He nods, thankfully staying mature about it all. “I guess we haven’t talked about our… needs or anything.”

Our needs? What I need to do is have a black hole swallow me up right now. “I didn’t think we needed to.” A thought occurs to me. “Unless you have someone-”

“No, I don’t,” he interrupts. “There’s no one else.”

The knot in my stomach unclenches.

He stands, crossing over to the door again. “This whole situation, it seems to be affecting us a little. Everything’s getting a bit too real. It’s only natural we’d need to let off some steam.”

I jump on the out he offers me. “Right. That makes sense.”

“And now we have. So we’re good.”

“We’re good,” I agree, my head bobbing too fast to seem normal.

He nods too, the lengthy pause afterward excruciating.

“I meant to tell you earlier we were invited to a silent auction tomorrow night.”

“Perfect. Sounds great.” I’ll agree to anything to end this conversation.

“I’ll have Tracy forward you the details,” he murmurs. “Goodnight.”

“Night.”

I wait until he completely shuts the door before I flop on my bed, my back hitting the mattress with a soft thud. Maybe I should have thought about what would actually happen if he fell for my skimpy nightwear rather than just parading around in front of him. Did I think he’d see my cleavage and magically fall in love with me? No, there are steps to build on, and I almost failed this one. If Archer wasn’t so kind and level-headed to seek me out and make some sense of it, I could have ruined everything.

But I didn’t. And he’s definitely attracted to me - there’s no denying that. The way his mouth had moved over mine, his lips soft, tongue skilled. The way his hips had gently thrust up into me, cock hard against his fly, rubbing me exactly right. The way he’d sucked my breast with just enough pressure to tease, making me want more, craving him.

My body breaks out in full goosebumps at the remembrance of how high I’d crested, no thought to anything but how he makes me feel.

Desired. Wanted. Needed.

I’ve never been those things before. Not with those past two relationships. Not with my family.

And though I may have bungled it tonight, I’ll regroup and be better prepared for next time.

Because I want it again.