She yanked her hand back and scooted a few inches away from him as though she needed room to breathe. Exactly the opposite of what he expected her to do.
“We can’t start until tomorrow, though.”
And that was exactly the opposite of what he expected her to say.
“Come again?”
“Rule #5: Never let a fling last more than three days. Today is Monday. If we start tomorrow, that gives us through Thursday night, which is perfect because Lucie and Reid are due to arrive on Friday in time for the rehearsal dinner.”
Jackson couldn’t believe she was putting a time limit on a fling like it was a goddamned parking meter. “You can’t be serious. Do you do this with every guy?” Suddenly the idea of her having three-day flings with random men made him want to go several rounds with a punching bag. Or better yet, the random men.
“Well, I don’t discuss the rule with them. I just always end things before it gets more serious than that. But since we’re in the unique position we are, I feel I need to be upfront with you about my expectations.”
“So you’ve never had relationships or dated anyone longer than three days?”
“Of course I have, but we’re not talking relationships; we’re talking flings. The two are very different.”
He rubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw as he mulled things over. Vanessa MacGregor was a strange creature. He couldn’t figure out why she had so many crazy rules and felt she needed to follow them like her own personal bible. Personally, he thought her rules were absurd, but if he wanted to be with her—and he really, really did—he supposed there were worse things than following a few rules. Presuming none of them was off-the-wall crazy.
He narrowed his eyes a little and asked, “If I agree to this, what other rules are going to be involved? I don’t want something sprung on me somewhere in day two. You don’t have any rules that involve me dressing up in women’s clothing, do you?”
“Not even one of my thongs?”
His eyes widened until she cracked a smile. “Careful, princess. By my count, you’re already owed two punishments. You wouldn’t want to double that, now would you?”
Her face lost some of its amusement and flushed a little, making him wonder if it was from worry…or excitement.
Clearing her throat, she reached into her back pocket and unfolded a sheet of paper that looked a lot like— Holy shit. “Is that a contract?”
“Of course not! But I didn’t want to forget anything so I wrote down all the—”
“Rules?” he asked with a wry raise of an eyebrow.
She leveled him with a confident stare and her chin lifted a hint more. “Yes. Rules.”
He loved that she didn’t back down when he tested her resolve. Some women would have given up at the first sign he wasn’t thrilled. But not Vanessa. She was totally at peace with her crazy, and for some reason it turned his crank that much harder. Sounded like he’d be doing a lot of things to humor his eccentric pretend-bride-to-be.
Setting his board off to the side, he crossed his arms over his chest and said, “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“The deal is that we enter into a sexual relationship for the period of three consecutive days starting Tuesday, which is tomorrow, and after that we’ll revert back to a platonic friendship. However, because we have mutual friends, it’s almost certain that we’ll see each other in the future. So we also have to agree not to revisit any part of our sexual relationship during those times.”
“So we can’t sleep together just for old times’ sake? Why the hell not?”
“Because three days is three days, Jackson. Anything more than that and we run the risk of developing feelings for each other, and that’s not what either of us wants.”
“Uh-huh. And why is that again?”
She looked away from him, finding a sudden interest in the way she dog-eared the corner of the paper. “You’re not right for me.”
Ouch. That stung more than he’d have thought. “Because of your rules?”
She nodded but didn’t elaborate. He made a decision then and there that his goal for the next few days would be to figure out that list of rules and make her break as many of them as possible. She was strung too damn tight, and he was taking it upon himself to chill her the fuck out.
“What else did you write down?”
She shrugged one slim shoulder. “Just that during our fling neither of us messes around with anyone else, which is not only common courtesy but also to protect Reid’s and Lucie’s reputations.” Then she cut him a look from the corner of her eye. “That includes flirting, so you might want to steer clear of Jillian.”