I bit my lip.
“You friggin’ did,” she cooed.
I didn’t say anything, only nodded my head, one quick jerk. My intention was not to mention any of my time with Shaun to anyone. Not my sisters. Not my mother. And certainly not Audra.
But did I mention Audra’s ability to draw things out of me?
I’d confessed I was going over for steaks last night, after the day from hell, and she’d encouraged me.
Blow off some steam, she’d said.
You deserve it.
Well, I got something all right.
Possibly more than I deserved, but that’s a discussion I’ll table for another day.
Audra grinned this huge, cheesy grin, probably the biggest one I’d seen on her face in quite some time. “Well? How was it?”
“I spent the night,” I said, taking a seat on the corner of my desk.
“Ooh, how was that?”
I shrugged. “Warm.”
She blinked and stared at me. “Warm?”
“Warm.”
Audra crossed her arms and stared at me.
Ugh. It was that expression of hers. Again.
“I have been coming home to a cold bed for years. I have electric blankets to keep me warm at night, but it never really worked. I always felt cold. Shaun kept me warm.”
Audra nodded. “Is this a new boyfriend warm?”
“I don’t know what it is,” I answered honestly. “He’s damn good boyfriend material, for sure.”
“Really? The exterminator is good boyfriend material?”
I nodded. “He made dinner. Cooked steaks in the cold, because I liked them over charcoal. Made me breakfast this morning. Scraped off my car. Hell, he didn’t even ask if he needed to wear a condom. He just put one on.” I looked down again. “Well, I put it on. But same thing.”
“Hahaha! Did you tell him he didn’t need a condom?”
I shook my head. “I appreciated the fact that he didn’t even ask, just assumed he needed one and didn’t complain about it.”
“Well, be nice to the guy and tell him he doesn’t have to worry about that.”
“Maybe,” I said.
Though I knew I would. I had gotten a hysterectomy when the kids were little, because of endometriosis issues, and I wasn’t expecting to have more kids. In the long run, it was the best thing.
My husband at the time didn’t agree. But he was a dickhead—yet another red flag I should have seen at the time.
Fucker.
And I assumed all men were dicks about condoms, except those in romance novels.
