Down on Her Knees

CHAPTER Five


The next day after work, Courtney found herself staring at Cat, still in semi-shock as her friend shoveled a forkful of Cobb salad into her mouth. She swiped a napkin over her lips and tapped the pen against her knuckle as she glanced down at her smartphone.

“Okay, we decided that double penetration is a hard no, right?”

Courtney didn’t answer, the gravity of her circumstances becoming more apparent by the second. What the hell had she been thinking? With the dare in Rafe’s eyes and the fear of letting an opportunity slip through her hands, combined with her own false bravado courtesy of Sam Adams, it had felt so right.

Terrifying, but right.

But in the light of day, sitting across from her friend with a sheaf of paper between them now riddled with salad dressing and words like “spanking” and “anal,” she wondered if she’d lost her f*cking mind.

“Courtney?”

“What?” she snapped back.

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?” Cat asked, leaning forward in her seat, the regret plain on her face. “If I’d known he’d given you an ultimatum or why you were avoiding him, I would never have told Shane and him it was okay to meet us. And once you told me…”

“It was too late. I know. I should’ve told you sooner, and I already said I wasn’t mad. I’m just having buyer’s remorse, is all.”

“Come on, it’s going to be fine. This is a generic list, something to give him a guideline. He probably isn’t even into most of this stuff,” Cat reassured her.

“Says you,” she muttered miserably.

“This is exciting, remember? That’s why you called me. You couldn’t wait until tonight to start filling it out. Now buck up and let’s have fun with it.”

She hadn’t been able to wait because of crippling anxiety seeping in once she’d received Rafe’s e-mail that morning. Once she’d seen the kind of stuff on the survey he sent her, she’d needed Cat for moral support. But fun? No.

Fun was finding a twenty-dollar bill in a pair of jeans you hadn’t worn in months. Fun was strawberry picking on a warm summer day and sneaking a few as you went. Sitting at a diner looking at a BDSM checklist online, sussing out the things she would or would not be okay doing with her new sex-on-the-edge instructor, and assigning them each a rating utilizing the world’s most complex system that ranged from 1-5 but also included question marks, backslashes, and a capital X? That was the opposite of fun.

Cat sighed and set down her pen. “Look, let’s finish the task at hand, okay? Rafe wants this scanned and e-mailed back to him tomorrow afternoon. If you decide you want to change something, you can do it in the morning after you sleep on it. And if you decide you want to back out altogether? You can still do that too. Just don’t send him the list. No biggie, but at least let’s get it all together so that if you do decide to go through with it, you’re prepared, okay?” Her green eyes dimmed and she set her fork down. “Are you scared? If you’re scared and want to change your mind already, f*ck it, we don’t need to—”

“Nope.” Courtney shook her head and ran a finger around the rim of her water glass. “I’m not scared. Not of Rafe, at least. I’m scared of letting myself trust someone, though. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that. And I’ve never done anything like this.” Maybe it was time to come clean with the rest of it… “Rafe was my first.”

Cat sat back against her chair so hard it tipped, almost flipping her onto her back. “Shut the front door!”

She shook her head furiously, “Wait, no, not my first first.” She took a long pull from her glass and set it down before meeting her friend’s curious gaze. “Before the other night, I’d never been able to…finish.” The last was a whisper that seemed to hang in the air like a thundercloud.

“With a guy?” Cat asked, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

“At all,” Courtney corrected sheepishly.

“Wowww…” She opened her mouth, seeming to gear up for a speech, but finally shook her head and repeated, “Wowww.”

“Yeah, you said that.”

“I know, but it deserved an echo. How did—” Cat held up both hands and started again. “Like, why didn’t you—” She stopped again and shrugged helplessly. “Some guys suck, and some women are hard nuts to crack, so I guess that part’s not that unusual, but did you not give it the old college try solo?”

“I gave it many, many tries. College tries. High school tries. Middle school tries. Summer camp tries.” She toyed with the saltshaker absently. “It just seemed like the harder I chased it, the faster it ran.”

Cat smiled then and patted her hand lightly. “And now Rafe…Jesus, I’m surprised you didn’t knock him over the head and lock him in your basement.”

That broke the tension as they busted out in giggles at the visual. “Believe me, I considered it.”

“I bet. And this makes me more excited for you. You like him, right?”

Like was such a mild word for all the things she felt toward him. He pissed her off, and thrilled her and annoyed her and set her on fire all at the same time. But he was also a great guy. More than once, she’d seen him drop everything to help Shane or Galen move a sofa or build a deck. He was the kind of guy who wound up standing a lot when they all went out because he was the first to give up his chair. Not to mention the fact that he was a bona fide hero. When he’d gotten his commendation for his part in saving that little girl, he’d given all the credit to the rest of the team. And she hadn’t missed the shine in his eyes when the Abbott family, four-year-old daughter included, had rushed in to hug him afterward.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Did she like him?

“Yeah. I like him.”

“And you’re obviously attracted to him. You’re both unattached and mentally sound. This was an easy sell from the beginning but now? Adding the fact that A: You know he can get you off, and B: No one else has ever been able to, including you?” She swung an imaginary bat and made a clucking sound with her mouth as if she’d knocked it out of the park. “It’s a home run.”

Cat’s sunshine-and-rainbows view of the situation was rubbing off on her, and she managed a grin. “I guess it seems that way, huh?”

“It does. And I’m really proud of you for getting back out there. But don’t forget what I said.” Her tone grew serious and she waited until Courtney met her gaze. “A steamy fling should be on everyone’s bucket list, so I’m behind you one hundred percent here. But don’t fall in love with him, Courtney. He wasn’t lying when he told you about the four-scene rule. I’ve never seen him with the same woman twice, besides Monica.”

Courtney shoved her barely eaten bowl of salad away, her appetite completely gone. “I’ve heard that name twice in the past couple weeks, but never before that. What’s the deal?”

Cat sighed and shook her head. “She and Rafe met in college. He was studying to be an engineer, and she wanted to teach kindergarten. It got serious fast. They dated for three years and planned to move in together after graduation.”

Tears filled her friend’s eyes as she paused to collect herself, and Courtney’s heart plummeted to her feet. This wasn’t just a bad breakup. This was something so much worse.

“She’d made a fancy dinner for Rafe on Valentine’s Day and decided to run out to the liquor store to pick up a bottle of wine. There was a holdup in progress, and when she walked in and the bell jingled, the robber panicked and fired his gun. Monica took a bullet to the chest and died before the ambulance got there.”

“Oh my God,” Courtney whispered, her own eyes going hot. “Poor Rafe. He must have been crushed.”

Cat nodded. “He dropped out of school a week later, and joined the police academy to spend his life pursuing violent criminals. His whole career is a tribute to Monica. They went to school out in Texas, so I only got to meet her a few times, but she was a sweet girl. He’s never been the same. He keeps to himself a lot, and has told Shane and Galen more than once that he’ll never allow himself to feel that way about another woman again.” She wiped her eyes on her napkin and sucked in a deep breath. “Anyway, that’s the story. I do think you can help each other in ways neither of you has even considered, but you need to be careful. I love you both, and I don’t want either of you getting hurt. Promise me?”

Courtney nodded. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Cat snatched up her phone and peered down, all business again. “Now back to the survey. Is there anything you think he should know about your sexual history?”


It took Courtney longer to switch gears, and she was silent for a long moment, still thinking about Rafe and his college sweetheart. How terrible that must have been for him. No wonder he was so adamant about not getting close to anyone. She thought she had a good reason for being guarded. What she’d gone through with Wes had been a walk in the park compared to the pain Rafe had suffered.

“Courtney?”

She folded her arms to ward off the sudden chill and focused her attention back on Cat. “Sorry, what was the question?”

“Anything else about your sexual history that he should know?”

She mulled that over for a long time before shaking her head. “Nope. Nothing.”

Her friend looked at her like she’d spoken in tongues. “Uhm, how’s about the juicy nugget you shared with me a few minutes ago? About your ill-fated attempts to get to O-ville? Surely that’s worth mentioning.”

“It’s pretty personal…”

“As opposed to telling him whether you like”—she glanced at the survey again—“pony play?”

She had her there. “Well, that’s a specific question and has a specific answer. Besides,” Courtney added with a sniff, “it would put too much pressure on him to re-create the miracle. I don’t want to make him feel bad if it doesn’t happen again when this is an issue I had long before him.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Her reluctant shrug was enough to make Courtney second-guess herself, but the idea of Rafe knowing that he was the first guy to ring her bell made her about break out in hives.

“I’m sure.”

Cat nodded. “Okay. Looks good so far, then. Oh! We forgot to fill out number eleven on page one. What did you say your feelings were on dog leashes again?”

Courtney groaned and slumped forward to rest her head on the cool Formica while Cat huffed a sigh and called to the waitress.

“Can you grab us two coffees? And might as well keep ’em coming. I think we’re going to be a while.”

…

Nine days.

Courtney blew the lock of hair obscuring her vision from her eye and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

Nine frigging days without a single word from him. After all that fuss, all those hours of waiting, anticipating, planning…

She’d filled out the survey about hard limits and safe words; they’d exchanged medical history forms. Hell, she’d even given him a key to her house once they’d put a system in place to let him know whether or not she wanted him to use it on a given day. All that, and then?

Nada.

It was like Indecent Proposal without any of the indecency. Granted, she’d balked at some of the truly outrageous stuff on the questionnaire, but there was plenty left on the table to work with, and he’d seemed more than satisfied at her sense of adventure. Still, maybe it wasn’t enough for him…

Whatever. She refused to let it shake her confidence. He probably decided—much like she did half the times she thought about it—that this whole thing was a terrible idea and had opted out. Fine. But it would’ve been nice if he’d given her a call so she could stop thinking that he’d let himself into her house and was about to ravage her every time she heard the radiator creak at night.

Which reminded her, she was going to have to ask Cat to get her key back for her. If things had been awkward before, they’d be more so now that he’d stood her up. Besides, Cat owed her one.

She adjusted her seat belt and toyed with the radio, turning back on her Rosetta Stone practice CD. It had been her lifelong dream to retire at fifty-five and travel the world, and she was hell-bent on speaking at least seven languages by that time. She’d already learned enough Spanish to eke by—especially if toilets or food were involved—and had just started on French. No way was she letting All Talk, No Action Rafe ruin her day or her retirement plans.

After yet another hellish forty hours at work courtesy of her new supervisor, who clearly had decided that making her life miserable was priority number one, she needed a break from the shit that had been her week. It was a beautiful summer night and she was exactly three miles from Cat’s family cottage where she planned to spend a relaxing weekend by the lake. She’d been thrilled when Cat had made the offer. Courtney knew she was probably feeling a little guilty for her part in this mess. Who was she to snub the offer if it made her friend feel better?

She rolled the window down and cranked up her French lesson, letting the warm breeze batter her hair into a wild mess, not giving a crap.

“La boulangerie,” the disembodied voice blared from the speakers. “Bakery.”

“La boulangerie,” she repeated, getting her Pepé Le Pew on, making sure to roll her tongue under to get that authentic sound working. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible.

She’d just turned down the dark, winding road that also acted as the Thomas family’s driveway and was in the midst of learning how to order a coffee when a noise broke her concentration. An ambulance? Blue and red lights flashed in her rearview mirror, and she groaned. Cops.

“Sacre bleu!”

It was like she had the worst luck in the world in this town. First a flat and now this. She pulled to the side, glad that this time there was space to get entirely off the road. Then she turned off the radio and started digging in her glove compartment for her registration. Had she been speeding? Or maybe her blinker was on the fritz?

A flashlight blinded her, and she covered her eyes, squinting.

“Jeez, wow, that thing’s pretty powerful. What’s that use, nine volt there?” She tried for a smile but with her face scrunched up, she was pretty sure she’d missed the mark on looking innocent and affable and landed somewhere around weird and creepy.

“I’m going to need you to step out of the car, miss.” His tone was sharp, and she winced.

“Uhm, can you tell me what I did wrong, Officer?”

The flashlight went dark and he leaned down to meet her at eye level. “I’m going to need you to step out of the car, miss. Now.”

Her stomach flopped like a landed catfish as the voice registered this time. She still couldn’t see well with her pupils adjusting to the lack of light again, but there was no mistake.

She raised a trembling hand to her hair and made a sad attempt to fix it as uncertainty swamped her. She’d been so bummed when he hadn’t contacted her and now he was here and she wasn’t sure she could go through with it. Talk about the grass being greener. “Look, Rafe, I’m not sure—”

“This is your last warning. Step out of the car, or I will forcibly remove you from it.”

The icy command jarred her into action, and she reached for the door handle. With a yank, she opened it and stepped onto the grass. How familiar this part felt. They were only a few miles from where they’d had their last encounter, and her body seemed to recognize that fact. Her nipples stiffened beneath her tank top under the warm breeze and her pulse skittered wildly.

She could see him now. He was decked out in his dress blues, baton at his hip, gun on his belt. Delicious. His dark eyes were so intense her arms broke out in goose bumps in spite of the warm evening.

“Do you have any weapons?” he asked curtly.

She shook her head. “What? No.”

“Put your hands on the roof of the car.”

“I’m sure this isn’t ne—”

“Ma’am, unless you want to find yourself down at County, put your hands on the f*cking roof and spread ’em.”

It was that last part that had her actually considering his request. She knew for a fact she was the only one coming to the cottage this weekend, and there were no other houses down this stretch of “road,” but what if someone made a wrong turn? Unlikely, considering how few cars came up that way, but possible. Before she’d made up her mind, she found herself spread-eagled and cuffed without ceremony. Jesus he was fast.

“Rafe…”

“Listen to me carefully, ma’am, because I’m only going to say this once. I’m going to give you instructions, and you’re going to follow them.”

The precariousness of her position made the butterflies in her belly start flapping. The form he’d had her fill out included a space for her safe word. She had chosen a two word phrase instead. Toy boat. She could “toy boat” him right now and this would all stop. The scene would end.

“Do you understand?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, Officer.”

He let out a sigh and cleared his throat. “Good.”

She tried to stay still as he frisked her, but it was impossible. He wasn’t gentle. There was no hesitation. He ran his hands up her bare leg from ankle to thigh and down the other, and then between, lingering long enough that she would have filed a lawsuit if this were real. But it wasn’t. So why not have a little fun?

She worked up her courage and tried to keep her voice steady. “Officer, is that standard?”

Her back talk got her a second squeeze through her jean shorts, and she couldn’t stop herself from flexing into his hand.

“What do we have here?” he muttered.

“I can assure you that’s not a weapon, sir,” she said, already hearing the edge of need working its way into her voice.


He released her and slid both hands over her hips, past her rib cage and up until he cupped both of her breasts. Her nipples stood at attention, and he grunted in approval, pinching them lightly before releasing her and stepping back.

“I’m not a hard man by nature,” he said, fingering the links of the cuffs around her wrists lightly. “But I can be, if I’m not happy.” He closed the circle more tightly, two clicks, until the metal dug into her skin. “We can both walk away from this unfortunate incident happy tonight.”

She shuddered at the sternness of his tone, laced with precisely enough sensual promise to temper fear with desire.

“H-how?” And she so wanted to know. As much as she’d enjoyed their first encounter, it had gone against the grain for her to take and not give something in return. It had been bothering her ever since. A low-level annoyance that never really went away. But she had the chance to fix that now.

He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. By the light of the moon, she could make out the pulse pounding in his neck, and it gave her courage.

She stepped toward him, ignoring the twinge in her wrists as she moved.

“Get on your knees,” he ground out.

She paused and cocked her head at him. Was he serious? She tried to read his unfathomable eyes, but came up empty. She was supposed to drop down and go to town or…?

“I’m a busy man, miss. Lots of bad people running around and not a lot of time to catch them. Either you can suck me off or we can put that sweet ass in the back of my car and you can spend the night in jail. Your call.”

Blood pounded in her ears, and, to her surprise, between her legs at the harshness of his voice…the crassness of his words.

She sank slowly down, reveling in the pained expression on his face. Like he wanted her so badly, he could hardly stand it. Like her kneeling pleased him so much, he could barely contain it. Magnifique. She kept her eyes locked on him as her knees touched the cool, soft grass.

“What now?”

…

Great question.

His brain was scrambled ten ways to Sunday, but he was supposed to know. It was his job to lead her, teach her, guide her, and he wasn’t going to let the fact that she continually blew his mind distract him from that task. Her wide eyes stared up at him, glassy with need. He’d been pretty sure she would like this scene.

In spite of her hesitance to fill it out, the survey had been very telling, and he was thrilled to see that most of the things she seemed enthusiastic about were a great match for his own tastes.

Her tongue poked out and wet her lips, and suddenly he was done thinking, opting instead just to feel. And right now, he wanted nothing more than to feel that mouth on him. His cock bucked behind his zipper, and he made quick work of his belt before yanking his pants apart. Her gaze shot down to watch him with rapt attention as he freed his throbbing erection from his boxers.

“Open,” he barked sharply, hot blood coursing through his veins when she complied without question. He couldn’t help but stop to enjoy the view for a few seconds. Courtney, head back, the skin of her throat bared to him as she waited for him to slide his cock between those soft lips. The ache became too much, and he stroked himself hard once, gripping his shaft and working up to the sensitive head.

Her breath went choppy and she swayed toward him, like a willow in the wind. Her tongue darted out again and she leaned in farther. She wanted it. Wanted his cock in her mouth. Wanted to suck him off until he came. The knowledge made him dizzy with need.

He’d been with women who didn’t like sucking dick. He’d been with women who didn’t mind it, and he’d been with women who liked it, especially because it pleased him. But he’d yet to find a woman who loved it for the sake of loving it. If Courtney was that woman…

With a hiss, he gripped the back of her head and fed his cock into her hot, waiting mouth. She wasted no time, moaning low in her throat, drawing him in hard and deep. He let his eyes drift shut for a second, and lights exploded behind his lids as she leaned away to lap delicately at the aching head. She moaned again when a drop of come leaked out and then tipped her head to catch it with her tongue.

“Fu-uck,” he groaned, spearing his hand through her long hair, using his hold to work her over him, slow first and then faster. She opened, pulling him down into the column of her throat until he reached bottom, and still she dove forward for more, consuming him, swallowing him whole.

The need to come hit him like a prizefighter, making his solar plexus clench, making his balls pull up tight, locked and ready for launch. Too soon. Way too f*cking soon. He had a promise to keep and while he was good with his hands, and even better with his mouth, he needed to feel that p-ssy clenching over him when she came.

He tugged her hair softly at first, then harder, but she didn’t release him. She whimpered low in her throat, and he couldn’t stop himself from caving to her sensual, wordless demand for more.

He flexed hard, driving his cock farther, harder. She gagged, her throat clenching around him, and he let go of her head instantly, and waited for her to back away. Instead, she dropped low again, deep-throating him until he battered the tender flesh at the back of her throat again and again.

“Enough,” he bit out, even as his hands drifted back to her hair. Even as he traced the concave hollow of her cheeks as she did her level best to suck him dry.

The point of no return was so close, he could see the finish line, and if he didn’t stop her now, there would be no stopping until he exploded into her hot mouth.

He gripped her head firmly with one hand and tapped her sharply on the jaw with the other. She met his gaze with dazed eyes, in the grip of a sexual frenzy that killed him to interrupt.

“That’s enough.”

She blinked blearily up at him and nodded, then settled back on her heels, ragged breaths racking her body.

“Y-you said I had to suck you off,” she whispered, eyes drifting back to his dick.

“And now I’ve changed my mind.”

“Did I not do a good job? My ex said it’s slutty to do that and—”

“I stopped you because I need to be inside you. And your ex is clearly the stupidest motherf*cker to ever own a dick if he didn’t like that.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she gave him a smile that made his heart squeeze.

“His…ah, wasn’t quite that…” She eyed him again and licked her lips.

If a man could die of horniness, he would have expired on the spot. For all her big talk about what she was into and what she wasn’t, this woman was a f*cking dream.

“Stand up,” he demanded, taking her arm to help her. It was slow going, and he realized she was still shaking.

His intention had been to f*ck her like he’d said he was going to, but plans changed the second he saw her standing there, long, trim legs spread wide, nipples poking out against the thin cotton of her shirt. He stepped close, his cock throbbing in time with his heartbeat.

Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the key to the cuffs. “Turn around.”

She did, and he slid the key into the lock and released her before turning her to face him again.

“Until our business is concluded here, you’re still the prisoner, but I want your hands free. Do you know why?”

She shook her head slowly, rubbing at the pink marks on her wrist.

“So you can use them to hold on to me while I eat your p-ssy until you come all over my tongue,” he explained, his voice more rasp than anything. He watched her closely to see how she reacted to his language, and when her nostrils flared lightly and a shiver ran through her, a surge of satisfaction tore through him. She couldn’t be more perfect if she’d been made especially for him. They were sexual C-4 together.

Without another word, he reached for her shorts. They were blessedly easy to maneuver, no buttons or zippers to contend with as he yanked them to her ankles along with her underwear. He knew she was ready, knew she was hot for him, so he didn’t bother with niceties. He just knelt and set his mouth on her.

“Jesus, Rafe,” she cried, her fingers lacing into his hair just as he’d predicted. He tried to take his time, tried to stop from consuming her, but the scent, the taste of her, jacked his need up to an eleven. Working her swollen * mercilessly with his tongue, he circled his arms around her, clutching her firm ass, sealing her to his face.

She spread her legs farther apart on a wordless cry and he used the space to get in deeper…to close the very edge of his teeth gently around that sensitive bundle of nerves to hold in place, and then he sucked, hard.

The hands in his hair convulsed, yanking as she screamed his name over and over. She twitched and jerked and still he worked her, her wild, uninhibited response making him insatiable.

“Inside me,” she cried. “Please.”

He barely heard her over the pounding in his ears, but there was no mistaking the pressure of her hands in his hair as she urged him up.

With a silent thanks to the fertility gods that she was on the pill, he hoisted her up into his arms and sat her on the hood of the car. She kicked off her shorts and leaned back on her elbows, thighs spread. “I wanna see,” she said softly, and her already-flushed cheeks went pinker.


“Oh, me too, cupcake.”

He took his cock in hand and moved between her thighs, groaning when the head came into contact with her slick, soaking-wet p-ssy. She stared down at him, lips parted, as he slid into her waiting heat. It was a tight fit, tight enough that he gritted his teeth from the effort of trying not to come.

“You feel so good,” she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed, rolling her hips into him in a circular motion that looked as sexy as it felt. He gave her more, pushing deeper until she gasped.

“God, that’s—” She broke off, her throat working as she swallowed.

“More?” he growled. She nodded and every nerve ending screamed with the need to finish it. He didn’t hold back this time, letting it loose, plunging hard and deep, until his balls were flush with her ass. His body quaked as the orgasm sang to him, a siren’s song, tugging him closer.

God, he hoped she was close again. He took one, experimental thrust, a long stroke that pulled almost all the way out before sliding all the way back in. The friction was so sublime it nearly ended him.

With a low groan, he slid one hand between her thighs and thumbed her * as he began to f*ck her in earnest, driving forward and back in a relentless rhythm. She sat up then, wrapping her arms and legs around him, working her hips in a frantic dance against his.

“Oh, God,” she murmured once, and then again. A second later she froze, her legs gripping his waist like iron bars as she exploded around him. His brain short-circuited and his hips took over, pounding faster as her p-ssy clenched over him, milking him like a hot little fist. He shouted her name as the climax ripped through him. Cock pulsing and jerking, he exploded.

It seemed like forever but was probably only a few minutes before his heartbeat finally returned to normal and he had the strength to disengage from her clutches.

Now came the tricky part. What he wanted was to follow her the rest of the way down this road and spend the weekend doing exactly what they’d just done and more, over and over. Out of the question. Not just because he had to meet an informant later tonight, but also because they had a deal. For the first time since he’d implemented the four-scene rule five years before, it didn’t seem like enough. The fact that he’d had to wait so long for her was obviously f*cking with his head. Celibacy would do that to a man. After the next scene, he’d be able to see things more clearly.

“You okay?” he asked.

She opened her eyes and nodded. “I’m great.”

Great was very good. He patted her thigh gently and tucked himself back into his pants as she stood, tugging her shorts on. Wasn’t often he wore his dress blues, but she seemed to like them. He filed that information away for possible future use.

“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch sooner. I caught a tricky case at work and spent all of my days and most of my nights at the precinct or out in the field. I wanted to make sure we did this right.”

That was the truth. He had considered calling, but that would’ve crossed the line between a purely sexual contract to something a man would have done with his girlfriend. He didn’t break a date or change plans, he just had taken longer to implement them.

“It’s fine. I wasn’t sure if you’d changed you mind or…”

“Oh, definitely not that.” Her smile spurred him on and the words were out before he could stop them. “Are you meeting everyone at the carnival Sunday night? Galen and Lacey will be back from Puerto Rico, so it should be fun.”

She hesitated and his stomach cramped. What the hell had he brought that up for? This was his first time doing a scene with someone who was also a friend of sorts, and he was cursing himself for blurring the lines between the two.

“I was thinking about it,” she said before he could figure a way to backtrack. “Are we…doing that? I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to avoid each other socially until our business had concluded or not.”

The idea didn’t seem to concern her either way; she looked more perplexed than anything. No point in making a mountain out of a molehill, then. Besides, keeping things as normal as possible would make the transition back to the usual easier on everyone.

“Fried food, balloon animals, and rickety-ass roller coaster? Where else would I be?”

She ran a hand through her mussed hair. “Okay, I guess I’ll see you there, then.”

The response made him way happier than it should have. He stalked back to his car, more determined than ever to focus on their next scene. In fact, it wasn’t like a date, so maybe he’d skip the carnival altogether.

The little voice he was determined to ignore spoke again, a single word this time.

Liar.