Free Anyone but You by Jennifer Crusie Page B

future. Don't make assumptions, Norma had said. Norma was right. She didn't need to give up men entirely; she just had to give up marrying them. "I was backward then, but I'm not anymore," she aid him and stuck her chin out. "I'm going to have an affair." It was a brand-new idea, but with Alex beside her, it sounded like a good one.
    Alex didn't look impressed. Or happy, for that matter.
    "With whom?"
    "I have no idea." Nina leaned her head back as the cool ight air rushed in her window. She half closed her eyes and tried to look mature and depraved. "I'm still looking."
    Alex grinned at her. "Well, put me on the shortlist."
    Hello. Nina swallowed. He was kidding. If she took him seriously and made a pass at him, he'd be embarrassed. Look at how he'd been with Tricia. "Very funny," she said and changed the subject.
    "I can't believe Tricia was dumb enough to think that offering to sleep with you would turn you off."
    "No, she was right about that." Alex turned the car into lie alley behind the apartment house and backed it into his parking space.
    "What?" Nina stared at him, disbelieving.
    "I wouldn't want somebody who would sleep with me on the first date." Alex turned off the ignition.
    "I have some standards."
    "Oh." Nina tried to digest this. It was a damn good thing he'd decided not to make a pass at him.
    Not only would he have thought she was too old, he'd have thought she was so easy. She regrouped.
    "Well, that's good. I suppose it hows moral fiber on your part that you turned her down."
    "I turned her down because she was drunk," Alex corrected her. "If she'd been sober, I'd have slept with her."
    "But you just said—"
    "I wouldn't have asked her out again, but I would have slept with her." Nina glared at him and he shrugged. "Hey, I did not seduce her. In fact, I was trying to sober her up. I have cups of coffee on my table upstairs to prove it. But if she's going to make an offer while of sound mind, I'm going to take her up on it, or I wouldn't be of sound mind."
    "Did you ever think of showing some moral restraint?" she asked him icily.
    "No," Alex said. "I'm male."
    He certainly was. That was the problem. She was sitting next to him in a dark car, and he was the most masculine male she'd been with for a long time. Forever, actually. And she should be angry with him for saying he would have slept with Tricia if she'd been sober, but it was hard to be angry and turned on at the same time, and the fact was, whenever he came around, she got a nice little buzz going that didn't fade until he was long gone.
    This was bad.
    Get out of this car, Nina told herself and opened the door. "I'm going to let the next one cry all over you." She climbed out of the car and opened the back door for Fred. "Stay away from him, Fred. He's a bad influence on you."
    Fred gathered himself together and leaped for the ground, staggering a little on impact.
    "Hey, wait a minute," Alex said to Nina, but she was already leading Fred through the gate into the backyard, and there was no way she was going to stop and continue the conversation.
    The last thing she needed to do was discuss sex with Alex Moore.

    * * *
    What do you do when a woman you want shows no interest in you?" Alex asked Max the next day in the hospital cafeteria.
    Max looked at him with contempt over his eggs and hash rowns. "That never happens."
    Alex pushed his own plate away. "I don't think I'm... sophisticated enough for this woman. I think she's used to rich, older guys. I think she thinks I'm a kid."
    Max shoved his fork into his breakfast. "You been wearing that beanie with the propeller again?"
    Alex frowned at him. "I'm serious, Max."
    Max raised an eyebrow, distracted from his food for a loment. "You? Serious about a woman?"
    Alex thought about it. "I don't know. Probably not. I'm definitely serious about getting her into bed."
    Max nodded and went back to his eggs. "That's more like it."
    Alex shook his head. "But it's not going to happen."
    Max shook his head