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“You’re fine,” he said. “Did Austin ask you out again?”
“Yes. I said no.”
Lars said nothing. He rested his elbows on his thighs, his head turned to watch me. But a careful distance remained between us. The cat used it to saunter back and forth, rubbing herself against his body.
“Look at her, she’s all over you,” I said, amused. “Acting like she’s been treated badly. I gave her steak cut up into tiny bite-size pieces yesterday. There is nothing wrong with this feline’s life. Even the vet said she’s in excellent health considering.”
He stretched out his fingers and gave her a scratch. “When are you going to name her?”
“If I pick something she’ll probably just ignore me.”
“You want me to do it?”
“Go for it,” I said.
“Hmm. That’s a big responsibility.”
“I believe in you.”
He picked up the cat and held her in front of his face. Of course the little monster started purring real loud. “I’m going to name you Kat with a K. Kat the cat. It’s in honor of the girl who lived across the street when I was a kid. She was a handful. Her name was Kate, but she’d only ever answer to Kat. Drove her mom wild.”
“Kat with a K. That’s ridiculous, but I’ll allow it. Mind you, I’ll sound like an idiot calling for her. The whole neighborhood will mock me.”
“I’m sorry about Friday night at the bar,” he said, tone sober. “Guess I didn’t really understand before. I’ve known him a long time and he’s only ever been a good friend to me.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry I asked you to stay in a situation where you were the target of that bullshit. It won’t happen again.”
“Let’s talk about something else.” Thunder echoed in the distance and the first drops of rain fell. “Would you like to come in?”
“Sure.”
As soon as the front door opened, Kat darted inside.
“What I’d like is to take you out to dinner,” he said, wiping the soles of his shoes on the mat.
“Or I could cook something and we could hang out here,” I counteroffered.
“Would that feel like less of a date to you?”
“Yes.”
He laughed and followed me into the kitchen. “At least it’s not just me you don’t want to date,” he said. “That does actually make me feel better.”
“I’m here with you, aren’t I?” I opened the fridge door and said, “Have you considered that maybe your friendship is so important to me that I don’t want to risk it by dating?”
“But you’ll risk it with sex?”
“I’m only mortal, Lars. I have needs. And I know you said to be rational, but what if the divorce certificate is in fact the great beyond’s way of saying not to push things between us?”
He just sighed.
“Now, we’ve got Seattle Strong Cold Brew or Reuben’s Super Crush Hazy IPA. What are you in the mood for? Coffee or beer?”
Instead of answering, he stared at me. There was neither a smile nor a frown on his face. Just this quiet kind of thoughtfulness.
“Lars?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you thinking about?”
He neither blinked nor looked away. “I know what I want to say to you now.”
“Okay.” I closed the fridge door and tried not to be nervous. Which didn’t work since I was soon tugging on my ponytail. “I’m listening.”
“If you’re using anyone for sex, it’s going to be me.”
It took me a moment to find my voice. “Huh.”
Nothing from him.
“There’s, um, a lot to unpack there,” I said. “And we will. I just feel like right now we need to focus on more-immediate things.”
“Such as?”
I stepped closer. The ever-careful distance between us served nothing at all. My hands skimmed up his arms and over his shoulders, meeting at last behind his neck. Then I rose up on tippy-toes and pressed my mouth to his. A sweet kiss. A question needing an answer. And immediately his mouth opened and he gave. Hands grabbed my hips, holding me against his solid body. I’d have climbed the man if I could. My desire to be as close to him as possible was absolute. What he did to me was more than evidenced by the state of my panties. And the thrill of feeling him harden against my stomach as we devoured each other. I’d never felt anything like it.
Then he performed the ultimate swoon move. Hoisting me up with both hands beneath my ass, the man lifted me right off the floor. I wrapped my legs around him tight, my breasts smooshed against his chest. Our faces were so close together. The tip of his nose just a hairsbreadth from mine. Being plastered all up against him with his hands on my ass was most definitely my natural habitat. Outside the storm raged, thunder crashing while the wind howled.
When we broke apart, my heart was hammering, my breath coming fast. I’d much rather we were making out, but that thing he’d said needed addressing. “Hey,” I whispered, taking a breath. “I can go without sex, Lars. That’s not what this is about.”
