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Fuck.
“Harp—”
I flinched, andGod,I hated that I flinched. Hated what that revealed.
“You gotta get dressed, Lothario,” I said lightly. “I need a ride home.”
He pushed off the mattress and his face did something I couldn’t read, flickered with emotions I couldn’t distinguish. “What are you doing, harpy?”
In that moment?
Dying a slow death as panic and hurt stabbed repeatedly at my insides?
That wasn’t the answer I was going to give him.
Protect your flank.
Yeah, I was working on that, Gran.
I bent, fixed my shoelace, mostly so I could avoid looking at him. “That”—I waved a hand at the bed, at the mussed covers—“happened. It was…anexperience.” More pieces of spine being tugged in place, held together with Scotch tape and pipe cleaners. “But now I need to get back to work.”
“Harpy—”
This time I was shored up enough to prevent the flinch.
“No worries, Joel,” I interrupted. “We had a night. It was fun. But it’s done now.” I shrugged. “So, what I really need is a ride.”
His brows came up. “It’s done?”
Abso-fucking-lutely.
“Yup.” I lifted and dropped my shoulders, affecting casual, even as it was killing me slowly inside. “Now I need that ride.”
“A ride,” he muttered, tossing the sheets back, revealing…
Good God.
Revealing too much.
I’d kissed and lickedallof that and it had been glorious and—
Fuck.
“A ride?” he asked again, in a tone I didn’t get.
He almost sounded pissed, but then again, I was asking for a ride at the butt crack of dawn, and he’d woken thinking he was going to get an orgasm from a woman he liked.
And instead, he’d gotten me.
“Yup,” I said again, retying the other shoe, just for good measure.
“Aride?”
Fuck it, I’d walk.
“Never mind. I’ve got it covered.” I brushed by him and hauled ass into the hall. I had a vague recollection of leaving my purse in the kitchen. I’d start walking, then call in a favor for a ride. God knew that one of the good things about living and breathing for River’s Bend meant I knew pretty much everyone in town, in the surrounding towns, and in the surrounding,surroundingtowns.
I was good at my job.
