“Nothing major or anything. I just had a crappy day, and I’m not really in the mood for sexy times.” She paused. “You can go if you want.”


He looked surprised. “Why would I go? Do you want me to?”

Brett wrinkled her forehead. “Well, no, but…you know, this was supposed to be about sex.” She fidgeted with her hands. “If there’s no sex tonight, there’s no reason for you to be here.”

“Sure there is. We can still hang out.” It was his turn to shift in discomfort. “Unless you don’t want to…?”

Brett bit her lip, torn. She wouldn’t mind the company, but she hadn’t been kidding about not being in the mood. It seemed impossible, considering that all AJ had to do was look at her and her panties melted off, but her mind was too muddled at the moment. Seeing Troy had reminded her of a chapter in her life she was desperate to forget, and not even AJ could distract her from that tonight.

Times like these, only some trashy television and a carton of ice cream did the trick.

“Have you eaten?” she asked him.

He nodded. “I had dinner at my folks’ house.”

“Good, because there’s nothing in my fridge, so I wouldn’t have been able to feed you.” Ugh, which also meant no ice cream. Damn it. “I desperately need to get some groceries.”

“Why don’t we do that now?”

The suggestion threw her for a loop. “You want to go grocery shopping together?”

“Why not? We might as well stock up your fridge, seeing as you’re not in the mood…”

The humor in his eyes made it clear he was just teasing her. He genuinely seemed okay that she’d taken sex off the table, and she appreciated that he wasn’t trying to coax her into getting naked.

“Okay,” she said with a shrug. “Let’s do it then.”

“I’ll drive,” he replied, taking her hand and leading her to his Jeep. “Where do you want to go?”

The Kims’ store was already closed for the night, so she directed him to the twenty-four-hour grocery mart three blocks away. Five minutes later, they were pushing a squeaky cart through the air-conditioned aisles.

Talk about surreal.

Brett noticed several shoppers sneaking peeks at her arms as she passed by. It was a common occurrence—people always stared at her tattoos, and she didn’t mind it, especially since most of the time it was out of admiration. Every now and then, though, the attention stemmed from disapproval and judgment.

Case in point—the woman they encountered in the cereal aisle.

Middle-aged and harried-looking, the blonde was pushing an overloaded cart while two little girls trailed after her, bouncing excitedly on their tiny pink sneakers.

“Pretty!” one of the girls exclaimed, pointing to the cluster of roses around Brett’s wrist.

The child’s mother was quick to correct her. “Not pretty,” she said in a stern voice. “It’s mutilation, sweetie.” With a pointed look, she added, “And very inappropriate.”

As inappropriate as taking two small children grocery shopping at nine thirty on a school night? Brett was tempted to snipe back.

“What’s mootilation?” the other girl asked.

The woman didn’t even look Brett’s way as she and her daughters disappeared around the corner. Brett couldn’t hear her response to the children, but she didn’t need to be a genius to figure out what it would be. Something scathing, no doubt.

“Ignore that,” AJ murmured to her.

She offered a wry look before scanning the wall of cereal boxes in search of the one she wanted. “Don’t worry. I’m used to those types of reactions. You’re the one I feel bad for. You poor thing, associating with someone so mutilated and inappropriate.”

His soft chuckle heated the back of her neck. “I happen to find your mutilated body very sexy.”

“Aw, thank you.” She spotted her favorite cereal and leaned up on her tiptoes, but she was too short to reach the top shelf.

AJ snickered and took pity on her, coming up beside her to grab the box of Corn Pops. His arm brushed hers, bare skin grazing bare skin, and she broke out in goose bumps. Jeez. There’d been nothing sexual about the contact, yet her entire body tingled like crazy.

Maybe she was in the mood, after all.

But since they were already at the grocery store, she forced herself to banish the temptation to abandon the cart and drag him home.

“Seriously, though, how many other girls covered in tats have you gone out with?” she asked curiously.

“Not many,” he confessed.

“None, I bet.”

“Fine. None.”

“Have any of your girlfriends been bat-shit crazy?”

“No, I can’t say they have. Why? Do I need to worry about any bat-shit crazy exes of yours tracking me down and killing me?”

“Probably not.” She paused in the next aisle, swiping a jar of olives from the shelf and carefully placing it in the cart.

“Probably?” AJ echoed. “That doesn’t sound promising at all.”

“I already told you, I’ve dated some jerks in the past.” Brett hesitated, then decided she might as well be completely honest with him. “One of them showed up at the tattoo parlor today.”