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“I don’t. But it doesn’t have to be a distraction. Not if we don’t let it. Look—” LeAnn said. “I’m a little lonely. I’d like someone to watch movies and go out to dinner with, like we have been doing.”
“So as friends?” he asked, not sure where this was heading.
“I miss being held and touched,” she said. “We’re great in bed together, but I meant what I said about not being into casual sex. It’s not casual for me. Does that scare you?”
“A bit,” he said. “But honestly, not as much as I thought it would. Still, I’ve got nothing to offer you.” He linked his fingers through hers.
“You’re underestimating yourself,” she said.
“Or you’re overestimating me.”
“I’m not looking for a wedding ring,” she said. “That was my mistake with Mick and I’m not going to make it with you.”
“I’m not Mick. If you want to wait until marriage before having sex, I respect that.”
“I’d be a little hypocritical to want that now.”
“Bullshit,” he said more forcefully than he intended. He modified his tone when she jumped. “You can do whatever you want.”
“I didn’t want to have sex with Mick. But I really like having sex with you.”
Fire shot through every inch of Dylan’s body. “Should I get the check?” he asked.
“Not just yet,” she said. “I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
“What do you want from this? From me?” he asked, willing to give her just about anything.
“I want to be with you. I want to matter to you.”
“I want that too,” he said, the breath catching in his throat. “And you do matter to me. That’s why I can see that you could do so much better than me.”
“And I could do so much worse. Hell, I’ve had worse. I need to train hard, but I’m realizing now that I also need to have something other than rodeo in my life.”
“And you think that something could be me?”
“I hope so. If you feel the same way.”
“I’m not sure what I feel, only that I do want to be with you.” I just don’t want to be a disappointment. “I don’t want whatever this is between us to get in the way of training.” I don’t want to miss something that could put you in danger, like I might have done with Johnny.
Shaking her head, LeAnn said, “I won’t let it. I need to beat Callie. I have to stay focused on improving. When I was with Mick, I wasn’t allowed to do that. I was always worried about keeping him happy. I felt that because I wasn’t sleeping with him, I had to make up for it by being the world’s best girlfriend in other areas.”
“I don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to sleep with me,” he said.
“Good, because I don’t.”
“Damn straight.” He clinked glasses with her.
“Still, I don’t want you to feel pressured about being in a relationship with me. I just want to have fun.”
“I can do that.”
“That’s a relief. I thought I’d have to hog-tie you to get you to realize that I wasn’t trying to get you to the altar. There is one thing, though,” LeAnn said.
Here it comes, Dylan thought. This was the other boot he’d been waiting for her to drop.
“If you want to have sex with someone else, you’ve got to tell me first. I don’t want to catch you and Muriel—or whoever—doing the nasty.”
“I’m not Mick,” he said.
