Something shriveled inside of her. Oh, God. She’d misread this whole situation. He didn’t want her like that after all. She swallowed hard. That was a good thing. It was. At the same time, it also hurt. But...she didn’t want a relationship with Mike. That could ruin everything they had.

“Forget I said that.” She waved both hands in front of her, rejecting the idea completely. “I told you I thought Mason was crazy. Some people can’t accept that men and women can be good friends without things turning...icky.”

His right brow arched high in amusement. “Icky? Is that what you think it would be like to have sex with me?” His mouth twisted. “Oh, shit. Forget I said that. I didn’t mean to bring sex into this.”

“I wasn’t thinking the sex would be icky. I wasn’t thinking about sex at all.” But now she was! “Look, we’re two red-blooded single people who probably haven’t had enough—” she couldn’t say sex out loud again “—of that in a while. But having...that with each other would be terrible.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t mean the sex would be terrible. I’m sure we’re both competent at that after all these years.”

Mike’s eyes were almost smoldering now, and her skin went hot when he spoke, his voice rough and low. “I’m more than competent, Zoey. Trust me.”

Oh, I bet you are...

She cleared her throat sharply and busied herself putting the cap on the wine bottle and grabbing their glasses. Time to go.

“O-kay. This conversation has veered way off course, mister. We should have learned our lesson with that little discussion about boobs we had a few weeks ago. You’re my best friend, but you are not the friend I’m going to discuss my sex life with. And I sure as hell don’t want to hear about your...sexual prowess.” Except she suddenly did want to know all about that. In detail. Firsthand.

There was a beat of silence before he answered. “I gotta tell you... I think we’d be great together.”

She had no doubt of that. Her adrenaline spiked in both anticipation and fear, but reason took hold. “One great night wouldn’t be worth the risk, Mike. I value our friendship too much to screw it up by...screwing around.”

The heat in his eyes cooled, and she let out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could remain the practical one while he was doing all that smoldering over there. He nodded.