Always Only You by Chloe Liese (z-lib.org).epub

“He’s adorable,” they say in unison.
“Shh!” I feel my cheeks turning bright red. “Seriously, stop, both of you.”
Lorena’s eyes scour Ren. “I don’t know, Frankie. I say give your two weeks’
notice, then jump his fine ass.”
Annie sighs wistfully. Her plate of food doesn’t even teeter, resting steadily
on her round stomach. “Lo’s right. Go for it. You like him. You two get along.”
“Wow, what a compelling reason to throw myself at him,” I say drily. “By
that criteria I should be asking out our waiter.”
Annie groans, locks eyes with Lorena, then glances back to me. “Frankie,
he’s cute. And ridiculously nice.”
I give her a look. “You’ve met him once. He said hi to you and smiled.
That’s it.”
“So?” she fires back. “His greeting was delightful and memorable. And you
said you two consider each other friends. I’m just saying that I think Lo’s onto
something.”
“Ladies. He’s not into me. He’s the epitome of polite and friendly, that’s it.
Plus, we know Frankie’s not going down the love road.”
Annie’s small hand rests over mine. “We’ve discussed that guys are a bit of a
blind spot for you.”
“And you say you’re not going down the love road,” Lo says with a quirk of
her pierced eyebrow, “but we say, bullshit.”
I scowl at her.
Lo takes my other hand. “The man who is worthy of your love is not going
to treat you how your family did. You’re a bright woman, Frankie, but you seem
to need the reminder that interabled coupledom can be mutually intimate,
empowering, and reciprocal—”
“Here we go,” I mutter.
“It’s time to move past that negative attitude toward it,” she continues
blithely. “Talk about it with the therapist, please? It’s time to suit up for love.
Because trust me, when love comes, you’re going to want to be ready. You
haven’t felt those butterflies, that flip of your stomach, the sensation that your
heart’s about to jump out of your chest. When you feel that, it changes
everything.”
My pizza churns in my stomach. I’ve felt most of those things just looking at
Ren. I keep that unsettling tidbit to myself.
“And just because a guy isn’t jumping your bones, doesn’t mean he doesn’t
want to,” Annie adds. “In the absence of him seducing you, let’s consider the
fact that Ren does exemplify important prerequisites for a solid boyfriend
candidate.” She lifts her fingers and starts ticking them off. “He’s gentlemanly.