Page 34 of After Tonight

“We’re not talking about asses and we’re not spooning and we’re not going to be thinking about each other naked.”

“You were thinking about me naked?”

Maybe a little. “No. You were thinking about me naked earlier in the kitchen.”

“Oh, so you weren’t thinking about me naked? Because you sure took your time getting your eyes up to mine when I answered the door.”

“You were half-naked. It’s not like I was imagining it,” she shot back, in an admittedly weak counter.

“But you didn’t mind.”

She blew out a breath. This was Derek. She’d called him on his shit every time she was given a chance. “You look good without a shirt on,” she told him. “That’s just a fact. But that doesn’t mean anything. We’re us, and I’m here to show you girlfriend stuff that’s not naked stuff.”

“We’ve never spooned before.”

She waited for him to go on. When he didn’t, she shrugged. “And?”

“So there was no way to know how good that would feel and how much you’d like it.”

She sighed. She knew what he was doing. He liked to get her pissed off. So she wasn’t going to get pissed off. “I guess that’s true.”

He looked mildly surprised that she’d agreed. “Because it did feel good.”

Yeah, she wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of getting riled up about this. Or fighting it. She lifted a shoulder. “I guess.” It had. That didn’t need to be a big deal. It didn’t change anything.

But instead of pressing, instead of saying something like “we could do it again”, instead of trying to get her to admit even more, or to blush, he just nodded and asked, “So I’ll see you later at the Come Again?”

See? He teased her. But he didn’t flirt with her. There was a distinct difference. It was important to remember.

Then she thought about his question. Yeah, he would. Where else would she go? She had work to do and she couldn’t do it at her mom’s. And there was no way she’d be going to bed before eleven. Or midnight. Or one. That was just how she was wired. Even if she was tired, she’d stay up. “I’ll be there,” she told him. “And then we’ll come back here for movies?”

He gave her a look. “We’re definitely doing that?”

“You have to put the time in,” she said. “If you’re going to be a bartender in a real relationship with someone who works normal hours, you’ll have to figure out how to spend time together.”

“But you don’t work normal hours.”

“But you’re not actually dating me. You’re practicing with me.”

“But our practice sessions can happen during the day when other people are working.”

“And how is that going to help you figure out how to adjust to having a real girlfriend?”

She felt a shot of warmth go through her unexpectedly. This felt good. Arguing with Derek. That was what she should be doing with him. Not spooning him. Not pressing her “sweet ass”—and she felt a little warmer when she thought about him saying that—against him.

“It’s not just practicing being thoughtful and sweet and romantic? It actually matters what time of day it is?”

“This is about practical stuff like schedules and all the other things you can be doing with your mouth than what you’re used to.” She smirked. “And I feel that resisting those urges at night will be more…character building.”

“You don’t think I can or will go down on a woman in the middle of the day?”

Heat swept through her, and she felt her cheeks get pink. And her gaze dropped to his mouth. Damn him. He’d gotten to her after all. She swallowed. “I think it’s harder for you to come up with other things to do at night. You’re pretty programmed for a certain level of activity when the sun goes down.”

He tipped his head. “You think you know me pretty well.”

“I do know you pretty well.”

“You don’t know that side of me.”

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