Free Everything Nice by Mari Carr

worried about what a woman was or wasn’t doing.
    Ever since last weekend, he’d felt like a fool, like a teenage boy with his first girlfriend…and boyfriend.
    Fuck.
    The idea that he was embarking on a new relationship with not just Allie, but Alex as well, was seriously working on his nerves. They’d spent the entire weekend and a good part of this week together in bed, making love, touching, talking, teasing, and everything had felt fresh and new and perfect.
    Fuck.
    The word perfect seemed to hover in his mind constantly. How could something so innately wrong feel so completely right? The image of Alex kissing Allie, pushing into her with his thick cock and loving her with such tenderness was emblazoned on his brain.
    He’d been completely useless at work this week as he constantly felt his thoughts drifting back to their shared time together. Mercifully, Brooks and Travers had both called in sick most of the week. Yeah right . Obviously they hadn’t managed to free themselves from the love trap Ginny had set for Travers. For once though, Charlie had been thankful for their absence. He wasn’t looking forward to facing Ginny when word of what the two of them had been doing with her sister reached her. Christ, she’d kill them.
    Charlie glanced back toward the window, his thoughts of the three of them in bed playing through his mind again. The memories haunted him and left him rock-hard as he found himself mesmerized by the images of Alex as much as Allie. What the hell did that mean?
    “You know, a watched pot never boils,” came a voice from the doorway dividing his side of the house from Alex’s.
    “Thanks, Grandma. Any other stupid expressions you wanna lay on me?”
    Alex laughed. “How about patience is a virtue? She’s running a little late, Charlie. No big deal. Apparently, time has not made your heart grow fonder because if it had, you would remember that Allie is one of those people who always plans to be somewhere on time but never is. Twenty bucks says she walks in here with some epic tale about why she’s so late.”
    “You’re on,” Charlie said, praying he’d have to fork over the money. He just couldn’t shake the idea that they’d come on too strong and Allie had split to escape them.
    Tires on the driveway put him out of his misery. “Ah,” Alex said as the headlights of Allie’s car flashed through the window. “Right on time.”
    Three minutes later, Allie crashed through the front door of Charlie’s side of the house, her arms laden with packages and catalogs and a large duffel bag slung over her shoulder.
    “Oh my God,” Allie said breathlessly. “You would not believe the day I’ve had.”
    Alex flashed a grin over his shoulder at him and Charlie struggled not to roll his eyes. The moment the words left her mouth, the past came crashing around him and he suddenly recalled Allie saying those exact same words about a thousand times in their youth. He grinned and fought hard against the laughter bubbling in his chest. He didn’t want Allie to think he was laughing at her as she began to recite a tale of woe longer and more action-packed then Homer’s Odyssey . As she continued to talk, he reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet. Taking out a crisp new twenty, he handed it to Alex.
    “What was that for?” Allie asked, taking a break in her story.
    “Just remembered I owed Alex some money,” he answered vaguely. “Go on with your story. What happened after the plumber left?”
    Allie started talking again and Charlie could see Alex was enjoying the sweet sound of her voice as much as he was. The woman knew how to tell a damn funny story, relying heavily on hyperbole to really pack a punch.
    “So it’s official,” she said. “I’m a student again.”
    “Interior decorating, huh?” Alex mused, and Charlie was grateful his friend had been paying attention. He’d been so distracted by her pink lip gloss and wondering how it would taste, he’d