"Intense."
"Very intense." Riley's laugh was shaky. "Where did that come from?"
Grant lifted his head to look at her, still trying to catch his breath. "You said don't be gentle."
"I did, didn't I?"
"No complaints?"
Riley's smile was slow and satisfied. "Zero complaints."
They stayed like that for a long moment, both shaking, both breathing hard, slowly coming back to earth.
"Okay," Riley said finally. "That was?—"
"Yeah."
"We just?—"
"Yeah."
Grant carefully shifted, and they both reached for clothes, reality settling back in like cold water.
They'd just had sex. In his barn. After swearing they'd keep this fake.
"So," Riley said, pulling on her sweater, not quite meeting his eyes. "That happened."
"That definitely happened." Grant found his jeans, trying to sound casual even though his heart was still racing.
"We probably shouldn't have?—"
"No. Definitely not."
Riley located her jeans. "This doesn't change anything. Right?"
The question hit harder than it should have. Because it changed everything for Grant. But Riley was looking at him with those wide eyes, clearly needing him to agree, to keep this simple.
"Right," he heard himself say. "Nothing changed."
"We're still fake dating."
"Still fake dating."
"This was just—" Riley gestured vaguely. "Physical. Getting it out of our systems. All that pretending…"
"Makes sense." The words tasted like lies.
"We both needed to—" She stopped, her cheeks going pink. "I mean, there was a lot of built-up tension."
"There was."There still is.
"So now it's out of our systems, and we can go back to normal."
Grant pulled on his shirt, trying to ignore the way his chest was constricting. "Sure. Normal."
They were both fully dressed now, standing in the loft looking anywhere but at each other. The morning light filtering through the window made everything look too real, too bright.
"It won't happen again," Riley said, and Grant couldn't tell if she was trying to convince him or herself.
