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“Why not?” she asked.
“Just not interested. I like my space and my freedom. I like not having to answer to anyone else.”
She stepped up onto the boardwalk and hopped along the creaking wood planks. “Not all relationships are demanding or hard.”
“Oh yeah? How many have you had that weren’t like that?”
Her silence was his answer.
“See? Why put yourself in a position where someone else is making you miserable?”
Rylie stopped on the stoop of one of the unnamed buildings and swung around one of the porch beams, leaning toward him. “Real love isn’t like that. You have hard times and you have to work at it, but you’re happiest being around that person.”
He reached out to put his hands on her waist, afraid the beam was going to collapse and take the whole building down. “All I heard was hard and work.”
She let him lift her down back onto the dirt street. “So, what, you’re just going to be a bachelor forever? Sleeping with every woman you meet, whether she’s available or not?”
Something about her tone rankled him and he released her to cross his arms over his chest. “You got something to say?”
“You sleep with engaged women.”
“I do?”
“Sonora Star. I know you hooked up with her. Marley told me.”
Ah, is that why her attitude toward him had changed? “And?”
“And? It’s wrong.”
Why was it those two little words made him feel lower than a snake? His defenses shot up, and he tried to act cool. “They’re the ones cheating. Maybe if their fiancé was keeping them satisfied, they wouldn’t come to me.”
He couldn’t tell if her face was red, but her eyes were flashing in the moonlight. “That is a cop out! If they are that miserable, then they should break up or get a divorce. Not destroy someone who they once imagined building a life with.”
“Maybe they aren’t ready to leave. Or they aren’t sure what they want.” Why am I even arguing with her? I’m just riling her up.
Which was true, and it turned out her voice rose another octave the more riled she became. “It’s one thing to have fantasies but to actually cheat with another person is wrong, and if their partner in crime knows that they are attached, then they are just as bad, in my opinion.”
It seemed on this subject, Rylie wasn’t afraid to call it how she saw it. He’d have been almost impressed if her ire and disgust weren’t directed at him.
“Wow, how does it feel, Rylie?”
Her head cocked to the side. “How does what feel?”
“How does it feel to be morally perfect?”
Now her hands were getting into it, flailing about as she said, “I don’t think I’m perfect! This is just something I feel strongly about.”
“Yeah, I got that. But it’s not exactly your business what I do, is it?”
She didn’t respond right away, then sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It isn’t any of my business who you hook up with.”
Dustin frowned. He didn’t like the hopeless tone in her voice when she said it, as if he was beyond redemption.
What happened to not caring what people thought?
The funny thing was, he kind of did care…about Rylie. About how Rylie saw and thought of him.
Not because he wanted her, but because he liked her and valued her opinion.
