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He wasn’t her usual type He was tall, tattooed, and bald, with the cruelest frown she’d ever seen Oh, she liked ’em tall, but tattooed? No Try refined Bald? Even peaches sported fur

Although he wasn’t bald froenetics A shadow of stubble had covered his scalp, proof his roots were there and thriving So, obviously, he shaved But who shaved on purpose? And why?

She’d al that stopped her was the suspicion he would ignore her Because the entire ti hii--and clearly found her the worst of the lot Honest to God, that frown of his had made her shudder Or shiver She wasn’t sure which But there was no denying so about hiold and utterly piercing, the rest of his features all kinds of inti From the hard slash of his dark brows, to the blade of his nose, to the aggressive slant of his lips Throw in the rough angle of his chin, and you had a visual definition for hardass

And okay, okay, a beautiful visual, at that, with the kind of rugged sex appeal one ht find in a survivalist Which … come to think of it, was a favorite fantasy of Noelle’s

She’d often iry ani her down Survivalist Guy jumped from the shadows and saved the day Then he turned to face her, shirtless, sweaty, kind of grungy, his pants ripped and stained with the creature’s blood and gore, and he refused to wait for her to thank hiainst a tree and plundered the living hell out of her mouth

Sweet heaven A definite shiver this tio for hardasses in real life, remember?

Yeah, but Hector had such wide shoulders And even as tall as she was, he’d towered over her He’d dwarfed her, really Made her feel s small and feave you a chance, but you didn’t take it So, I call dibs!"

Damn it

Noelle was not disappointed If one of theuy, the other had to back off Besties before testes, and all that So, no touching, no licking, and no claiot dibs on Dallas" Rather than unpack--surely someone would eventually do that for her--she jumped on her mattress Dust pluh, scowl

Maybe when she phoned for those candies, she’d request a maid One maid AIR could not deny her such an indispensable part of life, a service as necessary as breathing Not if she had her attorney threaten thehtstand drawer and rigged a lock on the handle to keep people like MG out of her stuff "Good choice He’s a gorgeous one"

And he was h there’d been a serial-killer vibe in his electric blues So that could explain why she wasn’t as drawn to hiave off the sa deal She wasn’t ad to an attraction to Hector Not aloud, at least One, he clearly wasn’t interested in her And well, reason nu with a man who did not absolutely, utterly adore her would screith her hard-won self-estee to prove herself worthy of hi him a cake after his terrible day at work, when she and kitchens were long-ti not to care when he blew her off or forgot her birthday Or attending parties with her family when she’d rather have her skin peeled froirls did

Noelle was done with that kind of thing Done with trying to be souy couldn’t see the treasure underneath the smart mouth, he didn’t deserve her

And I aht?

Ava finished her chore and snuggled up beside Noelle on the bed "So tellabout? And the couldn’t-find-iven-a-map-and-a-shovel stupidity?"

"And the laziness," she said, being helpful As always Automatically Noelle rolled to her side and tucked her hands under her cheek This was how the two of the side by side, chatting for hours

Those were her favorite usted Ava

"Please" Ava rolled her eyes "You’re always lazy That’s just part of your charent traits, if she did say so herself Why do so for yourself when plenty of people wanted--and needed--to be paid to do it for you?

God, I’o the master-slave route," Ava said, "I need at least ato work on o the master-slave route for the rest of our lives"

A snort "Did I mention that I loved the pretend hurt over my death threat? Classic!"

"What I can say? I totallyas the best actress in the world"

A calling she’d missed because she’d never actually planned to work

Noelle would have gladly financed Ava’s entire life of leisure, saving her friend--and herself--fro her oay, so Noelle alent along for the ride

They’d worked in a bakery, at a used car lot, inside a makeup factory, and as interns at her brother’s law firm Sad truth was, Noelle would rather toil herself into an early grave than be without her best friend

Codependency, thy name is Noelle Did she care? God, no She just loved Ava

"So?" Ava proives?"

Noelle pushed out a breath "Well, you know my family has always viewed me as a useless doll" Not just her immediate family, but her cousins, aunts, and uncles, and anyone else associated with the Tre hus she’d done and said

"Useless, but so beautiful" Ava nodded "Yeah Continue"

She beaht I was hot"

"Dude If you had a penis, I’d freaking enuine chuckle left her "Anyway, I was just giving Jaxon a taste of what he expected"