Page 68 of Kilt Trip

She didn’t do that.

“That bad?” Of course, Devika would think this was an SOS cry. A call-me-in-ten-and-yell-emergency plea. Addie sounded hysterical.

“No, it was great. So great. I mean...” Addie whistled. “But it’s like... He’s just...”

“You like him.” Devika would have made an exceptionally obnoxious big sister. Addie felt like an eighth grader freaking out over a crush.

“I do.” She could admit that much to herself. The other words that came to mind—craved, needed—she pushed away. “But he takes everything so much deeper—”

“Ooh.”

“Stop it. That’s not what I meant. He... I don’t know. He’s helping me find the places in my mom’s pictures.”

“That’s big.”

“Yeah.” Addie cupped her hand around the bottom of the phone. “And I told him about my dad.”

“Why are you whispering? Where are you right now?”

Addie ran her hand along the ribbed metal phone cord bolted to the booth and then yanked her hand back. That couldn’t be clean. She wiped her hand on her pants. “In a phone booth while Logan grabs dinner...”

Devika had the gall to laugh. “Very reasonable of you.”

“I’m in way over my head here.” She should eat something. This gnawing in her stomach was probably hunger, and she was overreacting.

In the loud intake of breath, Addie could picture Devika’s face—changing from amused eye roll to concerned eyebrows. “It’s okay to care about him and let him know you.”

Addie closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. The rumbling of a truck outside reached her through the thick glass of the phone booth. She scanned the concert flyers and advertisements for Tesco taped to the back wall above the pay phone.

“Look, if you’re calling to tell me you have another friend in the world besides me, I swear I’m not jealous.”

Addie huffed out a laugh. Devika always had a way to brighten her mood, to keep her from the darkness.

Maybe it was okay to let people know her. People like Elyse. But letting Logan in was like standing on a crumbling cliff above a very deep canyon. “I should call the whole thing off, though, right?”

“Do you remember how hard amazing sex is to come by? Why would you throw that away?”

“Because it’s too serious.”

They’d woken up spooning, hands twined together and tucked under Addie’s chin like she could pin him there and keep him forever. Dread at the thought of leaving overshadowed her wanderlust like a solar eclipse, and it was unacceptable.

She didn’t do hard goodbyes. Not anymore.

Addie looked down and realized she’d wound her navy scarf around her wrists and clutched it to her chest like she had with Logan’s hands. She immediately dropped the material and flattened it against her jacket.

“You’re only there for a couple more weeks. There isn’t time for it to get serious.”

Addie blew out a breath, telling her heart to stop being so dramatic. “You’re right.” This was fine. She was completely in control of the situation. Even though her chest went all warm and fuzzy when she looked at Logan, it wasn’t love. It was simply because no one had ever made love to her before. This was what anyone could expect to feel after so many orgasms in one night.

She and Logan could keep getting to know each other, keep working together, keep sleeping together. In the end, she would go like she always did, and she’d be fine.

She always was.

“Get out of the phone booth and drag that man back to bed.”

“Thanks, Devika.”

“Call me with the details,” she yelled as Addie hung up.

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