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“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked, tearing open the charcoal bag and pouring the briquettes into the basin of the grill.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to both kiss me and slap me.” His tone was mild-mannered, as it usually was.
He wasn’t right though. Yes, she wanted to kiss him. But the only person she wanted to slap was herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What, you don’t like to kiss me?” he asked, shooting her a grin as he squirted lighter fluid onto the grill. “Here we go again. Destroying my ego all over again.”
Sloane glanced over to make sure River was out of earshot. She was tossing a stick for Kate, who was enthusiastically bounding after it. Both the dog and the girl seemed to be benefiting from the new friendship. It thrilled Sloane.
River was too far away for her to overhear so Sloane turned back to Rick. “You want the truth?”
His eyeb
rows shot up. “I don’t know, do I? That sounds ominous.”
“Last chance,” she told him, taking a step closer to him around the grill. She was wearing a pair of tiny denim shorts and a cute top that showed off her breasts to fabulous advantage, if she did say so herself.
“Truth,” he said. “Hit me with it.”
She got as close to him as she could without it looking too inappropriate to any passerby or Winnie, if she popped up. “I did like that kiss in high school. I got wet from that kiss. I was grinding myself against your cock and I liked it.”
His nostrils flared. “I knew it. I fucking knew it.”
“I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is why? Why was that kiss so hot?” She knew the answer already. It was because they had chemistry, a connection.
It had been there from the beginning, before she had even understood it, or been willing to accept it.
But her question hung out there between them, impulsively asked.
He stared at her for a heartbeat.
“Am I supposed to know the answer?” Rick asked, reaching to her like he wanted to pull her to him, before he realized they were in public.
“Maybe someday,” she said, a little disappointed. She wasn’t sure what she had expected him to say. But yeah, she was disappointed. She wanted more than he had ever offered her or even hinted at. Hell, she’d already gotten more than they’d originally planned on. They’d been having stealth sex whenever they could, including another quickie the night before when River was with Rachel for a girls’ back to school shopping trip.
She stepped away from the grill and went to spread out their tablecloth and clamp the edges so the wind didn’t blow it away.
Rick lit the briquettes on fire and put the rack on top of it.
He came over and helped her pull out potato chips and a salad she had made earlier and put in a plastic container. “Sloane.”
“Yeah?”
He looked into her eyes. “I know what I want the answer to be. But I’m afraid if I say it I’ll fuck everything up. You just got divorced and I have River and there’s Sullivan to think about…”
Her stomach dropped. She bit her lip and opened her eyes wide because she suddenly felt like she might cry. He was giving her a “let’s keep it casual” speech and she didn’t want to hear it. “Got it.” She turned and blinding walked toward River and Kate, needing to pet her dog so she didn’t say anything else and make it worse.
As is, they could just keep the status quo. That was clearly what he wanted and while Sloane knew with all her heart she wanted more, she realized she needed to accept it for now. If she pushed he would pull away entirely and she knew from his sister he had plenty of women in the wings waiting to take her place in his bed. Or on his motorcycle.
“What’s up, girls?” she asked River.
Rick had mentioned he and River were locked in a battle over her shampooing her hair and it was clear he was losing. Her hair was matted down and looked greasy and frizzy simultaneously. Sloane remembered all too well what it was like to be a girl growing up without a mom. Her own father had tried, but he knew nothing about fashion and ponytails. Sullivan had kept the house full of testosterone-laden boys and Liam had been more comfortable with that than with her tears over wanting to wear makeup at twelve years old. Maybe River needed a female friend.
“Nothing,” River said, sitting down on the ground. “Come here, Kate.”
The dog obediently went to her, tail wagging, and was rewarded with a head rub.
