Page 81 of Now That It's You
“Yes?” She’d expected the answer, but still, it still smarted a bit.
“Ashamed might not be the right word. I just don’t want to have to explain things.”
“How would you explain it?”
Kyle quirked an eyebrow at her. “Did you miss the part about me not wanting to have to explain it?”
“Yep, just like you missed the part about me not wanting to tell you what I was thinking.”
“Which you still haven’t done.” He grinned and took another bite.
“You haven’t given me your third confession yet.”
“I’m getting there.”
“You can count this as one of your confessions,” she said, taking another sip of wine. “I really want to know how you’d explain it. Not to your mom, necessarily, but someone else.”
“How would I explain what I’m doing here tonight?”
“Yes. To a friend or an acquaintance or—or Cara. How would you explain to your former live-in girlfriend how you ended up here at my house this evening?”
He sighed and set his fork down. “Well, I guess Cara isn’t going to buy it that I’m just here because I really like your cake. Not that it isn’t amazing cake.”
“Thank you,” she said, hoping he didn’t stop there.
“I guess I’d say that my whole life, you’ve been off-limits. Either because I was dating someone or you were dating—well, more than just someone.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” The grip on her wineglass got a little tighter.
“And even though those two things have changed, the fact that you’re locked in a major financial dispute with my family is a pretty big obstacle.” Kyle glanced at his cake, then back at her. “Which doesn’t mean I don’t want to tear your clothes off right now and make love to you on this sofa.”
“The sofa?” Meg’s voice was high and tight, and she felt a little dizzy.
“Or your bed.”
“The bed’s nice,” Meg agreed weakly, her pulse thudding in her ears.
“Or the kitchen counter. Really, I’m not picky.”
Meg took a shaky breath. “We can’t do this, Kyle.”
“I know.” He set his cake plate on the coffee table and folded his hands in his lap. “Believe me, I get it.”
“So we’re just going to make ourselves crazy talking about it.”
“Let’s talk about something else.” Kyle took a sip from his wineglass. “I have something I want to give you.”
“Isn’t that what we just agreed not to talk about?”
He laughed and set his glass down, then stood up and headed for the door. Meg wasn’t sure if she was supposed to follow him, so she sat tight on the couch and waited. Bindi looked up from the rug in front of the fireplace where she’d curled up with Floyd. She gave Meg a questioning look, but Meg just shrugged.
“I’m sure he’ll be right back.”
Bindi put her head down and began licking Floyd’s ear. Floyd growled and rolled over. The door opened again and Meg looked up to see Kyle walking through the front door with a small box in one hand. It was maybe eight inches long and less than two inches wide, and Meg tried to figure out what was inside.
Kyle moved around the couch and sat down beside her again. “I probably should have given this to you earlier, but I didn’t want you to feel like you had to make a big production of using it tonight.”
Meg eyed the box with renewed interest. “You’re not doing anything to dispel my theory that there’s something sex-related in there.”
