Page 71 of Summer Affair
She could feel her face heat.
“We’ll take that as a yes,” Piper said. “Now all we want to know is how was the sex. We don’t need the details just the—”
“Details,” Darcy interrupted. “We need all the details. Every last one. Starting with, is he as good as he looks?”
“The man has forty-million-dollar hands, of course he’s good,” Piper explained as if Jillian wasn’t already aware of his talents in and out of bed. It was another thing that was holding her back—his success.
Money to her was simply a way to pay the bills. She wasn’t into shoes or handbags, and she didn’t care about financial status. She was likely the lowest income earner in the neighborhood, and while she’d love to be able to buy Sammy a new gaming system or a fancy bike, she’d never again count on a man for support. And Clay was so generous, with his time and his pocketbook.
She’d seen the way he was with his friends and family, observed his lifestyle. His watch likely cost more than a year of her income. Whatever woman wound up as his wife would be lucky, but Jillian just didn’t see how their worlds could ever mesh.
“He’s even better.”
“You guys are totally sleeping together,” Darcy informed the entire room, and possibly the deck since Clay looked over at that precise moment. His lips curled up at the corner.
“Can you say that any louder!? I don’t think Seattle heard you. Or his mom.” Margo showed up early and then sat by the pool laughing with her sons and avoiding the women inside. “Who is giving me serious stink eye. If I didn’t know better, she’s putting a curse on me.”
“Get used to it,” Piper said. “As long as she thinks you’re after one of her precious sons, you’re in her direct line of fire.”
Jillian had seen Margo’s immense powers one time too many to underestimate her influence over her boys. She was bossy, nosy, and an all-around terror when she chose to be.
“I’m surprised she isn’t in here, standing at the helm with horns out ordering us around like her servants.”
“She’s mad that family dinner was moved from her house to your house. So, in theory, she’s only looking to sandblast you.” Piper sighed. “I get to live another day.”
And that was a lot coming from Piper, who once punched a big, burly biker in the throat for getting a little handsy with one of Stout’s customers.
“Great, so Clay throws a pool party and I’m the guilty party.”
“Let’s go with that. Clay, who has never invited anyone to his place for any kind of party, is throwing a kid-friendly barbeque at your house.”
“Technically, it’s his house for another three weeks.”
“Technically, he’s into you.”
Jillian plugged her ears. “Can we not go there today. I’m trying hard to stay in the moment, but I’m still nervous.”
“Explain.”
“Yes, he’s here and yes, it’s been fun. But in the end, he’s physically unavailable.”
“Didn’t sound like he was the other night.”
She laughed. “Let’s get real, he has an expiration date.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “Then why do you sound disappointed? You admitted you aren’t looking for anything serious until Sammy gets older, that you wanted to, what did you say, ‘Take it resolution by resolution.’”
She did say that and she’d meant it, but that had been before the night out at the pool. Romance hadn’t been on her radar, but she’d changed her mind and now she wanted to change the rules.
“At least half the guys on his team are happily married,” Darcy said. “Plus, look at me. Gage and I make it work, even though he travels all the time. And he hated me for five years.”
“He didn’t hate you, he hated that he loved you. But, like a smart man, he got over it,” Jillian said. “And traveling and living in Seattle is completely different.”
“How? So you do the long distance thing. People make it work all the time.”
People did and she knew that in the right situation with the right guy she could go the distance. But she wasn’t in a time in her life where she could dedicate that kind of time to a relationship. Could she?
She shook her head. “It takes two to make it work and Clay told me night one that his focus was on getting back in the game. His focus is in Seattle.”
