Naked Read Online Free PDF

forehead.
    “Emo bangs,” I said.
    He looked up at me then and pushed the hair out of his eyes. “Huh?”
    I gestured. “Your hair. Those long bangs, like one of those emo kids who wear skinny jeans and black fingernail polish.”
    He laughed again, for real this time, and long. “I guess that’s a sign if nothing else is, huh? Time for a cut?”
    “I don’t think so. I like it.” I speared the last pot sticker and held it up to him. “Sure you don’t want it?”
    “What the hell.” He plucked it from the fork and ate it from his fingers.
    I watched his lips close over his fingertips and suck away the soy sauce. Warmth swirled inside me, which was stupid, but hey, a girl can look even if she can’t touch. We both finished our orange juice at the same time.
    Then we sat in silence. Alex might be trouble, but he sure wasn’t chatty. Not that I got a snobby vibe off him or anything, as if he just didn’t want to talk to me. More like he wasn’t sure what to say.
    “How do you know Patrick?” It was ask or leave the kitchen for the chilly wilds of upstairs, where I’d have to dress and go into the colder outdoors to head home. Besides, I wanted to know.
    “We met in Japan.”
    “You work for Quinto and Bates?” That was the law firm where Patrick worked.
    He shook his head. “No, I was brought in as a consult with Damsmithon Industries while Patrick was there for the international business meeting.”
    “So you’re not a lawyer.” I swirled a finger in the remains of the pot sticker juice in the bottom of the container. I wasn’t hungry anymore, but couldn’t resist the savory tang.
    He laughed. “Hell, no. But Patrick and I hit it off, hung out after the meetings. Kept in touch. When I told him I was coming back to the States he said I should stop by to see him.”
    All of this didn’t sound like it should go along with the image of Patrick’s face and his warning to me about Alex being trouble. “So…you’re friends?”
    “What exactly did Patrick say about me?” Alex’s bangs fell down again, and he didn’t brush them away.
    I paused for a second before answering. “Not much, actually.”
    Which wasn’t like Patrick at all. He usually had something to say about everybody, and if he didn’t have anything, sometimes he made stuff up. I pondered this while Alex got up and went to the fridge. Patrick had warned me away from Alex, but hadn’t given me details. No gossip. Strange.
    Alex brought back the pitcher of juice and a tinfoil-covered plate of cookies that had escaped my notice. He offered them to me first, and don’t think I didn’t notice that he had manners. I didn’t pretend to myself or him that I shouldn’t eat any cookies. It was too late for that. Come January I’d be moaning about the size of my ass, but so would everyone else I knew, whether it was warranted or not.
    I picked up a gingerbread man with a huge erect cock. “Hmm. Normally I bite the heads off first, but…”
    Alex snorted and picked up one for himself. “Now there’s a dilemma.”
    We were still laughing when Patrick came down the back stairs. He wore a silk kimono and a bleary expression. His blond hair stuck up in corkscrews all over the place. He gave us both an imperious look from his spot on the last step.
    “We can hear you all the way upstairs.”
    “Sorry.” Alex sounded contrite.
    I didn’t bother. “Oh, Patrick. C’mon. It’s, like, noon already. Get your lazy ass up and about.”
    Patrick yawned broadly and swept past me, then turned to give me a real glare. “You didn’t even make coffee?”
    “Your fucking machine is too complicated,” I told him fondly, though of course he knew that, and of course he was still miffed that I hadn’t started it brewing for him.
    “I’ll do it,” Alex said, and was up and around the table before either Patrick or I could do more than blink at each other in surprise. “I should’ve thought of it, man. I’m sorry.”
    I raised a brow at this