Page 4 of Friends with Benefits

As a freshman athlete, hooking up with a woman who clearly came with strings attached didn’t seem like the best idea, yet I couldn’t walk away. Not even the squalling kidlets in the back seat could deter me.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

She snorted. “That’s the best you got? Look, I’ve had a long night here, and I’ve got a long morning ahead of me. I honestly don’t have time for your bullshit. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going home. If you aren’t a creep, you won’t follow me. Got it?”

Red locked the second kid into the stroller and strode off with a toss of her hair. It must have been the hair that drew my dumb ass after her. I followed it through the parking garage entrance and down the hall to the elevator. When we arrived, she scowled at me.

“I’m not following you. I live here, too. Third floor.”

“No, you don’t.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I do. You just move in? I haven’t seen you around here before.”

The elevator opened, and she pushed the stroller inside, heaving with the effort from the heavy contraption. Red-faced and with a lung capacity to rival my team’s best sprinters, the kids hadn’t stopped screaming since they’d woken in the car. I winced a little, but even that didn’t dull my curiosity.

I was a goner.

“Are you for real?” she asked. Being so close to her, I could see her eyes were dark, mossy green—the color of leaves deep in the forest where sunlight struggled to reach.

“I seem to be,” I answered when I remembered her question.

“I don’t really have time right now to entertain whatever delusions are cropping up inside that head of yours.”

The elevator dinged, and the sound of the discontented children echoed off the walls in the hall. I hurried after her. When I caught up, she caught sight of me and growled under her breath, causing the twins to jerk in surprise and cut off mid-scream.

“Didn’t I tell you not to follow me? I don’t have time for this right now. Stop following me!”

At her shout, the twins began screeching again, and I winced.

I pointed to my apartment. “I’m not following you.” Well, not really. “That’s my place right there.” I held out the key and shook it. “I’ve even got the key if you don’t believe me.”

Red glanced from me to the door and then back again. Her face crumpled, and she rested her back against the door, crumpling into a heap. I peered around the stroller and found Red’s face buried into her knees, her shoulders shaking.

Two kids, I could deal with. After all, kids cry…I wasn’t sure much, but I was pretty positive it was often. Not much I could do about that, but a grown woman in a crying fit? Left me feeling like I had two left feet.

I crouched in front of her and placed a hand on her knee. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. Please don’t cry.”

Patting her back like I would a puppy was about the extent of my soothing abilities. After a second, she blew out a hot breath and looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, her nose running.

She was beautiful.

“You alright?” I asked with half a laugh. Clearly, she wasn’t alright, but I was at a loss for words.

Red rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I was just…overwhelmed for a second.”

She accepted my hand to help her back to her feet. The ringing in my ears had me glancing back at the toddlers, who’d cried themselves to sleep. Studying them warily, I asked, “Are they okay?”

“They’re just overstimulated. They hate riding in the car seats. Not that I blame them.” She placed a hand on each of their chests and gazed at their slumbering faces.

“How old are they?” I asked to fill the silence.

Glancing up at me, she said, “Two years.”

“I don’t mean this the way it sounds, but you look amazing for having two-year-old twins.”

“Am I supposed to take that any other way than how it sounds?”

Thank God she was smiling.