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Considering we’re standing alone in Janie’s mom’s kitchen, I’m assuming private meansreally private, where no one will accidentally walk in on us and hear my fake girlfriend reaming my ass out for violating the boundaries of our fake relationship.
Chapter 16
Wade
My gut feels like a bucket of pucks just landed in it as I cross to the screen door off the back of the kitchen and hold it open for Harlow.
Their backyard isn’t as open as my folks’. There’s a small stone terrace with a charcoal grill and a round table that seats two facing the wooded path leading down to the lake and their dock.
This has always been a happy place for me. Lots of fun memories.
Damn it, I don’t want this to be where it all ends.
“Someone might come around the side,” she says, and I nod, taking her hand.
“Let’s walk down to the water.” Only halfway there, I change my mind, stopping at the small boathouse built off to the side of the path.
It’s set into an area that’s been cleared of trees and offers a rustic bench made of driftwood where we’d line up for Janie’s mom to put on our sunscreen when we were kids.
As privacy goes, this is about as good as it gets. Something Harlow seems to have picked up on herself. Of course she did, because there isn’t much she misses.
I’m such an ass.
I expect Harlow to sit, but instead she turns on me, eyes flashing, her finger pointed in accusation.
“What’s up?” I ask, underscoring thedumbin dumb jock.
There’s a kind of energy coming off her that has a dangerous vibe to it. Dangerous and tempting.
One shapely brow wings up. “That’s how you want to play it?”
She takes a step closer, and I swear the air around her starts to pulse. I’m half expecting her hair to levitate in dark ribbons around her face.
It’shot.
And suddenly, I’m not worried about how pissed she is. I want it. I want her to fight. I want her to lay into mefor real.
“What do you want me to say, Harlow? That one night was enough? It wasn’t. That I’ve been trying to work you up? I have. That I think we’re good together and this could be—”
“No.”She takes another step into my space, eyes searching mine. “We agreed to one night, Wade. One. I thought we were on the same page. Yousaidwe were on the same page.”
Jesus, the way she’s looking at me. Like I broke her trust.
But that’s exactly what I did. “I lied. One night was never going to be enough.”
She huffs, eyes turned skyward. “We’ve still got the better part of a week together. Don’t you think it would be smarter,safer, not to complicate a good thing by continuing to cross the lines?”
“I think what happened between us wasfun. I think it was hot and intense and the kind of good that casual doesn’t deliver.” And this time, it’s me stepping into her space. “I think the second we crossed that line,things changed.”
“Theycan’tchange. Even if I—” She shakes her head, hard. When her eyes come back to mine, I swear I see a flash of regret before she shuts it down. Shuts me out. “Neither one of us has room in our lives for a relationship.”
It’s not true. I don’t have room in my life for another unwanted complication. I can’t afford any more messy distractions.
But Harlow? Hell yes, I have room for her.
“Don’t you remember all your rules for finding a date? There werereasonsfor them.”
I stare. She has no idea.
