“Oh, I didn’t say anything about love,” Julia said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I need someone to help pay the bills and be a dad for Calvin. I’m not naive enough to think I can find thatandlove. I’m picking my battles and just looking for what I need.”
“What about sex?”
“What about it? That’s not a need.”
He moved in close. “Sure it is. You don’t seem like the type to have it casually, and since you haven’t found anyone to go out with twice…”
“Yeah.” She huffed. “It’s been awhile.”
He placed his hands on her hips. Slowly, to give her time to protest. When she didn’t, he leaned in and kissed her. Now that a stadium full of people weren’t watching, he took his time with it, coaxing her to open. Tongues met and intertwined. She moaned and slipped her arms around his neck. Pulling her flush against him, he deepened the kiss, and she responded in kind.
The urge to throw her down on the floor was overwhelming, but his conscience intervened. She was a single mom. Searching for a husband and a dad. He wanted neither. This wasn’t fair.
When she pulled away, he didn’t stop her. “Thanks for the game,” she said, letting her hands fall to her sides. “Calvin had a fantastic time.”
He nodded and headed to the door. “Anytime.”
Back at his apartment, he chastised himself for kissing her. The pull he felt toward her was real, but she had responsibilities and plans he wasn’t cut out for. Sleeping with her would be fun for him, but would mean much more to her. At the risk of leading her on, he would have to keep his distance.
CHAPTER TEN
“Ugh. If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” Julia complained to Ellie. “Man, I wish my mom were here. She’d know what to do.”
“How high did you say his temperature was?”
“A hundred and two. And it’s going up, not coming down. It’s times like these, I regret cheaping out on insurance. Taking him to the ER would cost a fortune. And even if I scraped up money for that, we had an early snowstorm last night, which left two feet of snow. It would be just about impossible to get there.”
“Call your firefighter buddy. They train them in medical stuff too.”
“I might have to.” She trailed off.
“Why the hesitation?”
“No reason.”
“Oh my God, something happened, didn’t it? Spill.”
“He took Cal and me to a Knicks game. We kissed for the Kiss Cam, and I don’t want him to think I’m calling just to see him again.” She purposefully left out the second, by-her-door, curl-her-toes, melt-her-insides kiss. That had been a mistake. A hot, panty-melting mistake.
“You should just use him for sex while you’re looking. A neighbors-with-benefits kind of thing.”
“Ellie!” Julia exclaimed. “Look, I gotta go tend to Cal. Talk to you later.”
Use Alex for sex. “Pft,” she huffed. What was Ellie thinking?
When she checked on Calvin, all thoughts of sex fled. He was flushed and lethargic. His temperature rang in at a hundred and three. She had no choice.
“Alex, it’s Julia. I’m so sorry to bother you, but Cal’s sick. His temperature keeps rising, and he won’t eat or drink anything. I didn’t know who else to call. He might need the ER, but I thought maybe you might have—” A knock at the door interrupted her. “Just sec.”
She opened the door to find Alex holding a big black bag with a red plus on it, phone still pressed to his ear.
She smiled in relief. At least now she wasn’t in it alone. They hung up their phones, and she waved him in.
“He in his room?” Alex said, looking past her to the empty couch.
“Yes,” she said, following him there.
Alex sat on the side of Cal’s bed. That Calvin didn’t immediately perk up, confirmed he was truly miserable. “Hey, buddy. Feeling sick?”
