Page 84 of Beach Cottage Kisses
“You got any ideas?” she asked him. She’d never been all that great at dice throwing. She’d been the practical one. Ivy had been more prone to taking chances, dragging Iris along with her every single time. Usually benefiting them both.
He shrugged. “We continue exactly as we always have, except, when we both are in the mood, we add the sex component.”
She nodded. Liked the words. Wasn’t at all sure how the concept would realistically play out. “Do we tell Sage and Gray?”
“No.” She felt as adamantly about the response as he sounded. And nodded.
“Good,” she said. So far, they seemed to be on the same page. She wanted everything she was hearing. He hadn’t said anything that she didn’t want. Hope started to stir within her.
She tamped it back down. Wasn’t ready for that entity to enter her life again. Doubted she would ever be ready.
Hope had no tangible qualities, and therefore, no guarantees. And definitely came with no warranty. It led one to trust it, and then just…disappeared.
“How do we prevent them from finding out?” she asked. “Practically speaking.”
He shrugged again. Seemingly in the relaxed mood she liked so much. “We use the street to get back and forth,” he said. Then added, “We see each other on the beach, or not, as usual. Everything stays the same. Except, when we want to have sex, one or the other of us leaves again, by the front door, and walks to the other’s front door.”
No one ever used their front doors on a regular basis. They drove into their garages and entered the cottages through the garage door into the house. It was just a thing.
Guests used the front doors. Deliveries. And if anyone was out front, she or Scott could just wait to hook up.
She nodded. Feeling a smile coming on. Until she thought about Scott at work, coming home after work. Or not.
The not part, if he was working late, wasn’t an issue. She had to be able to work as long as she needed as well, without feeling as though someone was waiting on her.
Or like she was letting someone down.
But Scott wasn’t always absent from the beach for work.
“I do have one caveat,” she said, her chest tight. She wanted what he was offering more than she could remember wanting something in a long, long time. But not if it meant losing what they already had. And if he was sleeping with her and then…
“Let’s hear it,” he said, as though, whatever it was, they’d figure out a way to make it work.
“We aren’t committed to each other for anything. No expectations. Except for one.”
Which meant expectation. She saw his eyes dim some, and his tone was a little less…relaxed as he said, “What is it?”
“As long as we’re having sex with each other, the sex has to be monogamous.” She held her breath, waiting to hear that the condition was a deal-breaker, but also knowing herself well enough to believe that it couldn’t happen any other way.
He threw up his hands, and she braced. “Done.”
That was it? Done?
Frowning, she asked, “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. One of my rules. I don’t sleep with more than one woman at a time. I don’t see it as healthy, and it’s way too complicated. You’re out to dinner with one, run into another…” He shook his head. “I don’t need, or want to cause, that kind of grief.”
Wow. She barely stopped herself from saying the word aloud. She’d known him three years. And for all three of those years, she’d figured him for having multiple sexual partners on a regular basis. Not that he ever talked about any of them. Other than an older woman he’d dated for a while the previous fall. Just…he’d always been so casual about dating…she’d thought…
Didn’t matter what she’d thought.
He was smiling. She was smiling.
And he was only a few arm’s lengths away. “You up for a redo?” she asked him, watching his expression for any signs of doubt.
His eyes were already slumbrous with passion as he nodded toward his crotch. “What do you think?”
Iris didn’t think. With her hands running up his shirt, caressing his skin as they moved, she helped get Scott off the couch and into her bedroom.
