Page 108 of One Touch

“It’s quirky.”

“Quirky?”

“To say the least.”

He pulled away. “We don’t have to.”

“Oh no, I want to.”

“You do?” His smile was broad and genuine. “I had a bunch of cue cards written up with supporting arguments.”

“Hang on, I thought you saidColewas the dweeby one.”

“I’d gladly be called a loser if it means we can be exclusive.”

“In that case, loser, the answer’s yes.”

There was nothing dweeby about the way he leaned over the table and kissed me. He claimed me with his lips, making me sigh and swoon, and feel like my tummy was about to melt into goo. We kissed until we were both breathless, ignoring the knowing looks from the other diners.

“Ethan,” I said quietly. “Your lapel is dangerously close to that hotpot.”

He looked down at the table and laughed. He sat back in his seat again and we grinned at each other like a couple of goofy teenagers.

“This is nuts,” I said. “We’re going to date each other but not fall in love.”

“No, this is nuts,” he replied. And he held up a peanut from his plate.

“Oh my god, is it too late to change my mind about being exclusive?”

“It is, actually. We are now, officially, friends with benefits, who don’t have any benefits with other friends.”

“We should get certificates.”

“Speaking of which, I just want to add one more rule to the list, if it’s all right?”

“What is it?”

“I think it’s even more important that we don’t tell Ava. Is that okay? It would also mean, of course, that we have to sleep in separate beds. No more slip-ups.”

For some reason, this really hurt. Ava and I were getting closer. The idea of keeping what was going on between her dad and me a secret felt kind of strange.

Still, I respected his point of view. And he probably had a point. Kind of. We couldn’t very well tell Ava that we had agreed to have an exclusive sexual relationship. We couldn’t say, “Well, we’re allowed to look at each other for longer now, and we’re allowed to talk about our feelings in the evenings.”

So, if it made so much sense, why did it still make me feel slightly sick?

“Let’s eat,” Ethan said happily. “I need to know whether your spice tolerance has increased after the other day.”

I kicked him under the table.

The evening went on. We drank more, ate good food, laughed, and kissed.

And the whole time it was going on, a little niggle of doubt was worming its way into my mind.

You like him and he doesn’t like you. It’s like Vlad all over again.

I needed a backup plan.

Chapter 18

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