“Now, I hear a ‘but?’” Neesa said.
“But I’m not used to that. I don’t like to expose so much of myself to a stranger.”
“This is when you reflect on the conversation, right?” Neesa asked. “At the time, it’s good?”
“Very comfortable, zero red flags.” Rylee adjusted the water stream to something gentler so she could rinse. “He just throws me off a bit.”
“Pulling damned teeth, here. How so?”
“It was maybe too comfortable? It was maybe too much like we were already friends?”
“So you’ve friend-zoned the guy and slept with him anyway?”
“Not at all. Nope. Quite the opposite. He’s … that was … I had an exceptional time last night. I was relaxed. My brain was stimulated. And things moved naturally forward.”
“Well, shit, girl, he stimulated your brain.” Neesa cackled. “I bet you threw him down and jumped his bones.”
“Exactly what happened. Look, Neesa, it’s just bad timing. There’s a lot on my plate, figuring out the attrition at work, this new horrific shadow with the counterfeit money and all the ramifications there, and with my upcoming diagnosis. I might be undergoing treatment or participating in a medical trial. Yeah, bad timing for a new relationship. In their newness, relationships take up headspace and emotions, energy that I don’t have to spare.”
“Not sleeping?”
Rylee turned off the water, reached for a towel, and dried herself. “According to my watch, yes, some, but it seems to me that all I can do is relax my body into a restful state and try to distract myself from the going-to-sleep sensations in my hands and feet.”
“But other than your life is chaotic right now, what do you think?”
Rylee, wrapped in the towel, moved over to her underwear drawer and plucked out a pair of hip-huggers. “He’s a fullyactualized grown-up, which is nice. I can’t remember feeling this safe.”
“Bad timing, though.” Neesa turned the chair to face Rylee as she dug out a tactical outfit for the day. “When would the good timing be?”
“Oh, let’s see. I have a diagnosis. I’ve been someone’s guinea pig, and everything bad is reversed, so I’m not constantly distracted by my body. WorldCares isn’t in danger of losing its integrity, so we don’t risk thousands, if not millions, of lives over the next decade. And we have a solid group of people who aren’t floating job to job but learning, growing, then teaching the next generation.”
“So what you’re saying is that you can have love and happiness when all the world is utopia. That sounds like something to take up with a counselor. People deserve love and happiness.” Neesa turned away so Rylee could drop her towel.
“Intimacy.” Rylee stepped into her panties, which rolled annoyingly against her damp skin.
“How’s that?”
“We were talking about how Dakota discovered there was a big difference between sex and intimacy, and intimacy comes from close, caring relationships.”
“He told you that on the first date?”
Rylee leaned over so her boobs could fall into the cups of her bra. “Was it a date? Yeah, I guess it was. Yes, then not the first date that was scampi.” She hooked the band and adjusted the straps. “Second date was pizza.”
“Oh, girlfriend, he is head over heels for you.”
“You think?” Rylee tugged on a WorldCares T-shirt. “I’m decent, you can spin back around. Flipping this around on you. Jasper?” She shook out her pants, then stepped a foot into the leg.
“In love!” Neesa dunked her head back and raised her hands toward the ceiling in a move that shouted hallelujah.
“Ha.” Rylee jumped the waist over her butt and buttoned the top.
“I’m not kidding,” Neesa said, looking Rylee straight in the eye. “I’m going to marry that man.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dakota
Saturday
