Page 33 of I Did Before I Do

Slowly, she nodded.

“Okay,” I said.

“Okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “It’s fine. No rush. You decide when you’re ready.”

She pushed herself up on one elbow, pulling a blanket over her body, which was a shame, really—I was loving the view. “You mean it? You’re not, like, pissed off or anything?”

“No. I mean, yes, I mean it. No, I’m not pissed off.” I smiled, touching her bare shoulder. “It’s all good.”

“Okay.” She nodded slowly. “Yeah, I…okay.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not mad. No hard feelings, no judgment, nothing.”

“Okay.” This time, she smiled. She leaned forward and kissed my cheek.

It was cute.

“I’m gonna get out of here,” I said, reaching for my shirt. Thank God I’d wiped my hand on the inside.

“Okay, just…be safe getting home,” she said.

“Always. I’m not drunk or anything, promise. Barely even buzzed.”

“Okay.” She rose from the bed, unsteady on her feet and wrapped in a blanket.

The sight gave me a funny kind of warmth in my chest.

No, I was imagining that.

I dressed again, and Sydney walked me to the door. I paused on my way out and smiled. “Seriously. No hard feelings. You ever want to do that again, let me know. All right?”

“All right.” She rose on her toes and kissed my cheek again. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Always. I’ll see you around, Sydney.”

“Yeah. See you.”

She closed the door behind me, and I walked to my car, sighing. She was probably going to get in her own head about this, and I had to figure out a way to let her know everything was cool between us.

An idea came to me, and as I pulled out of her driveway, I smiled.

Chapter Thirteen

Sydney

Ryker leaving as soon as we were done didn’t bother me. I knew this wasn’t serious.

And yet, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if itwasserious. I could cook for him more often, and we could fool around like that as much as we wanted.

We could really have sex. A lot of it. And it would be good.

No, that was a dangerous line of thinking. I didn’t need to start on that path, not when I’d been single for less than a month.

I left a little early for work. I wanted to take a minute to stop at Bakeology, treat myself to breakfast and coffee. And I wanted a second to chat with Kenzie. I didn’t think she’d mind. She’d always done her best to be available to me, and I didn’t plan to keep her long.

And I didn’t want to tell her about the night before in texts. That would be too much, and I felt like we needed some expression and inflection for this one.

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