Page 61 of Four Dates and A Forever
When they finally came up for air, he rested his forehead against hers. “I missed you.” He cradled her head with his big, strong hands. “I tried to be patient, waited for you to make your decision, but I can’t wait anymore. I need to know if you’re in this.”
Her heart was saying yes, but her head was telling her to slam on the brakes, throw that baby in reverse, and burn rubber out of there. Because, no matter what Carla had said, getting into something with someone who was destined to leave was crazy.
Based on the way her fingers were sliding around to explore the sinew of his back, her body was already committed. Her heart was warier. Lust was a powerful motivator, but she’d always been cautious when it came to letting people in.
Because they always leave, she reminded herself. But she knew the deal, knew the rules, had even written them down in case this thing was to progress.
Oh, who was she kidding. It had already progressed. She’d thought of nothing else since his proposition. Even when telling herself not to think about him, she couldn’t help but think about him. Which was why, last night, after she’d returned home from the bar, she’d made a list of a few hard and fast rules that could never ever—even if she wanted to, like in the throes of an orgasm—be broken.
She removed her hands from his person and took a centering breath. “Are you in this?”
She met his intense blue gaze and a flash of white-hot lightning hammered in her chest at the conviction she saw there. “You already know the answer to that.”
She did. It was right there in his eyes, burning dark and making her heart pound wildly.
“If this is going to work—”
His hands slid down her spine to the curve of her back—and lower. “Oh, it’ll work.”
“There needs to be rules,” she said primly. She took a tiny step back, out of his arms, and nearly bumping into the freshly painted wall. “I can’t think straight when you’re touching me, and I need to think right now.”
“Is ‘no touching’ one of these rules? Because, honey, you blew through that rule a second ago. Plus, that won’t work for me.”
She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a piece of paper. She unfolded it and cleared her throat. “If this is going to work,” she repeated, “we have to agree that there will be no expectations beyond this agreement. No changing the rules midgame.”
“No expectations, but the game plan is negotiable.”
“No, no negotiations, Rhett,” she whispered. “I need to set firm boundaries, so no one gets hurt.” Namely her. “At some point you have to get back to your life and the road and I don’t want to be waiting here for scraps of your time.”
“I’ve been walked away from too. I’m in this for as long as you’ll let me,” he said with a gentle directness that made her heart catch.
“I’m in this for as long as you’re home.”
“So are you saying that afterward we what, go our separate ways like nothing happened?” Now he sounded disbelieving and something else. Angry?
“I hope we part friends,” she said, wondering if a with-benefits relationship could become a platonic one. If, when their time was up, she could walk away and still not want him.
Which is why the rules are there, she reminded herself.
A cut-and-dried agreement where they can give in to the want and get each other out of their systems and then move on to their regularly scheduled lives.
It would tear them in opposing directions but that was the point. She had too many dreams that had been put on hold for too long to ask for more. And he had his career, which was a lifestyle she’d already lived and lost out big.
“Which brings me to number two. We both have to be honest about what we want.”
“I want you.”
Oh boy.That simple, three-word sentence had the power to melt her panties right off. Then there was the way he was looking at her with that all-consuming, hungry gaze. She felt herself being pulled into the relationship trap.
“No moon-eyes,” she said affirmingly.
His lips quirked with humor. “What’s moon-eyes?”
“You know, the sappy,aren’t we cutelook that people get when they’re in a relationship, because this will never be a relationship.”
“No expectations, honesty, and no moon-eyes. Got it.”
“No words of affection. Public or otherwise. And that includes during sex.” She felt her face heat, but this was an important rule. The intimacy that came with sweet nothings or caught-up-in-the-moment admissions could turn this from a with-benefits tomore. And she didn’t want to accidently fall into more.
