Free Damage Control by Elisa Adams Page B

going to stop sending me those mixed signals, hell yeah.”

Chapter Five
    Why the hell had he ever thought sleeping with Andrea again would be a good idea? Friends with benefits? He had to have been out of his fucking skull to even suggest it.
    Brian braked at a red light and shot a sidelong glance at the woman beside him. God, she was beautiful. Even now, he wanted to touch her, to run his fingers through the golden silk of her hair. Instead, he raked a hand through his own. Could he get any more hopeless? What was he doing, waxing poetic about her hair, of all things? She’d made it clear that romantic feelings had no place in this…fling. It had to be a fling. There was no other word for it. It wasn’t a relationship, because people involved in one of those talked once in a while. In the past week, since he’d proposed her little friends with friggin’ benefits scenario, all they’d done was fuck.
    Not that he was complaining about that aspect of this new territory. He’d never been so satisfied. Physically. He’d been with her every single night. For a few hours, until it had been time to go back to his own apartment. Emotionally, well, that was a different story. If he’d known she was going to stop confiding in him, or that their easygoing friendship would hit the rocks so quickly, he never would have shown up with the pizza in the first place.
    Because her car was in the shop, he’d offered to make the half-hour commute to pick her up and bring her with him. Big mistake. A half-hour in the car with Andrea, surrounded by her scent and struck with the near-constant need to touch her, was not a place he needed to be right before facing his parents. Especially his mother. He hadn’t seen her in a few weeks, and she was sure to have another lecture for him.
    â€œThe light is green,” Andrea said softly, turning a curious gaze on him. Her words jolted him into action and he put his foot on the gas.
    â€œOh, right. Sorry.”
    â€œWhat’s the matter today? You’re so quiet.”
    I miss my best friend.
    Of all the stupid, sappy crap. Like he’d go and admit something like that to her? Not in this lifetime, or the next. “Nothing. I’m fine. Thanks for coming with me today.”
    Her fingers brushed his arm, but they were gone too quickly. “Your mother invited me. She likes having the whole family around, doesn’t she?”
    Brian nodded. His mother loved being surrounded by her children—and the recent addition of some long-awaited grandchildren. His sister Amanda had given birth a few months ago to daughter Kylie. Amanda’s boyfriend, Joe, had two grown kids of his own, but Miriam Storm considered them grandchildren anyway. And now, with his brother David married to Lucy Parker and a stepfather to her four boys, their mother had even more reasons to smile. Thankfully, she was now too busy to bug Brian about getting married. He understood where she was coming from, but he had no plans to settle for anything less than everything when it came to his future.
    Every couple months, his mother and father held get-togethers for the family, and for the past five years, they had extended invitations to Andrea as well. The message was clear. Andrea was family. This time, though, his mother had told him she had a special announcement to make. He had to wonder which one of his siblings was expecting a baby now. It could be any of the others save Amanda. Brian was the only single one left of five.
    And didn’t that just grate. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Over the past few years, the urge to settle down had gotten stronger and stronger. It figured that fate would keep him from attaining that goal. He hadn’t even come close.
    He shook his head, trying to focus on Andrea’s question. They’d agreed to keep their…whatever she wanted to call it secret from everyone, including their families. No sense