Duke raced back inside, turning circles of joy until she placed his bowl of kibble in the stand. He dove in, bolting down the food without even chewing. He’d be finished before she got back to the bedroom, but she could hurry fast enough to shut the door. She’d make up for ignoring him later. Mama had a sexy man in her bed, and she intended to make use of him again. Maybe she could convince Ty to stay another day. A full twenty-four hours of debauchery sounded like a magnificent use of a weekend.
Pleased by the prospect, she pushed into the room. “I was thinking—”
Ty was half-dressed when she walked inside.
Her nascent plans died a swift death, and she tried not to let the disappointment show. This was what he’d signed on for. One night. He’d given her what she’d asked. But it still stung to see him buttoning his tux shirt, obviously getting ready to go.
“Leaving so soon?”
He started pulling on his shoes, those nimble fingers tying the laces with quick efficiency. “I need to be getting back.”
Retreat.
There was no other word for this.
What had happened between the sleepy, naked Ty she’d left in her bed ready for another round and now? Maybe he’d gotten some kind of call about something back home?
“Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine. I just need to get going.” His words were businesslike, matter-of-fact, as if they hadn’t just spent the last twelve hours exploring every intimate inch of each other.
No sparing of her feelings then. The feelings she wasn’t supposed to have caught during this little interlude. And she hadn’t. It was just nostalgia and orgasms talking.
Paisley crossed her arms and tried to keep her tone light. “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m not looking for anything serious here, Ty. You don’t have to run off.”
He rose to his feet with that silent, fluid grace his training had instilled. Paisley wished she didn’t find it so sexy.
“I’m not running anywhere. And you said that before. Why is that? I’ve never known anybody more serious about relationships than you.”
That had been true once.
She shrugged. “That girl was a long time ago. After my second divorce, I decided that serious and I don’t work. My expectations were consistently out of line with reality.” Her ex-husbands had made that abundantly clear, and she hadn’t been willing to lower her standards for a long-term partner. “So I learned to keep things light and fun and short term. That works for me.”
It tasted like a lie, one she’d been living by for a long time. But what else could she tell him when he was poised to walk out her door? The idea of letting him walk out of her life again had something akin to panic fluttering beneath her breastbone. It wasn’t just about the sex. She’d missed him. But she had a feeling that saying so would just make him run faster.
Because this felt like the only opening she’d get, she strolled over to him, keeping her tone casual and flirty. “I’d love to pursue that short term with you.” Not above using feminine wiles to woo him to her way of thinking, she trailed her fingers down his arm. “I think we’d both find it mutually beneficial.”
Ty hesitated. She knew he wasn’t unaffected by her, knew he was battling his own lust, and prayed he’d lose.
“I don’t live here, Pais. I’m in Eden’s Ridge.”
At four hours, that wasn’t too far to drive from time to time. It might not be what she wanted, deep down, but she could work with that. “Perfect. Then we aren’t in each other’s back pockets worried about expectations. Just fun, when it works for both of us.” She’d had this conversation, this arrangement, before and it had never left her feeling hollow. But it had never been with Ty.
He turned her to face him, skimming his hands down her arms before pulling her in and lowering his mouth to hers. Without a word, she recognized his goodbye in the lingering play of his lips. The heartbreaking taste of it flooded her, making her want to weep. But she didn’t hold on and didn’t say anything as he pulled back.
“Last night was amazing. I’m glad we ran into each other.”
She understood that this was all she was going to get. Even as her foolish, nostalgic heart cracked again, she forced a smile. “Me, too.”
“I’ve gotta get on. I’m already late checking out of my AirBnB.”
“Sure. Of course.” She wanted to ask for his number. His email. Something that wouldn’t mean the absolute closing of the door between them. But she walked him to the door, with Duke prancing as escort.
Ty scrubbed Duke’s ears and lifted his hand in a wave as he trotted down the front steps.
Despite the cold, Paisley stood on the porch, watching him stride to his truck. She’d known this was the likely outcome, even when she’d invited him home last night. It wasn’t fair to be upset with him for sticking to the script.
He paused, one hand on the truck door. Paisley held her breath.
Look back. Look back at me.
Without turning, he called, “You remember that time our junior year, what you said when you were trying to talk me into breaking into the city pool for a midnight swim?”
Her heart began to trip. “If I remember correctly, it was something to the effect that you should lighten up, and you needed more fun in your life.”
“You were right.” Pivoting, he closed the distance between them, taking her mouth again in a frustrated kiss as his arms wrapped tight around her, like maybe he didn’t want to let her go any more than she did.
Hope broke open inside her like the dawn, and this time, Paisley held on. Maybe this wasn’t goodbye after all.
As Duke began to bark—in approval or annoyance—Ty broke the kiss, resting his temple to hers. “Let’s keep in touch.”
They weren’t quite the words she’d wanted to hear, but they
