DoI talk about Dallas' ass?"Michelle blinked. Dallas was a sore subject between us. She put themagazine back on the shelf and walked away from me."I...'m sorry," I said to the back of her head and her big backpack whereher skates were. I had one on my back, too. I was just an inch or twotaller than her and if I had my hair back we'd have looked almost likereflections of each other, at least if the mirror was foggy or you werelooking at it sideways.We did look a bit more like sisters than Emily. As he lit up the engine, Mark reminded Regina that they could clearly hear noises that indicated other couples had gone further than just petting.Regina calmly defended herself, saying, "I'm not them! Let's go!"Mark knew at least to not speed since he might flunk a breathylizer test, and he calmly reminded Regina that despite the fact that he tried to seduce her, he wasn't a forcible rapist, stopping when she said stop, just like the teenage ritual is supposed to work.Regina, perhaps still. That was the only place she felt totally secure, fearful she would fall apart if she left the warmth of her cocoon of blankets. Upon returning to work, everyone asked her about the handsome man who accompanied her to the company dinner. When she shared he was just a friend, the typical response she heard was, ‘That’s some friend, care to fix me up?’ By Wednesday, she could no longer live in denial. She called Dan. ‘Dan, I’m sorry I failed to more graciously thank you for accompanying me to our. “Uh, it’s not what…” I started to explain, but the widening grin at my flushing cheeks and the knowing wink he sent me made me falter. “You sure?” he teased and took a step closer so he was less than an arm’s length away. My breathing sped up. God, I could reach out and run my hand over his muscled chest if I tried. I took a trembling step backwards. “What are you doing?” He followed me, closing the gap again. “I’m doing nothing.” He glanced down again. “But I’m a hardware guy. I take any.