Page 62 of A Poisonous Plot

Lily’s eyes widened and laughter burst out of her. She slapped a hand to her chest. “It’s not yours? Oh, wow! That’s brilliant.”

“It’s not that funny,” he said sulkily.

“It’s hilarious,” she shrieked. “She’s the female version of you!”

He stretched his leg out to kick her, but she only kicked him back and kept giggling. When she calmed down, she offered her hand and pulled him up, then sent him off to get coffee from the cafe.

She should probably have been put out by the weird encounter with one of Flynn’s conquests, but it had the surprising effect of breaking the tension between them.

When he returned, they sat at the table nearest the counter. The first hit of caffeine was exquisite.

“Do you ever think about not sleeping around?” Lily asked.

He didn’t seem particularly surprised by the question. “I’m not hurting anyone,” he said, pushing his chair back from the table and stretching his legs out.

“Maybe not, but doesn’t it feel a bit meaningless?”

“Yes.” One corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “That’s kind of the point.”

“Fair enough,” she said, not quite disguising the hint of irritation in her voice.

“What other options do I have?” he asked defensively.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not like there’s much point in me dating anyone here.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Are you commitment-phobic or something?”

“No.” He tilted his head and stretched his neck. “I meant while I’m livinghere,there’s no point in dating. I’m leaving in a few months. It would be unfair to get involved with someone and then leave them broken-hearted.”

“That sounds a little presumptuous,” she said, while her insides tightened at the thought of him leaving. Given her nomadic upbringing she really should be used to friendships which didn’t last long.

“What do you think about friends with benefits?” he asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

“Excuse me?” Her voice was shrill and full of irritation. It wasn’t even the idea of it that was offensive, especially when she thought about their kiss on the beach. They certainly had chemistry. There was just something about the way he’d casually thrown the idea out there that made her want to kick him out of the shop.

“Notus.” His eyes bulged as he sat up straighter. “That came out wrong… I wasn’t suggesting…” His cheeks flushed and he pressed a hand to his forehead. “I meant in general. I wondered about your thoughts on it…” He was blabbering and it wasactually quite cute that he looked so mortified. Or maybe she should be offended that he hadn’t been suggesting a tweak to their friendship. “I was thinking that if I want to have sex, I basically have three options: one-night stands or a girlfriend or friends with benefits.”

“And you’ve ruled the first two out,” she mused.

“No. I only ruled out having a girlfriend. It’s you and everyone else around here who isn’t impressed with the one-night stand situation.”

“You didn’t seem too thrilled with it yourself when you were getting chased earlier.”

“That’s true.” He blew out a breath. “I will admit it gets boring. I also haven’t done it for a while now,” he added sheepishly.

It was irritatingly good to hear that Seren was right on that matter. Irritating, because Lily would really prefer it if she didn’t care either way about his sex life.

“You could also just not have sex for a few months,” she suggested, pulling her focus back to the conversation.

“I suppose.” His eyes sparkled. “I’ll be honest, it’s not an overly thrilling prospect.”

“The problem with friends with benefits is that you need a friend who’s happy to sleep with you.”

He ran his tongue along his bottom lip and caught her gaze. The silence was excruciating.

“Can I be honest?” Lily said, shifting in her seat. “I’m not entirely comfortable with this conversation.”

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