“It’s not you. It’s him. He was your professor.”
“Yeah, it was fucked up. But it felt like I had a dirty little secret, and I loved it...for a few weeks. He was kind of an ass, to be honest, and he had another girlfriend. Anyway, that’s why I’ve taken a break from dating for nearly a year now.”
“Have you’ve enjoyed it?”
“It’s been good. More time to spend with friends, crochet, and watch Netflix. I feel like I have a better handle on who I am. Only problem was that I missed sex, but I have that now.” She tapped his naked ass.
“Do you plan to date again?”
“Oh, sure. I haven’t sworn off dating for the rest of my life. Just figured I could use a long break. Hopefully, when I start dating again, I’ll be better at seeing past bullshit.”
It seemed like she was pretty good at seeing past bullshit now.
She sounded matter-of-fact and cautiously optimistic that one day, it would work out. He couldn’t help being impressed she’d gone through all that and become the person he’d gotten to know over the past two weeks. Fun, joyful, thoughtful, and down-to-earth. He knew she could survive more shit, but he wanted to prevent her from going through it again.
He was about to—jokingly, of course—suggest he vet her potential boyfriends, but he couldn’t get the words out. The idea of her being with someone else was difficult to think about.
“None of them were as big as you,” she said, “in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t. That would be odd.”
“I don’t know, men are weird about dick size. Why did I end up dating multiple men who were convinced they needed Magnums but didn’t?” She stretched out next to him. “What about you? Have you dated a lot of women?”
“Just a few.”
“My dating history must seem rather excessive to you.”
“No, I’m not judging.”
It made you who you are today, and I think you’re amazing.
This was the truth, but he wasn’t sure why he was quite so sappy about it.
He didn’t say anything else for a few minutes, just enjoyed having her in his bed. It was getting late, though, and they both had to work tomorrow.
“You want to stay the night?” he asked, surprising himself.
“No, I should probably be going.”
He tried not to be disappointed.
Chapter 8
Wednesday after dinner, Amber was watching a baking show and working on her latest crochet project when the TV and lights suddenly went out.
No big deal. The power would probably just be off for a few minutes.
She took out her phone and looked at a houseplant forum. She’d joined it on a whim last summer when her fern was dying.
She had yet to make a single post.
She was, quite frankly, terrified to do so. Who would have thought that houseplant enthusiasts would be so vicious? But they were. Someone had posted a picture of their succulent the other day, and there had been a heated debate over what type of succulent it was. Last week, a woman had managed to kill a cactus, and oh my God, she’d gotten destroyed.
Amber, for whatever reason, enjoyed the low-stakes and high-drama debates.
She’d also learned quite a bit about ferns and had managed to figure out what was wrong with hers, but she would never, ever post her own question.
After looking through the houseplant forum, she went to Instagram. She followed a bunch of bakers who posted pictures of their amazing cakes, and there was a spectacular geode cake today.
Finally, Amber got tired of social media, and her phone battery was running low.
And the power still hadn’t come back on.
She looked at the Twitter feed for the hydro company, which confirmed that yes, there was a localized outage, and they expected it to last until midnight, maybe later.
Midnight! It was only eight thirty now. What would Amber do for the next three hours? And what if the power wasn’t back on by tomorrow morning?
Maybe she could stay with Gloria.
She texted her friend but didn’t get a response, and actually, that was a bit of a relief.
Because now she could ask Sebastian.
She figured Sebastian would be home on a Wednesday night, and he’d let her stay—after all, he’d asked her to stay on Sunday.
She’d said no. Although she didn’t have strict rules about not staying overnight with a guy other than a boyfriend, it had seemed a little relationship-y for her comfort.
But now, her power was out. It was only sensible.
She texted Sebastian, and she got a reply a couple minutes later.
Sure, come on over.
Amber could barely contain her grin.
She needed to make sure they focused on sex, with a side of friendship. Nothing romantic about tonight at all. No snuggling up while they watched a movie.
She had better ideas.
* * *
Amber set down her overnight bag and slipped off her winter boots.
“Hey,” Sebastian said, his hands slung in the pouch of his hoodie. “Sorry about your power.”
“Are you?” she asked, sliding her hands under his sweatshirt and T-shirt.
She couldn’t think straight now that she was touching him, especially not after what she’d done before leaving her apartment. It had been hard to get dressed in the dark, and it had taken a while to find what she needed.
She kissed him hard on the lips, and he growled.
“I have something to show you,” she said coyly. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“Lead the way.” His rough voice vibrated inside her.
Once they were in the bedroom, she pushed him down on the bed so that he was lying on his back, his head on the pillows.
Then she stood at the foot of the bed and tossed her sweatshirt on the floor.
He breathed in sharply.
She wasn’t wearing anything particularly revealing. Just a skirt, a button-down white shirt with one—okay, maybe two—more buttons undone that was strictly proper. Plus the vest she’d bought the other day. Some minor adjustments and she could wear this to the office.
“You like it?”
