Maybe it was because he wanted it but didn’t want to want it.
Well, he could join the club.
He just kept staring at her, waiting for her answer. And dammit, she didn’t know the answer. She wanted it, yes, but was she willing to engage in a purely sexual, no-strings fling with a man who made her want to pull her hair out?
“Yes.” Apparently she was. “I meant it.”
She could see his hard swallow, his teeth grinding as his jaw shifted. And she hoped, a good portion of her really hoped, that he would say no. That he would make her angry. Walk away again and say something insulting on his way down the street that would be so vile all the lust she felt for him would be knocked out of her system.
“Okay,” he said. “But I need rules.”
“I...” She couldn’t believe he’d agreed. She’d been counting on him to be the voice of reason. That was what he did, who he was, except for that time against the wall. And she’d been counting on him to make the smart choices here, since she was very obviously not going to do it. “What kind of rules?” she asked.
If he couldn’t be the voice of reason, maybe, just maybe, there was still time for him to piss her off so she’d change her mind.
He looked to each side and then walked toward her, apparently satisfied that there were no prying eyes. “Just sex,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“And no one knows about it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, obviously. I’m not going to print it in the paper. Or march over to your brother’s place like, ‘Hey! Been banging Eli. Here’s your rent.’”
“I’m serious. I don’t like complications. This is more complicated than I like it already, so it needs to stay clean.”
“You don’t strike me as a player.”
“I’m not.”
“But these are player rules.”
“They’re the rules of a man who generally doesn’t date women who live within walking distance of his house. Or even the same town. Or really...a man who doesn’t date much at all. But I’m still not a player. I’m just a guy who has too much to do. I don’t want a wife, kids or exes all over where I have to patrol every day, so that means I do the best I can to keep things separate.”
She hadn’t really thought of it like that. Eli moved around town, around the whole area, all the time. Talked to random people, responded to calls. Having exes right in town had the potential to be a mess. She tended to move states away from hers, and she was never all that attached to any of them, so it wouldn’t have much mattered anyway.
“Okay,” she said. “And ultimately it doesn’t really matter to me one way or the other. I like it casual, and no, I don’t normally go in for sex only. In fact, I never do. But my relationships have all been very...nonserious.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he said.
“Pfft. Eli, I’ve yet to fall in love with any man who touched me. Good in bed or not. Even if the guy is prone to giving me flowers and taking me out, I tend to remain fairly distant. It’s hardly going to change with you. Remember? I don’t even like you. I just want your body. And that means that this will be the best sex-only relationship ever. Plus, we live close. Late-night booty calls will be a breeze and there will be no temptation at all to develop finer feelings.”
He lifted his coffee cup and took a drink. “Okay, I have to get back to work. Then I have to bring Connor food to ensure he does more than ingest alcohol today.”
“Sure,” she said, feeling a little like shrieking or scurrying in circles or something. Not with joy or anything, but with...panic, excitement and a pulse of adrenaline that seemed more appropriate for scaling a mountain than propositioning a guy for no-strings sex.
“I’ll see you after.”
“My place?” she asked, her throat dry.
“Probably for the best.”
“Bring condoms,” she said, looking around, suddenly concerned people might have started milling around since Eli last looked. “I am lacking, currently. And that would be a shame.”
He nodded. “I’ll come prepared.” The black radio on his shoulder buzzed and he put his hand up over the top of it. “I have to go. See you tonight. Good luck with the posters.”
Then he turned and walked away. Like some badass action movie star with a surprisingly poor exit line.
Oh, dear Lord, what had she done?
She bent and picked up her stack of posters again, holding them to her chest, the staple gun braced against the back of them.
There was no reason to panic. None at all. She’d propositioned Eli Garrett. And he’d said yes. They were going to have a no-strings fling that would result in many orgasms for both of them.
Putting it like that, it didn’t seem like a big deal at all.
No, it sounded awesome.
A slow grin spread across her face and she turned and started walking down the sidewalk, beneath the covered walkway that ran along the row of little shops.
She paused at the next bulletin board, her heart beating fast, excitement building now.
Things had just gotten a whole lot more interesting.
* * *
“Dammit, Eli. There’s mustard on this.”
“What?” Eli looked at his brother for a full ten seconds before he processed what he was saying.
