He picked up the phone and turned his back. He waited a few seconds before speaking. “Sorry, I went out to get some medicine. I’ll be there to let them in. Just give me a minute or two. Yeah.” He hung up and looked at me. “Katie was going to take the kids early, but she said Molly apparently wasn’t taking it well. I was supposed to finish reading her favorite story tonight, and she–”
“Hey,” I went to take his hands and smiled. “Go be a good dad. It’s totally fine.”
He swallowed hard. “We’re not done here,” he said in a husky voice that lit a fresh fire in me.
I chewed the corner of my lip. “Okay.”
He kissed me once more, then stepped back. “Remember. Nobody finds out about this.”
“My lips are sealed.”
He paused at the door. “I hope they aren’t sealed next time.”
I blushed. “Sealed except for you.”
“Good. And Harper… This has to be separate from work. Neither of us can–”
“I know. You can still fire me if I screw up.”
He grinned. “Have a good night.”
“You too.”
When he closed the door, I practically collapsed against the wall and gasped for breath. Holy. Shit. How the hell was I supposed to function when that could happen at any moment? And how the fuck was I supposed to not tell anyone?
“You made out with him again?” Lin asked. She was watching me with bulged eyes but stuffing pastries into her face, barely chewing.
Farrah shook her head. “So much for not complicating things at work, huh?”
Okay, so I told two people. Asking me not to tell anyone was like asking a married person not to tell their spouse a secret, though. I told my friends everything. Besides, I’d sworn them to secrecy and threatened to cut Lin off from my baking for life if she blabbed.
I’d called them over for an emergency meeting less than an hour after he left. I could still feel the slight tingle on my face from where his stubble had brushed against me when we kissed. “It’s a good thing women can’t get blue balls, or I’d need a wheelbarrow to carry mine around right now.”
Lin and Farrah burst out laughing.
I grinned. “Seriously, we were this close.” I held up my thumb and index finger. “Then his phone rang, and he was gone. But he said we weren’t done, and now I have no idea where things go. I don’t even have his number.”
“He has yours,” Lin said. “It was on your application, right?”
“I gave him a resume, but yeah, I guess so.”
“Has he texted?” Farrah asked.
“I don’t know, I called you guys and basically walked panic circles around my living room until you got here. I’m not really in my right mind at the moment.”
Lin picked up my phone and a sly smile formed on her mouth. She cleared her throat as she held my phone up, preparing to read something. “I have the kids three more days. Katie’s boyfriend had an emergency and she had to fly out. Board games at the inn tomorrow? Head’s up: Molly is very good at them and Billy cheats. Greyson,” she added the last with a sardonic little twist of her lips. “Sounds like a nice, wholesome family night with his new casual hump buddy.”
I snatched the phone from her. “How do you know my passcode?”
Lin rolled her eyes. “I watched you put it in once. Maybe be a little sneakier.”
“What if he’d sent her a dick picture or something?” Farrah asked.
Lin shrugged. “Then I would’ve got the first look.”
I slung a pillow from my couch at her and missed badly. She stuck out her tongue.
“What should I do?” I asked.
“Family game night is clearly just a way to sneak you into his bed once the kids are asleep,” Lin said.
“It doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you do with a strictly casual partner,” Farrah said.
I chewed my fingertip. “That’s what I was thinking. Do you think he’s already having second thoughts about keeping it casual?”
“You’re overthinking it. He’s horny and he is probably wheeling his big blue balls around in a wheelbarrow at the moment. I bet he’s desperate to do anything to get you in his bed. Why do you think he picked something at nighttime? Those kids have to sleep, right?”
“I hate to say this,” Farrah said, “But maybe Lin’s right. He might just want to hook up.”
“Don’t make fun of me for asking this,” I said. “But I’ve never done friends-with-benefits. Or… Not even friends yet with benefits, in this case. How does that even work? Do we have sex and then I shake his hand, thank him, and see myself out? Do I sleep in his bed after? Are we allowed to cuddle? Can I even make eye contact?”
“First of all, please remember to breathe,” Farrah said.