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“Tim likes to play. That’s why folks come here. They’re not looking to get attached, but if it happens, so be it.”
“Well, good. I’m not looking for anything long-term, Clay. I’m not looking to get attached, either. I’m moving on to a bigger job after this one, and it’s not going to be nearby. So, if he wants to play, discreetly, I’ll roll with it. I’m pretty sure I can handle anything he dishes out.”
“I don’t think you have any idea how much trouble you’re talking about.”
She dug her tube of lip balm out of the center console and smoothed it over her mouth.
Clay watched with a lascivious glint in his eyes.
“Perv.”
“Yep. That’s what folks pay me for.”
“Well, you can keep thinking what you want about me but know you’re probably wrong. You think I was appalled by what was happening here last night?”
“You sure looked like it.”
“You misjudged my motivations. You should know better than to make assumptions about people you don’t know. I fled because I didn’t want to be here, that’s true, but it wasn’t because I was disgusted. It was because I’ve been there and done that and wanted to bedonewith that part of my life. It’s not that I’m not into kink. I just don’t practice it anymore.”
“Oh, ho ho!” That glint in Clay’s eyes turned positively jubilant. “Well, you and Tim are perfect for each other, then. Apparently, you both seem to think you can just turn that shit off and go vanilla. And what’s your flavor, anyway, honey? What do you like? Bondage? Pain? Exhibitionism? D and s? I don’t imagine you’re much of a sadist, but if you sent Tim home with blue balls last night, maybe you are.”
She rubbed her lips together, capped the balm, and shrugged. “You’ll never find out. And I think you should leave Tim to his own business and you mind yours.”
Clay put up his hands and backed away from the window. “I’m just trying to put a damper on the frustration all the way around. I’ve been matchmaking for a lot of years. I never thought I’d be sticking my nose into my brother’s business, but Lord knows, somebody should.”
Carine returned, red-cheeked from the oppressive heat and flapping her loose shirt. “The truck should be here in about ten minutes. I hope to get this taken care of quickly. I need to show a house at two o’clock. It’s the last one on my list that isn’t part of Shora, and I need to offload that money pit as soon as possible. It’s been tying up way too many of my work hours, and Lipton is getting pissy about it. They’re making some noise about me transferring the listing to another agent.”
“Yeah, they don’t like me freelancing, either,” Valerie said. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
“I’m sure Timmy appreciates all the rules you’re breakin’ for him, and the ones you’ll be breakin’ soon enough, too.” Clay bobbed his eyebrows and started toward his house before Valerie could fix her patented malevolent squint at him.
Carine got into Valerie’s car and let the passenger window down. “You know, I’m really thinking about letting him do a surprise match-up for me. I mean, shit, my batting average isn’t so great as of late, and with the luck I’ve been having, I’d probably be better off at a bar.”
“You trust him like that?”
“Yeah. He’s good. Letting him do what he does is a leap of faith, for sure, but I can’t think of a single time he’s been wrong about a pairing.”
“Interesting.” Valerie picked at one particularly ragged cuticle and stared unseeing at the tall grass at the side of Clay’s house.
Did Clay think she was suitable for Tim?
Get off that subject ASAP, lady. Suitability doesn’t matter.
She wasn’t interested in permanent connections, though Tim was interesting for sure. He was gorgeous, intelligent, and confidently sensual in a way that had her craving more of him. But that was just about getting needs met—scratching an itch. She wanted to learn more about him, be swept up in his skillful attention to her body again, but be able to leave when all was said and done with no strings attached.
She couldn’t afford to have any strikes against her, not if she wanted to advance in her field. She had to achieve thenextthing before she even considered anything permanent. That meant a partner, a mortgage.Kids.
She refused to be like her mother—a woman with so much potential whose trajectory was knocked off course by some guy who didn’t stick around, one daughter, and then another.
All of that could wait. Getting distracted for more than a night or two was out of the question.
She hoped Tim wouldn’t be a distraction.
