Page 42 of The Moment They Can't Forget

“I know.”

“Or we could just have sex, and no one needs to know. You could come to my place?—”

“No! No,” she added more softly. “I can’t do that to my family. It would complicate everything, JD, and it’s not fair on my brother.”

“Why? Sawyer had casual sex before Birdie and he got serious.”

“But she wasn’t Ryder’s best friend. It’s a Duke thing,” Zoe said, trying to ignore the feel of his hand still under her shirt. It felt like he was branding her.

“Duke thing?”

“We agreed to never date each other’s best friends unless it was serious, and even then, we have to ask the other siblings’ permission.”

“You’re not serious?”

“Deadly.”

“How the hell did you all honor that in a town this size?”

“It wasn’t easy, but, JD, this will never be any more than sex, so we can’t do this again.”

“Good sex. Fucking awesome sex,” he said, his gaze savage as it roamed her face.

“Yes,” Zoe whispered. She wouldn’t deny it. “But we’ll forget soon.”

“Maybe we will. There are plenty of women?—”

“Do not sleep with my friend!” Zoe said the words before she could pull them back.

“I guess I know exactly how you feel about me now,” he said, turning from her. He then walked back inside.

In that moment, she felt exactly like she had the day a man had taken everything she wanted from her. Vulnerable. But worse was the fact she’d just insulted JD, and he hadn’t deserved that from her. Now she’d have to apologize.

Chapter13

JD hadn’t slept well. He’d woken with a headache, which he put down to stress, and a sore neck from spending too much time at his computer last night.

A long lick down his cheek had him opening his eyes to look at the large black-and-tan dog standing over him.

“Hey, buddy.” He rubbed the soft ears.

When JD came to Lyntacky, he’d decided it was time to own pets. Biff and Marty were his first adoptions. He’d found them at a shelter, and seeing as he’d saved them, they loved him unconditionally, which was a new experience for the man who was an emotional void. Or so a few of the women he’d dated had told him.

They were brothers. Biff had one ear that stood up, and the other flopped, and Marty was missing a tail and had just a stump that he wagged constantly.

It was Biff currently looking down at him with a hopeful expression, which meant he wanted food. Marty would still be sleeping at the bottom of the bed.

A loud quack had him rolling to the side. Wincing as the movement made his pain worse, he peered over the edge, JD noted the duck on the floor. Small and brown, she had limped onto his land a year ago with wire wrapped around a leg. After a trip to the vet, she now seemed to have found her home here with Biff and Marty.

“Velma, I put food down for you outside last night,” JD said, getting out of bed with a groan as he sat upright. Vi had named the duck after her favoriteScooby-Doocharacter.

Another quack told him she wasn’t happy.

“We’ve discussed this. They can sleep on the bed. You can’t because I don’t want the surprises you’d leave behind.”

Standing, he pulled on a pair of shorts, then walked out to the living area and opened the doors for the dogs and duck to head out. He found some pain meds to ease his headache and then turned on the coffee maker. While he watched the black stream of elixir pour into his favorite mug, Zoe slid back into his head.

Did she really think he’d sleep with her friend? Clearly, she didn’t have a very flattering opinion of him, but what had he expected? Zoe thought he was this rich, arrogant city boy.

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