“And you? What do you accept?”
“Very little that wastes my time.” There’s no arrogance in it. Just certainty.
“You’re very confident,” I say.
“Success breeds confidence. I have been very successful.” His eyes narrow. “I tend to the careful side of things, though I’ve been known to be reckless now and again. What about you, Sage? Are you a risk-taker?”
“Right now, drinking this delicious whiskey is about the riskiest thing I’ve done in a while.”
Amusement spreads across his face. “How’s that?”
“I’m a personal trainer. I almost never drink—it doesn’t do much for your health. Same with drugs and the like. My body is my resume, so if I don’t keep myself healthy, I lose business.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because being here with you makes me want to be reckless.”
My heart stutters. “Reckless how?”
Ronan’s gaze drops briefly to my mouth before returning to my eyes. “I would ensure that I was certain.”
“Certain of what?”
“That this is not a reaction to another man’s mishandling of you.”
I swallow more whiskey. “What reaction?”
“The way your cheeks heat pink when I flirt with you. I’d want to know it’s not because your ex-boyfriend was a jerk. That you were genuinely interested, and I was not some kind of revenge.”
I like how direct he is, but I’m also buzzed and not sure I’m expressing myself well. “You speak like someone who’s been used before.”
“Aye. I have been.”
I like that he’s straight with me. Plainly honest. No games. It’s refreshing, sadly. “And if it was a choice? If you knew I was truly interested?”
He doesn’t hesitate. “Then I would take my time.”
The way he says it—slow, controlled—makes my skin prickle.
“This is insane,” I whisper. “I just ended a year-long relationship.”
“And yet you’re still thinking about it, aren’t you, Sage? Still thinking about what a doctor might be able to make your body do?”
Heat flushes up my neck. “How do you know that?”
He smirks, and I don’t know why that works for me. “Because you want to know what all that anatomy education does for a man in bed. Considering your education as a personal trainer, I admit my curiosity on that score, as well.”
Half a laugh escapes me, but the rest of me is aroused and on board. “This is…”
“You’re not going to pretend this is a bad idea.”
“I’m not?”
Ronan shakes his head, still smirking. “You know what you want. Pretending is beneath you. Come take what you want, Sage.”
He doesn’t crowd me. Doesn’t touch me without permission. He waits. That patience feels far more dangerous than urgency.
