Page 15 of Unromance

“You want me to ruin romance for you?” Sawyer said slowly.

“Yes. And in return, maybe you’ll get some more inspiration. That’s what you were looking for today, right? You keep me too busy—and too jaded—to date, and I’ll let you borrow my heart-shaped, rose-colored glasses.”

She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip.

He really needed her to stop doing that, or he was going to have a hard time not kissing her—a harder time than he was already having. Which, he realized, was an unexpected bonus of doing this with Sawyer. There was no future for them, and he would have to learn how to squash an attraction rather than pursue it.

“What’re you so worried about, Greene?” he asked in challenge, smirking over the rim of his pint glass. “That you’ll fall for me?”

Sawyer batted her eyelashes. “Not in the slightest.”

“Good,” he said, leaning closer. “I’m gonna woo you so fucking hard, you’ll be writing a trilogy before you know what hit you.”

Sawyer snorted loudly. “So, you wanna show up outside my window with a boom box and play a crap eighties song I hate?”

“Sure.” He shrugged, holding up a finger. “But only if you’ll ruin the Spider-Man kiss for me.”

“Which Spider-Man?” she asked seriously.

Mason scoffed. “Upside down, in the rain, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, obviously.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Do I have to wear the fake nipples?”

Mason was fairly certain his heart skipped a beat, his brain short-circuiting as his jeans suddenly felt too tight. He swallowed thickly. “Your real ones will do,” he mumbled before hastily taking a sip of his beer. He needed a cold shower but a cold drink would have to suffice.

Sawyer laughed under her breath but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I like where your head is at,” she began slowly. He had a feeling she didn’t mean the nipples. “I’ll do anything to jog my inspiration at this point. I’m in.” Definitely not the nipples.

He took another sip of his beer, unable to stifle a daydream of them reenacting that cinematic rain kiss.

“First trope—”

“Right now?” he asked in alarm, glancing around the packed bar. He was trying to keep a low profile—not that she knew that. If she burst out into a musical number now—

“A contract. Some ground rules.”

He exhaled slowly, relieved she was not about to attract the attention of every person in the room. Only the bartender paid them any mind, having given up all pretense of not checking Sawyer out.

Oblivious, Sawyer continued, “Rule number one: no falling in love or catching feelings of any kind,” she said as if it were obvious, staring at him expectantly.

“Naturally,” he agreed, a beat too late. This was why he was here, after all. Falling in love with Sawyer Greene had disaster written all over it on a normal day, much less when he was caught in the middle of a tabloid-fabricated love triangle and an impending cross-country move.

“And no sex.”

He choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken. It didn’t go unnoticed by her.

“It’ll only muddy the waters,” she said matter-of-factly.

Maybe the other night hadn’t been as good for her as it had been for him, but he was pretty sure it was. At least, he hoped it was. But fair enough. They’d agreed up front it was a one-time-only thing. Probably best if they stuck with that.

“No feelings and no orgasms. Got it,” he repeated back to her.

Her gaze snagged on his at the wordorgasm, a ringing starting in his ears that had nothing to do with the Iron Maiden blaring from the speakers.

“We doing alright?” the bartender asked, tapping the counter in front of them with a tattooed hand.

This time, Mason was grateful for the interruption, exhaling heavily as Sawyer turned her attention to the bartender instead. She ordered another round and a burger. Mason drained the last of his drink before doing the same. Luis was going to kill him tomorrow for drinking beer and eating a burger twice the size any person had a right to eat. The downside of your best friend being your trainer was Mason couldn’t lie to Luis. The upside was Luis always forgave him—in fact, Luis was usually sitting right next to him, with a burger as big as Mason’s.

“Oh!” Tucking one leg underneath her and leaning over the bar top, Sawyer beckoned their bartender back over. He was in front of her in an instant. “Can I borrow a pen? And some paper?”

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