat—“good time a couple weeks back.”
    My eyebrows shot up as I choked on my vodka and orange juice.
    Laughing, Justin held up his hand. “Hey, it’s fine. I’m not judging.”
    I finally stopped hacking long enough to find my voice. “You guys talked about me?” Lord, to have been a fly on
that
wall. Had they compared notes? My face grew hot, and suddenly I was extremely happy that I didn’t think it was possible for me to blush.
    Justin got a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Are you blushing?”
    “What?” I scoffed. “I don’t blush.” I finally managed to tear my eyes away from his face. I stared straight ahead at the deejay booth across the room. “It’s just weird that the two of you discussed me, that’s all.” Oh, screw it, I couldn’t help myself. “What was said about me exactly?”
    Justin smirked. “You really want to know?”
    On second thought, hell no. I shook my head. “Never mind.”
    “Wuss.” He laughed. “Mostly, we talked in general terms. I asked what he’d done the night before. He mentioned running into you at Blaze…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged.
    “Mostly you talked in general terms?”
    He nodded but didn’t elaborate.
    I certainly wasn’t pushing for details. It was weird enough knowing I’d come up in a conversation between two friends who’d both banged me good. I tried my best to sound unaffected as I nodded and said, “Cool.” I brushed some of my hair out of my eyes. “It’s not a big deal. I mean, whatever.” So I’d slept with two friends. That kind of thing must have happened every day. Not to me, of course, but to other, more carefree people. I suddenly got a flash of myself sitting in front of a crowd chanting, “Jerry! Jerry!” I might have to ease up on the sexually adventurous throttle just a bit.
    “You want to get a table?”
    His question jarred me from my thoughts. “A table?”
    He jerked his head in the direction of the corner nearest the exit. “Instead of standing here at the bar. Besides, Hank keeps staring at us.”
    “Hank?”
    “The bartender.”
    “Oh,” I said as I glanced at Hank, “he’s probably wondering what you’re doing talking to a—a nice girl like me.” I smiled.
    “Well,” Justin said, grabbing my hand, “not that it’s any of his business, but I might be trying to get in the nice girl’s pants again.”
    The feel of his rough hand on mine and his bold words were enough to make me wet. We made our way to an empty table and Justin slid his chair next to me before sitting. I wasn’t even aware of time passing as we talked and got to know one another on a level that was more than physical. I couldn’t silence the warning bells sounding in my head. If we connected in more ways than one, this could start to feel a lot like dating. Emotional entanglements weren’t part of the new Stacy’s plans. Why would they be when I’d discovered how much fun keeping things casual could be? Even so, I couldn’t deny that I enjoyed our time together.
    Our conversation turned to work. I tried my best to gloss over my own job, which I wanted to think about as little as possible tonight. I steered the discussion toward his line of work.
    “So you own a shop?” He nodded. “I guess that means I can get steep discounts if I ever need a mechanic?”
    Justin smiled. “I like you, so, yeah. Hell, you might even qualify for free work.”
    I gasped and feigned shock. “Free? You must like me a lot.”
    He licked his lips and my gaze was instantly riveted. “You could say that.”
    “There you are!” Nina gave me a playful shove from behind. “I’ve been looking for you.” She looked at Justin. “Hi.”
    “Hello,” he said.
    She looked at Justin again, recognition dawning on her. She whipped her head around to face me. “Oh, this is… Damn, Viper’s calling me over again. I’ll be back.” Nina was off in a flash. The woman was a bunch of things, but subtle wasn’t one of them.
    “Your friend