“I don’t work Saturdays. And it was closed today.”
“Let me rephrase that. Why have you been avoiding me?”
“It’s barely been thirty-six hours. You missed me already?”
“You got jokes.”
I curl my fingers over the cold metal. “I wasn’t avoiding you. I was taking a beat. Trying to figure out how to move forward.”
“And?”
“Now that the ‘wanting’ is out there, I don’t think we can just be friends or whatever we were before. There’s too much sexual tension.”
“Agreed.”
“So, if we’re going to do this, I think we need some ground rules.”
He tilts his head. “You don’t like rules.”
“I don’t. But we kept too much from each other before. This time we need to be open and honest.”
“All right.” He nods once. “I’m listening.”
“First, we can agree neither of us is looking for anything serious.”
“Define serious.”
I cut my eyes at him for being needlessly difficult. He knows what I mean, but I spell it out.
“Boyfriend-girlfriend. Long-term. Heading toward commitment.” I pause at his reaction. “Okay, you don’t need to make that face.”
“What face?”
“Like you’re smelling something nasty. Nose and mouth all twisted up.”
“I wasn’t?—”
“If you saw your expression when I said the wordcommitment, you’d know.”
“Fine.” He shrugs. “You’re not wrong. Commitment isn’t my thing. But that doesn’t mean I don’t take you seriously.”
I like that he says that. After everything, he’s being careful withmy feelings. “Then we can agree that we care about each other, but this isn’t some big romance that comes with expectations and obligations.”
“Fair.”
“I don’t need roses, but I still expect to be treated like a woman.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” he concedes easily.
“Next is chemistry,” I say, ticking through the list in my head. “If, when the time comes, you’re just not feeling it, say so. Be straight with me. I’m a big girl, I can handle it.”
“Lot,” he says firmly, “there is zero chance in hell that I get you naked andnotbe feeling it.”
I don’t bite my lip, but God, I want to. “Maybe you won’t do it for me.”
“You’re funny, Web.”
I cut my eyes at him, but he just smirks, full of unshakable confidence.
