Page 18 of About That Rule

“Rules I didn’t break!” she yelled. It was uncharacteristic of her, but Nate had made her lose her cool.

“I never should have…” He paused, almost as if he didn’t want to finish his sentence.

Samantha stomped her foot in frustration. “If you have something to say to me, say it.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch tonight.”

Not bothering with a response, she stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door. She threw on her pajamas and laid in bed, rustling around trying to fall asleep. It was bad enough his kiss had left her all hot and bothered, but then it had turned into a fight. Their first fight as a married couple—and they didn’t even get to have make-up sex.

Marriage was the worst.

THE NEXT MORNINGcame, and Nate dreaded seeing her again. It was a whole different morning after. When Samantha marched into the living room, she looked so good, she took his breath away. She had always been a head turner, but since their kiss, he’d been seeing her in a new light. A very attractive new light. He was afraid to touch her because he was sure to get burned.

Last night, he hadn’t been able to sleep at all. Not only had he replayed their kiss in his head all night, which had been hot as fuck even if it was a stupid move he’d also wondered what would happen next between them. It also didn’t help that his couch wasn’t winning any awards for being comfortable. That thing was stiff as a board.

He sat up, hiding his groan about having a sore back, and listened to Samantha sing.

Sing.

She was singing.

Just like his couch, she wasn’t going to win any awards for her voice. Her pitch sounded like a cat shrieking.

Once she came back into the living room, she gave him a blank stare. “I’m going to the airport. I’ll try not to fuck anybody on the flight. You know, since you suggested I’m not good at following rules.”

Despite her awful voice, he almost wished she’d kept singing. It was better than having his words thrown back in his face.

Well…almost. She really couldn’t carry a tune.

Her attitude and snarky comments were begging him for a fight. Couldn’t she do the normal thing and pretend last night didn’t happen? That was his game plan.

“Thanks for the reassurance,” he said dryly.

Something soft whacked him in the head. Once she was out the door, he realized she’d thrown a pillow at him. The silence in the room, which he always loved, felt empty.

The silence that had been there ever since the judge ruled they had to try in their marriage for ninety days. That was when Nate’s world had shifted. For as long as he could remember, any time he’d had a sexual thought about Samantha, he’d filed it away in an imaginary box he’d never planned to open. It was Samantha.

His friend since childhood.

The female version of himself.

Then he had to fuck it all up and kiss her.

Now, he knew how she tasted, how she moaned, how she felt. That imaginary box was wide open, and all the sexual thoughts were floating around him.

Nate was grappling with the idea of Samantha being more than a friend. Before the party, when he’d walked into his bedroom and she had been getting ready, his heart had stopped. She’d looked like every sexual fantasy come to life.

Those emotions weren’t real. He had to remind himself that every time he wished she was more than just a friend.

As he paced around his apartment, he assured himself this need to fuck Samantha was fleeting. Samantha was the forbidden fruit. She always had been. A court order stating they couldn’t sleep together was the reason he was attracted to her. He wanted what he couldn’t have.

It explained everything.

He smiled when he grabbed an icepack out of the freezer for his back. This magnetic pull he had to Samantha was because he couldn’t have sex and, most notable, wasn’t supposed to touch her. If he did, it was goodbye to an easy annulment.

The only thing he had to do was stop obsessing over the lack of sex in his life. He had to ignore his curiosity of what it would be like to fuck his wife. He had to stop fantasizing over her. His hard-on wasn’t worth losing a friendship over. Look at the damage he’d already caused.

She deserved an apology, and he needed his friend back.