Page 52 of A Simple Love

“Real love is beautiful. Don’t settle.”

“Fucking poet too,” I muttered.

She shook her head in amusement at my tone. “I threw myself into school. Work. Mom died, the horrible thing at the office happened, and I moved here. Too busy for love and not interested in sex for the sake of. I guess I still want it to mean something.”

“And what did tonight mean for you?” I asked, suddenly desperate to hear her answer.

“Maybe just a chapter closing. A nice goodbye.”

“That’s it?” I scoffed. “One and done? Thanks, Oliver, for the amazing orgasms. By the way, rent is due Tuesday?”

She laughed. “No. I don’t know what tonight was. But I guess I’m trying to say, I don’t expect anything from you.”

“What if I’m not done with you? What if I expect something?”

Her eyes widened. “Like?”

“Does it have to be once?”

“You’re only here for a few more weeks. Then you go back to LA.”

“And we can’t be together while I’m here?”

“I wasn’t sure if you wanted that.”

“I want you. Same thing. But what do you want? Can you see yourself having sex with me with no commitment? A few weeks of passion and laughs? Some dinners out, maybe a show in Toronto if something was playing? Friends with benefits, with both of us knowing the rules this time? Parting as friends with lots of great memories to think about when we’re done?”

“That’s a lot of questions.”

“They all need one answer, and then I’ll let you have what you want.”

“Which is?”

I grinned. “Me. All night long. And any other time you want me.”

She blinked and bit her lip. I could see the thoughts, questions, and doubts racing through her mind. Weighing the pros and cons. Worrying, wanting. Right and wrong warred with each other in her head.

“We’re both adults now. Grown up. It’s nobody’s business but our own. We can keep it quiet. Between us. I won’t expose you to gossip or the press, if that concerns you. I promise you that.”

“Why do you want this?” she asked quietly.

“I find you even sexier than I did back then—which I didn’t think possible. You make me laugh. I like being just Oliver with you. I like reconnecting with you. We were fucking epic in bed. I’d like more of that with you.”

I leaned close. “Just think of the stories you could tell your grandkids, Kassie. How you had wild sex with a Hollywood playboy in your misspent youth.”

She snorted. “Hardly my misspent youth, Oliver. And at this point, I’m not sure I’ll ever have kids, never mind grandkids.”

“You will,” I assured her. “You’re too special not to.”

“But not with you.”

“No. I’m not built that way. I proved that to both of us. But you are. And one day, some fucking lucky asshole will have it all with you.”

“I see.”

The air felt too serious all of a sudden. “You’re tempted. I can tell,” I said with a droll wink. “I’ll even let you take a picture or two for proof.”

“You’re not worried I’d sell them to the paps?”