Page 29 of I Did Before I Do

“Not a bad way to think about it.” He nodded, but his expression was a little sad.

Was it the girl Kenzie had mentioned? Bay?

It didn’t feel right to ask about her.

I took another bite of pasta, reminding myself to keep my mouth shut. He’d tell me if he wanted to. I’d already asked enough questions.

And he wanted to know about my breakup. Everybody did.

Maybe he needed to know, if I wanted him to fuck me.

I sighed and looked up at him. “Listen, um—so the whole breakup is because my ex kept telling me he wanted to wait for marriage, right? And then I came home early one day and found him in bed with another man.”

Ryker blinked, then let out a sharp whistle. “That’s…that’s fucking rough. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I mean, it hurt a lot. It still hurts. But I was wasting my time with him. The worst part of it is knowing I’ll never get that time back. But now, I’m free to do what I want, when I want, with whoever I want.”

He nodded. “That’s true. So, you just want to play for a little while?”

I nodded. “Yeah. That’s kind of the plan. I don’t want to rush into anything, don’t want to tie myself down to anyone for a while. Maybe date around, maybe hook up.”

And I gave him what I hoped was a very pointed look.

He raised an eyebrow, reaching for his wine glass. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I kinda just want to, you know, see what’s out there. Live life.”

“Not a bad plan.” Ryker leaned back in his chair. He was posed like a model, but it was effortless, natural. He looked like he belonged in a magazine spread, not my half-furnished apartment.

But I was happy to have him here.

We ate the rest of our dinner, chatting about much lighter subjects. Ryker told me a little about his tattoos, and we talked about movies and TV shows we both liked; we were both super into true crime. Even when we’d finished eating, we sat at the table, talking about a new crime show we were both watching.

There was something else happening, though.

Something between us.

Every time he laughed, I felt warm. The way he smiled at me, always with one corner of his mouth slightly more upturned than the other, had me imagining all the things I wanted him to do to me.

Something had to happen.

Tonight.

I reached for the bottle of wine, filling both of our glasses with the last of the wine. Ryker reached out as I was pouring his, running his fingers over my wrist.

It was like fire.

I shivered, biting my lower lip.

“So, about playing the field,” he said.

“Yeah?” I held my wine glass, smiling back at him.

“Just wondering how soon that was going to start.”

I raised one eyebrow. “I dunno, how soon do you want it?”

Chapter Twelve

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