“Literature choices don’t make us best friends.”
Avery levels me with a look. “We need to talk about what happened in your office.”
“It was a mistake. I don’t know what?—”
“We should do it again.”
I squint at her. “What?”
“We should do it again,” she repeats, and there’s more gusto behind it the second time. “Sex. You and me. Together.”
“What—” I take a sip of my coffee to stall for some time. I have no clue what to say to that, and I have to tread carefully. “Why—how—what’s your reasoning?”
“We have chemistry. I don’t like to mix business with pleasure, but you can’t deny that we click in the bedroom. Sex with you is a good way to work out the tension I have from my job—a job that’s about to get even more busy and chaotic. Knowing there won’t be a relationship that stems from it means I—we—can enjoy the physical aspect without getting attached,” she says, and I wonder if she’s rehearsed this. “I don’t have time to date, but I do have time to get fucked. That’s what I want, and I want it with you.”
I blink. I think I’m hallucinating. I think I’m having a heart attack. There’s no way in hell this woman is saying what I think she’s saying.
“We can’t stand each other,” I tell her. It’s the first thing that comes to mind.
“We can’t stand each other outside the bedroom. Inside the bedroom, we really enjoy each other. Don’t we?”
I blush.
Sex with her the first two times was phenomenal. Out of this fucking world. But in my office was… intense. It was rougher. Hungrier. She asked for what she wanted, but I also took what I wanted. I’ve never come that hard in my life.
“Yes…” I say cautiously. I feel like this is a trap. A ploy to get me to admit something I don’t want to admit. “And you want to do it again?”
“I do. Casually. Like what we were going to do before.”
“What do I get out of it?” I ask, and she lifts an eyebrow.
“Is sex with me not enough?”
“It is.” I clear my throat. The cafe feels a hundred degrees warmer than it did twenty minutes ago. “What doyouget out of this?”
“Orgasms with someone who understands my schedule and doesn’t expect me to call every night.”
“How often?”
“Whenever we want.” She shrugs and sets her phone down on the table, tapping the screen. “We’re in Georgia next week. I know you’ll be in Detroit. We can find time.”
“I thought we agreed it wasn’t going to happen again,” I say. “That it was a lapse in judgment so we could get it out of our systems.”
“I don’t want to get it out of my system,” she says matter-of-factly. “No one’s taken care of me the way you do, and I want it again.”
I grip the table so tightly my knuckles turn white. She’s blunt, just like me, and that’s not good for my well-being at all.
“I’m confused. You might be obnoxious as hell, but you’re gorgeous and smart. You’re talented at your job, and you couldhave any guy you wanted, Avery. Why—” I swallow again. “Why me?”
“Believe me when I say I’ve tried to stay away from you. I’ve tried to ignore you, but I can’t help it, and it’s infuriating. You’re nice and selfless. You’re attractive, and you know how to treat a woman. We’re up to our ears in work, and I think we both deserve to have a little fun.”
I nod like I agree with what she’s saying.
I guess she’s not wrong.
I’ve tried to stay the hell away from her too, but I keep coming back.
“We need rules,” I say. “Stricter rules than what we were tossing around last time we?—”
