Page 76 of Rainshadow Road

“Sex.” He said the word as if it was a profanity.

“I wasn’t joking.”

“We can’t have sex.”

“Why not?”

“You know the reasons.”

“Those reasons don’t apply now,” Lucy said earnestly. “Because I’ve thought about it, and… please stop moving around. Will you sit next to me?”

Warily Sam approached and sat on the coffee table, facing her. Bracing his forearms on his spread knees, he gave her a level stare.

“I know your rules,” Lucy said. “No commitment. No jealousy. No future. The only things we exchange are body fluids, not feelings.”

“Yeah,” Sam said. “Those are the rules. And I’m not doing any of that with you.”

Lucy frowned. “You told me not long ago that if I wanted to have revenge sex, you would do it with me.”

“I had no intention of going through with it. You’re not the kind of woman who can do friends-with-benefits.”

“I am, too.”

“You’re sonot,Lucy.” Sam stood and began to pace again. “At the beginning you’ll say you’re fine with casual sex. But that won’t last for long.”

“What if Ipromisenot to get serious?”

“You will anyway.”

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because my kind of relationship only works when both people are equally shallow. I’m great at shallow. But you would throw the whole thing off balance.”

“Sam. I’ve had bad luck with relationships. Believe me, there is no man on earth I couldn’t live without, including you. But this morning when we were upstairs together… it was the best feeling I’ve had in a long time. And if I’m willing to try things your way, I don’t see why you should have a problem with it.”

Sam had stopped in the middle of the room. He stared at her with baffled annoyance, having clearly run out of arguments.

“No,” he eventually said.

Her brows lifted. “Is that a definitive no, or an I’m-thinking-about-it no?”

“It’s a no-way-in-hell no.”

“But you’ll still have dinner with my parents and me tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Lucy shook her head, dumbfounded. “You’ll have dinner with me and my parents, but you won’t have sex with me?”

“I have to eat,” he said.

***

“There’s a simple rule for managing stairs on crutches,” Sam said later in the day, staying close behind Lucy as she approached the front steps of the house. “Up with the good, down with the bad. When you’re going up, always lead with the healthy leg. When you’re going down, lead with the bad leg and the crutches.”

They had just returned from the doctor’s office, where Lucy had been fitted with an Aircast brace. Having never needed to use crutches before, Lucy was discovering they were much more difficult than she had assumed.

“Try not to put any weight on your right leg,” Sam said, watching Lucy’s wobbly progress along the path. “Just swing it through and take a hop with your left.”

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