“Doesn’t mean I want to be the girl you fuck to get over another.”
Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, I smile at her. “Trust me, this is nothing like that. What we’re doing here? This is something I’ve never done with anyone else.”
“You’ve never picked up a woman in a bar?”
“I have, but we didn’t spend time together here. We left and went right to bed. My turn.”
She takes another swig and looks into my eyes. “Do your worst.”
“Why do you only do no strings?”
“Because I can’t risk a broken heart.”
Not what I expected. “What?”
“If it was just me, everything would be different, but Bernie gets attached easily. It happened once with a guy I dated when she was younger, and it took a long time for her to recover when he left us. I can’t do that to her.”
“But what about you?”
She smiles sadly. “My heart doesn’t matter. Hers does.” I’m about to ask something else when she says, “Wanna get out of here? Go back to your place?”
“I think I owe you for what you did in the bathroom.”
Her hand runs along my cheek in such a simple, affectionate manner. “No, you don’t. I’ve wanted to do that since the day on your porch when I agreed to let you hang out with Bernie. Besides, I didn’t do it to get something out of it. It was a perfect situation.”
“It was, was it?”
“You needed a distraction, and you were distracted just enough to be taken off-guard. You’ve kind of stopped me since we started this.”
I assumed she didn’t want to. “Let’s go, baby.”
“Can we take a longer way? I like riding on your bike.”
Damn this woman is going to kill me.
Chapter Eighteen
Misty
Bernie comes home tomorrow, and I miss my daughter. I miss her so much, but I love this time with Zeppelin.
Lying here, in his arms, the panic takes over. This can’t be happening. Not this fast.
My God, I’m falling in love with him.
“What’s wrong?” Zep asks, his voice heavy with sleep as his arms tighten around me.
His skin on mine feels better than I imagined it would. How I ever thought just one night—or one week—would be enough to move on from the desire I have for him, I don’t know. I just know I’m an idiot.
“Nothing,” I lie.
“Bullshit.”
His comment makes me smile as I nuzzle my face against his chest. “What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“I can hear your heart beating.”
Well, shit. “Just thinking.”
