Page 13 of The Keeper

“Do you share a brain?” I muttered. “Yes, the mildly hot mid-life crisis. Well, no so mid-life. He’s thirty-six. He was there with friends and apparently saw me. We talked. The end.”

“You,” Killian made air quotes, “talked? That’s a bowl of bullshit. You two were so close to each other there wasn’t room for the Holy Spirit.”

“If we could not quote the nuns from high school, that would be great,” I chided.

“You know what I mean. What was going on? It’s not loud in there. You could hold a conversation from a normal, personal space distance.”

I felt my cheeks flush. “Nothing was going on.”

Max leaned back in his chair. The poor thing knew Killian was about to get into it with me.

“You’re literally blushing in front of us.” Killian lifted an eyebrow. “And your face last night said it all. You had this weird, dopey smile going on.” His jaw dropped. “Did he diddle you at the bar?”

Max snort-laughed and kept eating his pasta.

“Oh my God.” I slumped in the chair. “You’re unbelievable. No. He did not get me off at the bar. This isn’t Cinemax After Dark.”

Killian eyed me. “Knowing you, it could have been.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I seem to remember one New Year’s Eve when you and whoever the flavor of the month was at the time were going at it in the corner of my living room at the party. Like, going at it. I almost started carding people at the door. You have no shame.”

“So I made out in a corner once upon a time ago.” I drummed my nails on the table. “If I may, those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”

“Sorry.” He reached out to hold my hand. “Not to sound like a broken record but we’ve offered to take you to The Guild many times. You should come with us. Check it out. It’s super classy there.”

“I know,” I sighed. “I want to go. I would just feel weird being there without, you know, someone to guide me.”

“And what are we? Chopped liver?” Maxim feigned a wounded look. “We’ll introduce you to the right people.”

“Unless,” Killian’s eyes lit up, “your mildly hot guy is into it. I mean, he must be. I couldn’t see where his hand was but I could tell by the look on your face he knew how to use it.”

Talking about my preferences with the boys never embarrassed me. I’d been curious about many things as a teenager. Especially when I found out about all the parties the seniors threw with the paddles and the ropes. Charlotte and I would whisper about it at night. She seemed horrified. I, on the other hand, wanted to know everything.

Killian and I both fully realized our predilections at college, as one does. He experimented way more than I did though. That’s not to say I didn’t try a few things. More than a few things actually. I always gravitated toward the guys who had an edge or an unseen forbidden side. Guys like…

“So what’s his name?” Killian asked. “We’ll do a deep dive on the internet.”

“No, you are not doing a deep dive.”

“You don’t want to know all about him? Stalk him a little on the inter webs?”

“No. I’m never going to see this guy again anyway so what does it matter.”

“That’s all the more reason to do it.”

I slouched down in the chair again. As insufferable as this conversation was becoming, I was grateful for the small distraction from what happened at the cottage.

Lies.

This conversation wasn’t insufferable. I didn’t mind recalling my flirtatious encounter with one Xavier Maddox.

And let’s face it. He wasn’t mildly hot. He was scorching hot. I’d pictured several things I would enjoy doing with him, and to him, while he laid it on pretty thick last night. I wasn’t offended by any of his suggestive talk at all. Or the tone of voice he used. Or his hand on my leg. Far from it. I wanted him to keep going.

The timing really wasn’t the best though. If he’d dropped into my life when it wasn’t so chaotic, I’d have taken him up on his offer. The public one.

“What’s that smile for?” Killian demanded, tossing a napkin in my plate.

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