Taking a shaky breath, she shoved her hands in the pockets of her coat. “Which you did, damn you.” She flashed him a look hot enough to set his clothes on fire. “I can’t get those scenes out of my head.”
He didn’t have to ask which scenes she meant. “I was operating on a false premise. So many people work remote these days and I thought?—”
“I know what you thought. So did my parents. And Sara. Everybody assumed by the first of the year I’d be living here. But I won’t. And now… now there’syou.” She flung it as an accusation.
And he stood accused.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Is there anything I can do to fix this?” Rance looked destroyed, poor guy.
Well, he should feel guilty. He’d created a mess. “I doubt it.” Although Lani appreciated his sincere offer and his willingness to take the blame, he couldn’t do anything to douse the fire licking through her veins. Or could he? “Maybe there is something.”
“Name it.”
“Chewing tobacco.”
He grimaced.
“That would desexify you in no time.”
“That’s not a word.”
“It is now. Keep a chaw stuck under your lip and carry around a can so you can spit tobacco juice from time to time. Instant desexification.”
“Also not a word.” He hesitated. “How about bubblegum? If I’m popping bubbles all the time, wouldn’t that be desexifying?”
“Nah, I’d just laugh. Besides, I like the taste of bubblegum.”
“Jalapeno peppers?”
“Yum.”
“Chewing tobacco it is, then. I’ll buy some tomorrow.”
“You’d do it?”
“To desexify myself so you’re not in distress? Yes, ma’am, I would cheerfully take up that disgusting habit.”
“And there it is.”
“There what is?”
“The way you’re reacting is just like Dooley. You’re accepting responsibility and you want to help. On top of it you’re sexy as hell. How am I supposed to resist you?”
“That was the idea. I didn’t want you to. But now I need to reverse the process, so if keeping a chaw under my lip does the trick, then I’ll?—”
“Guess what? It won’t. Not when I know you’re suffering for my sake. Besides, Granny would have a fit. So would the rest of your family. It’s a terrible idea. I just wish I could block out those sexy scenes in your book.”
“Hey, that’s the answer.”
“You have a technique to erase a memory? That’s disturbing.”
“Not erase. Reframe. You don’t want me, you want Dooley, and he doesn’t exist. Compared to him, I’m lousy in the sack. You’d be in for a big letdown.”
“I don’t believe you.” Neither did the parts of her that began to tingle.
“Come on. It’s way easier to write good sex than to deliver in person. Logic will tell you that.”
