Chapter 27
Instead of making sure the fire was out, Trent got it going again. Maybe he’d end up spending the night on the sofa. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the head?
The logs caught fast, almost as fast as their cozy situation had turned to ashes. He flopped down on the sofa. The remains of their half-finished dinner stared him in the face, taunting him with the moment when he’d decided to take Brittany to bed.
You’ll never have a reasonable discussion with a sexually frustrated man.
He had to believe she hadn’t been thinking that when she’d given him the look that had led to another incredible round of… he didn’t know what to call it, but he wanted that experience more than he wanted to breathe.
And not with just anyone. The soul-stirring emotion that swept over him when he buried himself deep was all tied in with Brittany — the way she moved, the scent of her body, the light in her blue eyes, the silky texture of her hair fanned out on the pillow.
Did it mean as much to her as it did to him? It couldn’t or she wouldn’t be clinging to this platonic friendship deal they’d made.
His chest heaved. He’d agreed to it. At the time, considering the horror his marriage had turned into, he’d bought the idea of a friends-only relationship while they raised their kid. He wanted that kid, no matter what it took.
Looked like it would take giving up what he’d just experienced a few minutes ago. To be fair, that hadn’t been part of the original deal. Only a bonus, something that was necessary to the process and would provide temporary fun.
Fun. Carnival rides were fun. Joking around with his brother was fun. Cantering across the meadow on Gigabyte was fun.
What he shared with Brittany fit into a whole different category. Maybe he should think of it as a luxury, a pleasure he’d been lucky enough to enjoy because of special circumstances but not something that would ever be a permanent part of his life.
The whisper of bare feet on the wood floor made him look up. Brittany stood behind the easy chair wearing his shirt and clutching the teddy bear he’d bought for Montana.
The lady knew how to deliver a sucker punch. He stood. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have flown off the handle like that.”
“No, I’m sorry. It was a stupid thing to say. It made it sound like I was manipulating you with sex. I would never do that. I hate the idea of leading a man around by his?—”
“Except you could.” He swallowed. “I think that’s what scares the hell out of me. Cheryl manipulated me with sex at first, but once I figured out her hidden agenda, it didn’t work anymore. You, on the other hand….”
“It’s because of the baby.”
“That’s part of it, but there’s more going on. Just now had nothing to do with the baby. I didn’t think about her once.”
“I didn’t either. I swear I didn’t. Or our agreement. Or what Desiree said. It was only later, when we started talking.”
“I believe you. If you were devious, Rance would have warned me.”
“Rance? Have you told him?”
“No. Before he left the Buffalo Saturday night, he suggested I should get to know you. He pointed out that you were giving me the eye.”
“Which I was. When you took a break and walked back to the bathroom, I mentally undressed you.”
“Oh?” He certainly didn’t mind hearing that. “Coming or going?”
“Both.”
“I doubt you were thinking platonic friendship when you were ogling me.”
“Nope.” Her smile bloomed. “I was thinking hot stuff.”
He gazed at her, his heart swelling. Other parts of him swelled, too. “I think it’s possible your plan was doomed from the start.”
“It’s very possible.”
“Want to come over and sit down? I think we need to have a reasonable discussion.”
“Can I bring Sage?”
“Sage?”
“I looked at this bear with her red bandana and thought Sage, but since you bought her….”
“Sage is good. By all means bring her. We could use some wisdom.”
“And her name sounds Western, to go with the bandana.” She walked around the chair. “But if you already named her, just tell me.”
“I didn’t. I’m glad you came up with one. Every teddy bear needs a name.” His shirttail reached almost to her knees, so technically everything was covered. That didn’t stop him from visualizing what was under that shirt.
“I hope you don’t mind that I went looking for her.”
“I don’t, but why did you?”
“I thought she’d help keep us focused.”
“Then you probably should have put on more than my shirt.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but there’s a reason I wore it. There’s a button missing, by the way.”
“I know.”
Walking past the hearth, she rounded the coffee table and sat in the same spot she’d taken for their previous discussion before dinner. She put the bear on her lap.
Since it was about fourteen inches tall, he didn’t need much imagination to picture her holding a baby that size. “Why’d you wear the shirt?”
She glanced up at him. “Are you going to sit down?”
“Yes. I just haven’t decided where.”
“You can sit beside me.”
“Thanks for the invitation, but I’m gonna take the easy chair.” He settled into it and kept his attention on her face and the bear. Straying lower would give him a view of her knees and a tempting glimpse of creamy thighs. That wouldn’t be helpful.
The back cushion of the leather chair felt weird when he wasn’t wearing a shirt, so he leaned forward a little. “Okay, why the shirt?”
“I couldn’t find a bathrobe in your closet.”
“I don’t own one.”
“So I found out. That’s why I’m wearing this. It’s the most efficient thing since I expect we’ll be getting naked again soon.”
He sucked in a breath. “Why?”
“To steal your line, I think that’s obvious.”
“Not to me. The way I look at this, we might as well bite the bullet.”
“We’ve proven that doesn’t work. It’s too soon. We like making love too much.”
“But if we’ll eventually have to give it up, I’d rather?—”
“Are you sure?”
His brother’s words echoed in his head. Just go with it. “No, but to continue a sexual relationship with the end looming ever closer doesn’t sound great, either.”
“It’s like dealing with any habit.”
“No, it’s not. That I can say for sure.”
“Just hear me out. I agree that my old plan was doomed. You turn me on and vice versa. I didn’t take that into consideration and I should have. My excitement about the baby blinded me to the obvious fly in the ointment.”
“That makes two of us. I’ll share responsibility for that lack of foresight.”
“I’m glad we didn’t have foresight, because now we’ll have a baby. If we’d figured out we were asking for trouble, we wouldn’t have jumped off that cliff in the first place.”
And he would have likely gone through life never knowing the joy of what they’d experienced together. “That’s a valid point, but now the bun’s in the oven and we’ve pinpointed our mistake. Shouldn’t we just quit now and be done with it?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Neither do I! But?—”
“Here’s my new plan. We enjoy each other tonight. Then I come back Friday night and stay until Sunday morning, like you said. We spend as much time in bed as we can, considering we’ll be attending all the festivities.”
“And will we also have a whole lot of reasonable discussions?”
“I’d rather not have any discussions, at least not any heavy ones.”
He’d have a tough time rejecting what sounded like heaven on earth. “Then what?”
“Then we set up a schedule that coincides with when you’re working at the Buffalo so that we can get together at my house a couple of times during the week. Then we’ll probably end up out here on weekends.”
“Something you should know. If I told Clint I wanted to work every weeknight, he’d let me.”
“That would be counterproductive. The goal is to create spaces in our time together and gradually increase the size of those spaces.”
“And you think that will work?”
“It’s how I weaned myself off diet soda.”
He had the urge to laugh, but her expression was so endearingly earnest that he controlled himself. He didn’t think she was right about this, though.
Their intense lovemaking was nothing like slugging down a can of diet soda. It was more like drinking from a firehose.
Which reminded him of Dallas and his advice to just go with it. What choice did he have? If he rejected her carefully constructed plan, they’d both be miserable, which would cause his folks and Dallas to worry during what was supposed to be a time of celebration.
Might as well follow his big brother’s advice.