It wasn’t just that the climaxes had blown him away, which they had, but his emotional investment was double, maybe triple, what he’d ever experienced.
Of course it was. He’d never known a girlfriend as well as he knew Tracy. The first go-round he’d been hell bent for leather because he’d bottled up all that lust for six weeks. This time he’d pulled his head out of his ass and realized she deserved better.
And wouldn’t you know, she’d reacted with happy tears, which nearly had him weepy-eyed, too. He’d imagined they could have some good old-fashioned romps for five days and wear each other out. That might work with someone else, but with Tracy, the woman who knew him as well as he knew her? He had big doubts.
But what alternative did he have? The plan had made sense to him yesterday and then Claudette had come up with it on her own. Even conservative Mila thought it might work.
But had any of them considered that sex between two long-time friends would be different in ways impossible to predict? He hadn’t, that’s for sure.
What if Tracy had the right idea, after all? One night to satisfy their curiosity was sounding… if not great, at least safer. Less chance of heading into a swamp of emotional involvement that would make them both miserable.
Okay, he’d tell her that after thinking it over, he agreed with her one-night plan, after all. When he left the bathroom, the crackle of a fire meant he’d been in there long enough for her to build it up again.
Walking in to find her lounging against the pillows and watching the fire almost made him change his mind. What guy would voluntarily give up sexy times with that gorgeous woman?
Well, he would if he used his head and his heart instead of taking orders from his cock. “Can I get you anything? A glass of water?”
She smiled. “Water sounds good. Thanks.”
“Be right back.” Damn. One smile, and he was questioning his recent decision. Cutting things off in the morning would be abrupt. If they had five more days, they could gradually get used to the idea they’d never have sex again.
Yeah, tell yourself that. You just can’t bear to let a good thing go.
So true. Flipping on the kitchen light, he ignored the dishes they’d left on the table and filled two glasses with water from the faucet. He might as well face it. He craved her more than he’d ever craved another woman.
He couldn’t imagine that changing any time soon. But that was just him. Logically her motivation for kissing him had been the breakup with Sean. Tonight she’d discovered that mutual chemistry made for great sex.
She could still be on the rebound, unfamiliar territory for her. That made her behavior hard to predict. She could turn on a dime.
“Did you have to go scoop the water out of Laughing Creek?” She appeared in the kitchen doorway wrapped in the comforter.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“I know. I could hear you from the living room. You’re worried that in five days we’ll become tangled up in each other, but you hate to stick with the one-night contract because the sex is so good.”
He stared at her. “How do you do that?”
“What?”
“Read my mind.”
“Number one, I’m a lawyer and reading minds is a learned skill. Number two, I know you pretty damn well. Besides, I’ve been thinking the same thoughts and I have a solution.”
“Oh, do you, now?”
“An escape clause.”
He walked over and handed her one of the glasses. “Go on.”
“We change the contract to include the five days, but we add an escape clause. If either of us decides we’re too emotionally involved, we can activate it and the contract becomes null and void.” She took a drink of water.
“Doesn’t that make the other person the dumpee?”
“Kind of, but since we’re both worried about the same thing, I figure we’ll keep checking in with each other and will probably see disaster coming. Then we can mutually activate the escape clause.”
“Or we can go with the contract we have and avoid all that.”
“Do you want that?”
