I sighed deeply. He was right. I couldn’t hold it against him. Not if I wanted to avoid being a hypocrite of epic proportions. “This is exhausting.”
“What is?”
“Fighting with you all the time. You can’t tell me you actually enjoy it.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want to fight with you. Same as I don’t want to have to continue a life of celibacy.”
“Well, the two of us are not going there. So don’t get your hopes up.”
“Is being with me so bad?”
“Being with you is dangerous.”
“What makes it dangerous?”
“Well, you’re you.”
“I’m what?”
“You’re cocky and flirty and...”
“It’s all right. You can say it. I’m dead sexy.”
I laughed despite myself. “Yes, you’re sexy.”
“I knew you liked me.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I bit my lip. “I’m not ready to risk myself with you.”
“I don’t know why you think I’m such a risk.”
“Taylor, I’ve fallen for men like you before, and it doesn’t end well for me.”
“I’m not asking you to fall for me.”
“I know. You’re asking me to like you. To fall into bed with you. To help you get some release. I get it. I do.”
“Get what?”
“That you need someone to work out all this testosterone with.” I hated the words even as they left my lips. “You have my blessing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, go find yourself some other woman to bang. Someone who can do casual. It’s not me. It wouldn’t be fair to you or to me.”
“That’s not part of our arrangement. We said no one else.”
“That was before you started trying to seduce me.”
His eyes narrowed as that sharp jaw clenched. “And what if I don’t want some other woman?”
“Then I guess you better stock up on lotion and Kleenex, buddy. Because this isn’t a line we can cross.”
“Fine. Maybe it’s better if we both find someone else.”
“Sure, whatever.”
Why did that hurt? It wasn’t supposed to. I had a plan. An agreement. I would just wait out my year. Quietly divorce him, and look back on my time. God, how had I ended up a plot line straight out of a regency romance? And why did I feel like my heart was going to end up broken, just like the heroines in those books, if I let him get any closer to me?