“Ah,” Asher said.Understanding dawned on his face.“The drink.The smoke.”
“Yep, but now cigarettes are permanently off my list.”
“Good.”He grinned.“Nasty habit.Kissing someone with smoking breath is gross.”
Her eyes widened.“That’s on my list.”
“Kissing someone with smoking breath?”
“No, just kissing.And sex.That’s on my list.”Once again, she studied his features and knew he’d be perfect.“Would you like to volunteer?”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise.“I...What?Are you propositioning me, Juniper?”
Did he seem interested?Or not interested?
“Yes?”she answered with a question.
He cocked his head as he studied her.A little grin lifting one corner of his mouth.“You want to kiss me?”
“Y-yes.”
“Have sex with me?”
Her heart thumped erratically.Why am I sweating?“Yes.”
Contemplation swirled in the cool depths of his eyes.
“Okay,” he finally replied.“With concessions.”
“Which are?”
“Exclusivity.”
That rang with something she didn’t want.“I’m not looking for long term.”
“Good.Neither am I.Exclusive while this lasts.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of a one-night kind of thing.”
One eyebrow rose.“Nothing else?”
She shook her head.
“Okay, that’s different.Then this stays between us.No one needs to know our business.”
Oh, she thought.A sinking feeling settled in her stomach.He’s embarrassed of me.“You know what?Never mind.”
He frowned.“What?”
She yanked out a wrinkled, folded twenty-dollar bill from her pocket and thrust it at him.He instinctively grabbed it.
“Juniper—”
“Listen, I have enough shit going through my head, that I don’t need to know I’m a God-damn secret.I agree that no one needs to know our business, but I refuse to live in the shadows I just crawled out from.”Her heart pounded, but not in a good way.“One night doesn’t mean treating me like a pariah.I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Asher.Thank you for the chocolatini.”
Without anything else to say, she turned and marched off.Anger swam through her blood.Next time she approached a man for sex, she would make sure he didn’t mind sharing the same air.
