Excerpt: Stupid Cupid

“Ali?”
Shit! Caller ID had ratted her out. Sometimes she hated technology.
She dug her nails into her hand and hoped he wouldn’t tell her “I told you so.” “Do you have a few minutes to talk? I need a sounding board.”
“What’s up?”
His voice sounded so disembodied and she felt so all alone. Even the ghost of her mother seemed absent from the house lately. “It’s Amy. Oh, just everything.”
“Are you at home or work?”
“Home. Why?”
“I’ll be right over.”
Before she could yell “Stop!” the phone went dead.
Her nerves tried to jump out of her skin. She ran to the bathroom and checked her face in the mirror and swore at what she saw.
Although she didn’t want to look as if she’d prettied herself up just for him, she didn’t want to look scary, either, so she scrubbed clean her face, brushed her hair and pulled it into a high pony tail. Then she rubbed in a little moisturizer to give her a natural glow. She was just finishing when he pounded on the door.
“Coming!” She wanted to bite back the word soon as it escaped.
Amy emerged from her room and ran to the window. “Is it Connor?”
It better not be. She’d give the young man a piece of her mind and then let Cliff have a turn. “Cliff’s coming over.”
Amy cocked a brow and drawled, “Are you two back together?”
Ali shook her head but tingles shot down her spine. “We’re just friends.” And not really that but she didn’t want to get into with her sister.
When she opened the door Cliff looked like an apparition with the early evening sun behind him. When he stepped inside she could see his hair was damp as if he’d just come out of the shower.
Her mouth went dry. He had recently been naked. Maybe he’d been naked while talking to her.
She chastised herself. She of all people shouldn’t react like this to the thought of naked people It was just skin. Just another male body. Everybody’s anatomy was the same.
But Cliff’s wasn’t the same as 99.9 percent of the men who came into the club. He had a lean, hard body. He obviously worked out and kept in shape. He wasn’t soft and pudgy with a beer gut. He was clean cut and didn’t dress as if he’d just crawled out of a gutter.
Tonight he wore tight dark jeans that gloved his thighs and showcased his tight ass. He wore a white t-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders and tapered to his slim waist.
“What’s wrong?” Cliff closed the door and led her to the living room.
She wondered if Amy could hear them. She wouldn’t put it past her sister to sneak down and eavesdrop. She held up a finger. “Wait a sec.” She called Mrs. Rice who agreed to come over and stay with Amy.
“Can we go somewhere private and talk?”
He regarded her closely. “How about my place?”
“Aren’t you staying with your grandfather?”
“I am but there’s a private apartment over his garage that’s vacant. I use it when I want to be alone.”
She nodded. She didn’t want anyone to overhear if their conversation turned to her job. “You have time?”
“I’m off duty tonight and you look as if you need a friend.”
She looked that bad? Maybe she should have put on makeup. “Okay.”
When they were safely cocooned in the garage apartment she linked her fingers and paced. As much as she needed to get this off her chest she feared he might not understand.
He got two beers out of the kitchen and handed her one then hunkered down on the couch and watched her. When she gave him a look he chuckled and tipped his glass to hers. “Neither one of us are on duty tonight. You look as if you need a little fortification.”
She needed a whole bottle of rum not merely a puny beer. But she took a long swig and let it glide down her throat.
“It’s Amy. She’s wild. She’s sleeping with her boyfriend. She’s defying me. She thinks I don’t love her. She’s only 16!”
She held her breath waiting for the “I told you so” hoping it wouldn’t be too dark before she finished walking home after she stomped out of here.
Cliff sipped his beer and settled deeper in to the couch. “From everything I hear the defiant part is on par for the age. Unfortunately a lot of teens sleep around these days.”
Shocked at his laisez faire attitude she gaped. “You think it’s okay for a 16 year old to be sexually promiscuous? I didn’t go to bed with a man until I was twenty-th…” She cut off her words lest she remind him he was her first.
When his eyes flashed fire she knew she hadn’t been in time and she kicked herself. Suddenly the apartment walls closed in and she was intensely aware of how close he was, how sexy he looked. She spied an open door and when she moved closer, saw a large bed made up in the centre of the room.